A Call to Examine Treatment of Jews on Campus

The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, killing and kidnapping more than 1,400 Israelis, and the subsequent Israeli response have exacerbated already existing problems of antisemitism on Ivy League campuses. Assailed by alumni and students for their lack of response to numerous antisemitic incidents, Harvard, Penn, and Columbia have announced steps to address antisemitism on campus. Princeton needs to formally address antisemitism on its own campus as well. Princeton has hired antisemitic speakers, included an antisemitic text in a University course, and sent an Israeli graduate student, Elizabeth Tsurkov, to Iraq for her research, where she has now been held captive for eight months. The enrollment of Jewish students at Princeton has declined from 18% in the 1980s, according to The New York Times, to 9.6% today, according to Hillel International. Anecdotally, when I visited in May when school was in session, there were many empty tables for dinner at the Center for Jewish Life. Princeton, like its peers, must examine its treatment of Jews on campus.