AMCHA Initiative surveys universities for levels of anti-Zionist faculty

While there has been a lot of talk about anti-Israel students and outsiders demonstrating at numerous universities, not as much has been said about anti-Israel faculty members who enable the atmosphere and include anti-Israel teachings in their coursework.

The AMCHA Initiative released an Anti-Zionist Faculty Barometer, rating 725 universities based on four measures of anti-Zionist faculty presence and activity.

The criteria include faculty members who have signed statements or otherwise promoted academic boycotts of Israel, departmental anti-Zionist statements, the presence of a Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapter on campus, and the level of FJP activity since Oct. 7.

Faculty for Justice in Palestine was designed to be a mirror image of Students for Justice in Palestine, and was established following a call from the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Studies have shown a direct correlation between campus antisemitism and the presence of SJP on campus, and many chapters have been suspended for extremist activities.

The AMCHA Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to investigating, documenting, educating about, and combating antisemitism at institutions of higher education in America.

The barometer results were divided into six levels, from “Negligible” at zero, to “extreme” at level five.

Of the over 700 schools, just 199 did not receive a “minimal” or “negligible” rating. There were 484 “negligible” ratings.

Thirty schools were listed in the Extreme category, with New York University ranking first — or last, depending on one’s perspective. There are many familiar names, such as Columbia, California Santa Cruz, Washington, Georgetown, UCLA, Cal-Irvine, Chicago, Rutgers, Penn, Northwestern, Yale and Stanford.

The only school in the South was Texas, despite public pronouncements against campus antisemitism by state officials. Texas has 23 faculty boycotters, an FJP chapter that has produced 17 events and statements, and statements being made by academic departments, such as the Gender Studies Departments in Solidarity with Palestinian Feminists Collective.

By comparison, NYU had 148 faculty members who actively push for boycotts of Israel, an active FJP chapter with 44 events and statements, and the Gender Studies statement.

Universities in the Severe category include North Carolina, Duke, Georgia State and Virginia.

Florida, Emory, Georgia Tech and Spelman are in the Significant category. Georgia, Houston, North Carolina Greensboro, Kentucky, TCU, North Carolina Charlotte and Texas Tech were in the Moderate category.

Tulane received a Minimal rating, with eight faculty boycotters and no FJP chapter.

Among “Negligible” schools, none had FJP chapters or departmental anti-Israel statements. Florida State has five boycotters; LSU, Texas A&M and Alabama each had four. Schools with three academic boycotters include Alabama-Huntsville, Arkansas, and Memphis. Sewanee, Louisiana Lafayette, New Orleans and Tennessee each have two.

Alabama-Birmingham, Louisiana Monroe, North Alabama, South Carolina, Southern Mississippi and West Florida have one, while Auburn, Loyola New Orleans, Mississippi, North Florida and South Alabama have none.

While there are similarities with the ratings issued by StopAntisemitism, there are some major differences. While the AMCHA rating has Texas in the worst category, StopAntisemitism gave Texas an A. Houston received a D, but rates a 2 on the scale of 0 to 5 in the AMCHA survey. North Carolina, which rated a Category 4 in AMCHA, received a B from StopAntisemitism.

AMCHA Initiative plans to update the ranking annually, to help “students, families and stakeholders evaluate how welcoming or hostile a campus may be for Jewish or pro-Israel students and advocate for administrative and legislative measures to counter faculty misuse of their positions to promote antisemitism.”

The online report has links to a list of faculty boycotters at most schools.