The fight against antisemitism in institutions of higher education in the US is intensifying, shifting the focus from campus protest demonstrations to the lecture halls.
A new program by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is designed to provide academic institutions with tools to address hatred of Jews and Israelis, which is taking deeper roots in teaching materials, classroom discussions, and faculty organizations.
The initiative includes two comprehensive reports, recommendations for college management levels, as well as the launch of a confidential reporting mechanism-a platform that allows students, lecturers, and staff to report instances of hatred and receive support without being exposed.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL's global chief executive, said that "antisemitism does not appear only in protest chants by students or at a protest encampment; it can appear in a syllabus, in a lecture, in a remark that appears harmless on its face, or in a coordinated online network of professors working against the very existence of the State of Israel.
Because the classroom and organizing spaces of faculty members are almost invisible to those outside the institution, this problem has been allowed to spread without the scrutiny it deserves. Universities cannot claim they are addressing antisemitism seriously if they ignore what is happening behind closed classroom doors and within academic-government institutions".
Shira Goodman, the ADL vice president for public affairs and special initiatives, explained the necessity of the new reporting channel: "Too many incidents of antisemitism in the classroom never reach the relevant authorities at all, not because they are not important, but because the way to report them has often been unclear or inaccessible. The ADL's campus classroom reporting mechanism helps change this by making it easier to raise concerns and identify patterns. Every student, faculty member, and employee deserves a campus where antisemitism is confronted, where taking responsibility is the standard, and where no one is forced to face such experiences alone".
Oren Segal, the ADL senior vice president for intelligence and the fight against extremism, said that "the hostile environment on campuses toward Jewish and Zionist students is not accidental, but the result of well-organized and well-funded networks operating to change academic institutions from within. When faculty members use their status to shield activists from accountability for their actions, it is a failure of equal protection for all students against hatred and harassment".
According to the ADL's data, 1,694 antisemitic incidents were recorded on campuses in the US in 2024, alongside 583 incidents in 2025. Although the number of heated protests that received extensive media coverage has declined, the report shows that internal mechanisms continue to sustain a hostile learning environment.