A fall 2024 survey by ADL, Hillel International, and College Pulse asked students at 135 U.S. universities about campus experiences. ADL reported that 83% of Jewish students said they had experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism; 51.4% of non-Jewish respondents also reported seeing at least one example. These figures describe survey answers, not adjudicated findings about every incident.
What the survey measures
The partners surveyed 2,170 students: 1,030 Jewish and 1,140 non-Jewish students. The published summary combines experience and witnessing in one figure; it is not a count of distinct incidents or a measure of severity. The survey is useful evidence of students’ reported campus climate, but it cannot by itself establish what happened in each case or whether a legal standard was violated.
In the same study, Hillel reported that 41% of Jewish students felt a need to hide their Jewish identity, 22.9% felt compelled to take additional security precautions, and 13% said they had withdrawn from campus or social activities. Among respondents who reported witnessing or experiencing an incident, 92.5% did not report it to campus authorities. These are separate survey measures and should not be merged into the 83% figure.
Separate protest, bias, and harassment
A political demonstration opposing Israeli policy is not automatically antisemitic or harassment. Assessment depends on the exact words and conduct: whether Jewish people were targeted as Jews, whether threats or slurs were used, whether students were blocked from access, and what campus policy or law applies. Criticism of a government or a student organization’s position must be distinguished from hostility directed at Jewish students collectively. The IHRA working definition says context matters and includes both anti-Jewish conduct and examples involving Israel.
For a related guide to collective blame and identity-based exclusion, read collective blame and exclusion of Jews. The broader distinction guide explains how to assess anti-Israel speech without treating every policy dispute as antisemitism.