New Study Shows Jewish Students Are Self-Censoring, But Are They Also Leading the Push to Censor Others?

Being a Jewish student on a collegiate campus is not easy for many today. Antisemitism is rampant nationwide, and campuses themselves are common sites of hostility, if not hatred, against Jewish students and Israel. In 2021, the Brandeis Center found that among members of Jewish Greek life organizations, more than 65 percent felt unsafe due to recent antisemitic attacks, with as many as 11% fearing a physical assault simply because they are openly Jewish.  Almost 70 percent of the students said they had personally experienced or “were familiar with” a recent collegiate-based act of antisemitism and because of this environment, almost half have hidden their Jewish identities as well as have avoided expressing their (presumably positive) views on Israel.

Sadly, this Brandeis study is one of many that have documented similar troubles for students, and Jewish students are regularly censoring themselves out of fear. But are these same students also part of the push to cancel and censor others?

Survey data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)’s new study of almost 45,000 currently enrolled students at over 200 colleges and universities around the nation show that this might be the case. According to this new data, Jewish students are also leading the charge to shut down speech on campuses today.

The FIRE survey confirmed that Jewish students have quite a few difficulties when talking about Israel. When asked if it is difficult to have an open and honest conversation about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on campus, two-thirds (65 percent) of Jewish students responded that conversations are indeed difficult to have compared to a national average of just 31 percent. Jewish students are far more prone than others to want to talk about Israel, in part accounting for the gap.

At the same time, although Jewish students fear both being shut down and antisemitism, as much as 67 percent of them believe that there are cases where it is acceptable to shout down a speaker to prevent that speaker from sharing ideas on campus. The national average is a slightly lower 62 percent, and for Catholic students, by comparison, the figure is even lower at 56 percent. When it comes to blocking other students from attending a campus speech, the same pattern emerges with four in 10 Jewish students (41 percent) holding that it is acceptable in some cases, and this is again higher than the nearly one-third of Protestants, Catholics and Mormons, respectively, who so believe. When it comes to violence to prevent a speaker from lecturing, a fifth (21 percent) of Jewish students find such behavior acceptable, a figure in line with other religious groups as well.

Collectively, the data show that of all faith groups, Jewish students are leading the way to shut down expression. The finding is deeply troubling since the debate around disagreement and viewpoint diversity has been a core value in Jewish life for centuries. At the same time, so many Jewish students silence themselves and are intimidated to speak on issues that have historically been of great import to the Jewish community. Yet, colleges and universities regularly hold teach-ins and vigils, and post banners supporting Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate and pro-LGBTQA+ messages. Paradoxically, Jewish students are front and center in promoting progressive cancel culture just as their Jewish interests and lives are under attack—exampled by regular acts of violence and hate crimes in New York and around the nation such as in Pittsburgh to faculty and collegiate communities attacking the very legitimacy of the Jewish state and its supporters. There are rarely banners and rallies held on campuses to support Jewish students along with their safety and rights to hold political views. Higher education now has a situation where many Jewish students are feeling canceled while simultaneously seeking to cancel others as well.

So how can we explain why Jews have abandoned their argumentative tradition in favor of shutting down debate and free speech, even as Jews themselves feel especially aggrieved and marginalized? One way to explain all of this is what I call “Jewish defensive assimilation” and it does not bode well for Jewish collegiate students. In pre-war Europe, many Jews felt intense disdain and pressure against them; rather than speak up and push back, many took an appeasement approach thinking that by looking like they are part of an illiberal and dangerous group or ideas, the antisemitism could be held in check. Similarly, the tendency for 20th-century American Jews to align with liberal and progressive causes may be seen as partially motivated by a selective reading of the Jewish tradition, and the motivation to align with the forces most unsympathetic to Jewish group vitality and survival.

So how can we explain why Jews have abandoned their argumentative tradition in favor of shutting down debate and free speech, even as Jews themselves feel especially aggrieved and marginalized?

Today, we see Jews buying into regular messaging asserting Jewish privilege, comparing Zionism to Nazism, blaming Jews for oppression in America, and attacking American Jews for exercising their rights as citizens runs have become the norm. Schools hold events that speak about Jewish blood libel far too often and host speakers who describe Israel supporters as “Fascists. Terrorists. Colonizers” and believe that Zionism is a “death cult,” “murderous,” “genocidal” and “sadistic.”

Antisemitic actions are reaching record levels around the country and on college and university campuses. Jewish students are making a mistake by trying to appease their liberal peers who are pedaling such hate toward them. Looking woke and supportive of progressive values may temporarily placate these impulses of hate, but these leftist ideas are not inclusive, open or supportive of diversity. Rather, they have a narrow and particularistic view of what society and power look like and for them, the Jewish community and traditions are not a welcome part. Jews have historically fought for those without power along with promoting the values of free exchange and self-determination.

The frequent acts of both appeasement and silence via defensive assimilation put the Jewish community at real risk. As we enter the high holidays and a period of reflection, it is worth remembering Justice Brandeis’ prescient statement: “If there be time to expose through discussion, the falsehoods and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.” It is now time for the Jewish community to stop being defensive, but offensive, and demand that the calls for its exclusion and destruction stop.

Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Abrams is currently on the Board of Directors of FIRE.