In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel, Jewish students in large numbers flocked to Jewish activities on campus. Eleven months later, the increased engagement in Jewish life has waned as students’ fears of antisemitism have risen. A new study provides university leaders and funders a glimpse into what drove that earlier engagement and the reasons that it has since tapered off. 

“A Year of Campus Conflict and Growth,” a 64-page report published on Wednesday, which was conducted by Tufts University political scientist Eitan Hersh, in partnership with survey research company College Pulse, and funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation, brings to light the impact that the Israel-Hamas war has had on U.S. college students as the 2024-25 academic year begins and the war grinds on. 

The research initially began 18 months before the war started. It spans three years of the experiences and views of Jewish and non-Jewish students on college campuses both before and after Oct. 7 and follows findings that were published in March as a midpoint in the research. It also spotlights “how differently Jewish and non-Jewish students experienced the last year on campus and hints at what can be expected in the future,” according to Hersh. 

Hersh told eJewishPhilanthropy that when he surveyed Jewish and non-Jewish students in November and December of last year, soon after the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, “we [expected] the war could have wrapped up soon. We didn’t know how the campus [situation] would become its own ongoing news saga.” 

According to the findings, throughout the 2023-24 school year, Jewish students’ sense of identity remained elevated. Fear of and exposure to antisemitism also remained at record-high levels, with the number of students who said fears of antisemitism kept them away from Jewish activities on campus doubling from 8% to 16% between 2022 and 2023. During the same time, the number of students who said they had no fears of antisemitism dropped from 38% to 20%. In 2023, 11% reported experiencing direct antisemitism in a campus social environment. The percentage climbed to 16% in 2024. 

Meanwhile, students’ sense of connection to the Jewish community and participation in Jewish activities on campus reverted back to pre-Oct. 7 numbers. 

Dividing Jewish students by level of Jewish background, the data suggests the most movement — downward — was among students with an active Jewish background. In 2023, 72% of them said they were attending Jewish events on campus monthly or more. In 2024, that percentage dropped to 65%. 

In the 2023-2024 school year, 1 in 4 Jewish students surveyed said they felt the need to hide their Jewish identity to fit in on campus, while 1 in 3 said they were judged negatively for participating in Jewish activities. More than half said that Jewish students pay a social cost for voicing support for Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. These were all higher than in 2022. The research noted that while the trend of needing to hide Jewish identity to fit in was experienced by Jewish students regardless of their Jewish backgrounds, students with weaker Jewish backgrounds were most likely to feel they needed to hide their opinions in Jewish spaces.

“This research provides critical findings about the campus landscape today and the difficult environment that many Jewish students face,” Stacie Cherner, director of research and learning at the Jim Joseph Foundation, told eJP in a statement. 

Hersh’s initial survey, in 2022, polled approximately 2,000 Jewish students and 1,000 non-Jewish students across the U.S. who were attending four-year colleges. Soon after the Oct. 7 attacks, a second survey was fielded between Nov. 16 and Dec. 21. That survey was completed by about 1,000 Jewish students and 1,500 non-Jewish students on 21 diverse public and private campuses, all with sizable Jewish populations (the 2022 study didn’t focus on schools with substantial Jewish student bodies). The Jewish students include those who consider themselves ethnically or culturally Jewish even if not Jewish by religion. Of the Jewish students surveyed in 2023, 155 were also surveyed in 2022. In the first survey, they were freshmen and sophomores. Now, they’re juniors and seniors. 

To conclude the research, a dozen focus groups were conducted in April with Jewish and non-Jewish students to dig deeper into their perceptions and experiences. The third and final survey was conducted from late April through June 2024.

The research found that Jewish versus non-Jewish students “are very polarized on these issues,” Hersh said, which adds “to campus tension.” Almost half (45%) of Jewish students on elite campuses said they lost non-Jewish friends in the last year.

“The ups and downs of the physical war did not seem to have a noticeable impact on students’ attitudes on the kinds of things like who is to blame,” he added. 

The data found that Jewish students blame Hamas for the war more than they blame Israel. Conversely, non-Jewish students blame Israel for the war more than Hamas. It also reported that 1 in 5 non-Jewish students deliberately aim to socially cut off Jewish peers who support the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. 

Fifty-five percent of Jewish students who said they had no opinion on Israel’s existence in 2022 formed an opinion in support of a Jewish state in 2023 and 2024. Over all three years, 10-15% of Jewish students said they believe there should not be a Jewish state in Israel-Palestine. Twenty-seven percent of Jewish students said they aren’t sure whether Israel as a Jewish state should continue to exist.

The data in both the mid and final points was consistent in confirming that political ideology plays a role in campus antisemitism. Students on the left are more likely to exhibit extreme negative attitudes about Israel, including stating that they avoid socializing with Jews because of Jewish students’ views on Israel, whereas students on the right are more likely to believe there should be a Jewish state.