Hostility toward Israel on many college campuses has bled over to unchecked antisemitism and a plurality of Jewish students report that they don’t feel physically or emotionally safe. The roots of this hatred grew from anti-Zionism, the boycott divestiture and sanctions movement, and foreign money planted at universities across America.

Since the beginning of this school year alone, a staggering 73% of Jewish college students surveyed by the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research, Hillel International and College Pulse, have experienced or witnessed antisemitism.

Things have gotten so bad that Jewish students are hiding their faith for self-protection. Since Oct. 7, the percentage of Jewish students who said they feel comfortable with others on campus knowing they are Jewish dropped by half. Imagine being afraid to walk through campus, attend classes, wear kippot, or live in a Jewish fraternity or sorority. Today’s reality is unacceptable.

Of the non-Jewish students erroneously assumed to be Jewish, nearly half stated that they had been targeted based on their assumed Jewishness.

It is not a stretch to presume that there is likely a growing number of hate-driven Americans who would like to fix that by putting yellow stars of David on our clothing, again.

Those who witnessed the vexing and disgraceful performance of the three blind mice, Claudine Gay of Harvard, Sally Korbluth of MIT and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania at the House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing, shouldn’t expect a quick fix. None of these three leaders from elite universities could simply say that calling for the genocide of Jews violated their schools’ codes of conduct.

Calls for genocide are always wrong and actionable, and never context-dependent. That isn’t so difficult to say, is it?

In fairness, higher education consists of many large and diverse organizations, and plenty of universities have spoken clearly and unambiguously against Hamas’ terror, terrorism, and antisemitism.

But, far too many have fallen woefully short and have failed to take action. A majority of all students, Jewish and non-Jewish, agree and believe their campus administration has not done enough to address anti-Jewish prejudice at their universities. Seventy percent say the universities should do more to address this issue.

At the same time, confidence in higher education has dropped dramatically. A Gallup poll from earlier this summer showed confidence in higher education had fallen to 36%, a 21% drop from 2015.

This eruption of hate did not take place overnight. Watching, among other things, the boycott divestiture and sanctions movement, it is clear that the seeds have been sown for many years.

Under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Jewish students can hold federally-funded schools accountable for creating a discriminatory or hostile environment. And, they should where schools have failed to take appropriate and meaningful action to create a safe environment.

Recent events have also raised the need for Congress and others to thoroughly examine the corrupting influence on universities from regimes like Qatar, China, Russia and Iran.

A new study commissioned by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) and carried out by the Network Contagion Research Institute, found a correlation between foreign donors and increased antisemitism on college campuses. The report entitled, “The Corruption of the American Mind,” identified the existence of billions of dollars of funding, that had not been reported to the Department of Education, which has had a “substantial impact on fermenting growing levels of antisemitic discourse and campus politics at U.S. universities.”

The report discerned that these universities had a greater prevalence of “political campaigns to silence academics” and speakers, more students exposed to “antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric” and an increase in reports of “antisemitic incidents” when compared to institutions that did not receive those funds. Universities that accepted Middle Eastern donors’ money in particular were found to have, on average, 300% more antisemitic incidents than those that did not.  And, students expressed greater exposure to antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric.

Qatar was identified as the single largest foreign donor to American universities, donating at least $4.7 billion between 2001 and 2021, much of which reportedly came with strings attached and were unreported. Qatar is one of Hamas’ largest political and financial donors, and home to where its 3 top leaders — with $11 billion in personal assets — live, play and orchestrate their terrorist activities, including the Oct. 7 massacre. Qatar owns Al Jazeera — a news operation that purports journalistic integrity but often repeats Hamas’ claims without verification.

Spurred by concerns of China’s influence, the House approved, with bipartisan support, the DETERRENT Act, legislation aimed at creating stricter reporting requirements and penalties for tracking foreign gifts and contracts to higher education. But recent events have certainly sparked more interest in the law’s application.

Here’s the bottom line: colleges that don’t clean up their act not only face the continued loss of billions in private donations like Ross Stevens’ withdrawal of his $100 million donation to the University of Pennsylvania following its former president’s testimony in Congress, but they will face financially shattering lawsuits and could also lose federal and state funding.

Challenged universities have a choice: they can do the right thing for the right reason or ultimately be forced to do the right thing for the wrong reason. For the sake of these unsafe students and the hate speech growing on campuses, let’s hope they learn the easy way.

Doug Friednash grew up in Denver and is a partner with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck. He is the former chief of staff for Gov. John Hickenlooper.

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