Jews Aren’t the Only College Students Facing Prejudice

Nearly half of Jewish students experienced some form of antisemitism on campus last year, a new survey shows. But they aren’t the only minority student group facing prejudice.

In addition to 47 percent of Jewish students, 34 percent of Muslim students, 31 percent of Black students and 22 percent of Asian students reported experiencing at least one form of prejudice on campus because of their identity, according to a report the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University published Tuesday.

The report’s findings come at an inflection point for civil rights in higher education.

After the start of Israel-Gaza war in October 2023, college students on many U.S. campuses staged pro-Palestinian protests, which led Republican lawmakers to scrutinize some universities’ efforts to address campus antisemitism. Since taking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump has also launched numerous federal investigations into alleged campus antisemitism, accusing administrators of allowing it to flourish and temporarily withholding billions in federal funding.

Although the Trump administration’s investigations have resulted in time-consuming litigation for colleges, the report suggests that Jewish students don’t feel more protected by one side of the political spectrum than the other; 22 percent said they were very concerned about antisemitism coming from the political left and 25 percent were very concerned about it coming from the right.

At the same time, the Trump administration has sought to outlaw diversity, equity and inclusion programs at universities, casting them as vehicles of exclusion for conservative, white students.

Against that backdrop, the researchers aimed to “understand antisemitism in the context of prejudice toward other minority groups,” according to the report, which was guided by the premise that “antisemitism does not exist in a vacuum” and “its manifestations are influenced by the discourse about prejudice toward other racial, ethnic, and religious minority groups.”

To do that, researchers last fall surveyed roughly 4,000 undergraduates—representing a mix of different religions, races, ethnicities and political leanings—across more than 300 four-year institutions.

Among other things, they identified a divide among how different racial, ethnic and religious groups perceived the experiences of others.

According to the report, 37 percent of Jewish students said their campus climate was hostile toward Jews, compared to 14 percent of non-Jewish students who said their campus climate was hostile toward Jews. At the same time, 47 percent of Muslim students said their campus was hostile toward Muslims, while just 17 percent of non-Muslim students said it was; 34 percent of Black students and 21 percent of other nonwhite students reported hostility toward people of color on their campus, but only 15 percent of white students reported the same.

Although 56 percent of students showed a pattern of low prejudice—meaning they were unlikely to agree with prejudiced statements about minority groups—15 percent showed a pattern of hostility toward Israel, 9 percent showed a pattern of hostility toward Jews and 17 percent showed a pattern of resentment toward Black people. Just 4 percent of students showed a pattern of hostility toward all minority groups.

And students from each minority group also reported their own prejudices, with Jews, Israel and Black people the most popular targets.

Jewish students expressed the most hostility toward Israel and Black people, Muslim students expressed the most hostility toward Jews and Black people, Black people toward Israel and Jews, Hispanic people toward Black people and Jews, Asians toward Black people and Israel, and white people toward Black people and Israel.

Where students fall on the political spectrum also correlated with which specific minority groups they most likely harbor hostilities toward, according to the report.

Sixty-four percent of liberal students landed in the “low-prejudice group,” compared to 40 percent of “extremely” liberal students, 57 percent of moderates and 34 percent of conservatives. For “extremely” liberal students, the biggest area of hostility was directed at Israel (50 percent) while just 6 percent expressed hostility toward Jews. Meanwhile, 11 percent of liberal students expressed hostility toward Jews and 17 percent toward Israel. Both moderate students (23 percent) and conservatives (47 percent) had more hostility toward Black people than toward any other minority group.

Conservative students also had the highest rate of hostility toward minority groups in general (12 percent), compared to just 6 percent of moderates and 2 percent of both liberals and extreme liberals.

But addressing these prejudices on campus won’t come from blaming one group or another, argues the report, which challenges “contemporary discourse” that suggests “fighting antisemitism requires cracking down on pro-Palestinian protestors and proponents of DEI or that protecting Muslim and Black students from prejudice requires standing up to the ‘weaponization’ of antisemitism.”

Instead, the report adds, “an effort that promotes empathy and civic discourse may be a more productive approach.”