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