4 | OCTOBER 27 • 2022
opinion
New Study Shows Jewish Students
Are Self-Censoring, But Are They Also
Leading the Push to Censor Others?
B
eing a Jewish
student on a
collegiate campus
is not easy for many today.
Antisemitism is rampant
nationwide, and campuses
themselves are common sites
of hostility,
if not hatred,
against Jewish
students and
Israel.
In 2021,
the Brandeis
Center found
that among
members of Jewish Greek
life organizations, more
than 65% felt unsafe due to
recent antisemitic attacks,
with as many as 11% fearing
a physical assault simply
because they are openly
Jewish. Almost 70% of
the students said they had
personally experienced
or “were familiar with” a
recent collegiate-based act
of antisemitism and because
of this environment, almost
half have hidden their Jewish
identities as well as have
avoided expressing their
(presumably positive) views
on Israel.
Sadly, this Brandeis
study is one of many that
have documented similar
troubles for students, and
Jewish students are regularly
censoring themselves out
of fear. But are these same
students also part of the
push to cancel and censor
others?
Survey data from the
Foundation for Individual
Rights and Expression
(FIRE)’s new study of almost
45,000 currently enrolled
students at over 200 colleges
and universities around the
nation show that this might
be the case. According to this
new data, Jewish students
are also leading the charge
to shut down speech on
campuses today.
The FIRE survey
confirmed that Jewish
students have quite a few
difficulties when talking
about Israel. When asked if
it is difficult to have an open
and honest conversation
about the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict on campus, two-
thirds (65%) of Jewish
students responded that
conversations are indeed
difficult to have compared
to a national average of just
31%. Jewish students are far
more prone than others to
want to talk about Israel, in
part accounting for the gap.
At the same time,
although Jewish students
fear both being shut down
and antisemitism, as much
as 67% of them believe
there are cases where it is
acceptable to shout down
a speaker to prevent that
speaker from sharing ideas
on campus. The national
average is a slightly lower
62%, and for Catholic
students, by comparison, the
figure is even lower at 56%.
When it comes to blocking
other students from
attending a campus speech,
the same pattern emerges
with four in 10 Jewish
students (41%) holding that
it is acceptable in some cases,
and this is again higher
than the nearly one-third of
Protestants, Catholics and
Mormons, respectively, who
so believe. When it comes to
violence to prevent a speaker
from lecturing, a fifth (21%)
of Jewish students find such
behavior acceptable, a figure
in line with other religious
groups as well.
A TROUBLING
CONCLUSION
Collectively, the data show
that of all faith groups,
Jewish students are leading
the way to shut down
expression. The finding is
deeply troubling since the
debate around disagreement
and viewpoint diversity has
been a core value in Jewish
life for centuries. At the
same time, so many Jewish
students silence themselves
and are intimidated to
speak on issues that have
historically been of great
import to the Jewish
community. Yet, colleges and
universities regularly hold
teach-ins and vigils, and post
banners supporting Black
Lives Matter, Stop Asian
Hate and pro-LGBTQA+
messages.
Paradoxically, Jewish
students are front and center
in promoting progressive
cancel culture just as their
Jewish interests and lives are
under attack — exampled
by regular acts of violence
and hate crimes in New York
and around the nation such
as in Pittsburgh to faculty
and collegiate communities
attacking the very legitimacy
of the Jewish state and its
supporters. There are rarely
banners and rallies held
on campuses to support
Jewish students along with
their safety and rights to
hold political views. Higher
education now has a situation
where many Jewish students
PURELY COMMENTARY
continued on page 6
Samuel J.
Abrams
TED EYTAN