‘It’s incredibly scary to walk around campus’

Antisemitism on campus has reached a new and alarming high. A survey of 548 Jewish staff and students conducted last year and released by the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A) survey last week found:

• two thirds (67%) of Jewish students have experienced antisemitic comments;
• almost half (45%) of Jewish students say they have decreased class attendance since October 7;
• and almost two thirds of Jews on campus (62% students, 64% of staff) do not feel safe.

To understand the nature of the problem, we need more than statistics – and I don't mean yet another debate on defining antisemitism, which theorises the relationship between Jews and Israel, or between criticism and delegitimisation.

Research into the experience of disadvantage now increasingly focuses on the "lived experiences" of the victims. While "lived experience" has an uncomfortably tautological tinge to the grammarian, the concept is essential to contemporary views of power and powerlessness, because listening to these experiences gives primacy to the voices of those who live discrimination, rather than to theorising academics.

Post-colonial theories are frequently misused in the Israel-Palestine debate, by those who deny Jewish indigeneity to Israel, and characterise Zionism inaccurately as a colonial enterprise.

But just because theories are misused does not mean they are invalid. Lived experience is increasingly seen as the gold standard for research into minority experience and in understanding antisemitism, it is essential that we spend less time arguing about its nature and more time listening to those who suffer from it.

The qualitative data from this survey gives us the lived experiences of Jews on Australian university campuses. They make for chilling reading.

“I was spat on for wearing my Star of David necklace. This has happened twice. Also, plenty of friendly non-Jews have gone up to me telling me to hide my Star of David for my own safety.”

“[I am] making sure that I don’t look ‘too Jewish’ to avoid being the victim of racial vilification.”

“Hearing students wanting to work out who is Jewish…The way they said ‘Jewish’ with such venom was quite terrifying for me given that my surname is a Jewish name and if they think of me during their witch hunt, it won’t take long to figure it out."

“The tutor asked me my ‘ethnicity’ on two separate occasions upon noticing that I stayed silent in the Israel discussions and asking where my family name is from. I was too afraid to say ‘Jewish’.”

“I was in my office, unable to leave, because of the violence of the student protests. For the first time in my life, I was afraid to be Jewish, afraid to reveal my identity.”

"I was spat at by one of the pro-Palestinian students as I was walking to the library."

“A girl I walked past who knew I was Jewish saying ‘f*** the Jews’ under her breath.”

“I have been called a ‘Zionist pig’. Been followed. Made to feel that I need to hide my identity.”

“I have regularly been called ‘Jew boy’ or ‘Jew’ and singled out by passers-by.”

“Getting asked ‘how many babies have you killed today’ due to simply walking around on campus with a kippah – plus many other slurs and accusations such as being labelled ‘a right-wing fascist’ that should be kicked off campus.”

“When I wore a ‘bring them home’ necklace, someone came up to me and shouted ‘Fuck you Zionazi’ in my ear.”

“I was assaulted by a student who I have reported internally and provided the student's name, photos and contact details of several eyewitnesses.”

“A student in my class of about 15 who was asked to use creative arts in designing a lesson, suggested (knowing I was Jewish) that they act out being Hitler. This was a clear attempt to intimidate.”

“Jewish colleague has had an office door trashed; another has been asked to teach from home.”

“I've been singled out and made to feel alienated and afraid and having to hide or defend my Jewishness by my tutor and unit coordinator. They made me feel distressed and scared and alienated, they encouraged the team to treat or view me differently as I am Jewish.”

“Numerous colleagues could no longer look at me, and stopped speaking to me after October 7, or were unusually cold, unfriendly, or suspicious. I feel strongly that decisions about whether or not to work together were made on the basis of my identity or perceived political opinion because of my identity.”

“Socially, in my faculty I feel that I no longer know who my friends are.”

“A colleague said to me, ‘Jews caused all the problems in the world. If the Arabs wiped them out, they would be doing the world a favour’.”

“The vile chants shouted at the recent protest were quite unnerving. While I was sitting in class it was impossible to focus while people outside were chanting intifada, calling for the death of Jews and Israelis. It is incredibly scary to walk around campus knowing that these people are around you.”

“There is a constant barrage of anti-Israel posters – everywhere – on doors, windows, posts and even chalk on the footpaths.”

“Protests made me feel unsafe on campus, needing a security escort to come into campus.”

“There are hundreds of posters all over the campus, constant chanting ‘from the river to the sea Palestine will be free’. I know that means the elimination of Jewish people and I am afraid.”

“A tutor described Jewish people as ‘the oppressed that became the oppressors’ during a class that was about celebrity culture.”

“I do not feel comfortable or safe. My lecturers, subject coordinators and tutors all impose their personal opinion of the Israel-Gaza conflict on the class and don’t encourage debate or a balanced discussion.”

“My lecturer announced that attendance to our class would not be taken due to the encampment and encouraged everyone to follow what was happening in Gaza. I later saw him at the protest, actively participating and confronted him about influencing his own political agenda in the classroom. I described feeling unsafe on campus as a Jew, he told me to go on Zoom. I am now anxious to go to this class.”

“I had students in my class perform a Nazi salute to me on three occasions. I reported this, they did not take my complaint seriously. I reported it to the police, the admin only took the complaint seriously once the police were involved. Since complaining my contract has not been renewed.”

“I reported [antisemitic comments] to my professor but they told me to just ignore them and complete the unit. The fact that I was told to move on made me feel like I do not matter, insignificant."

“I went to the university and attempted to have action taken…as my course has explicit rules about discriminatory behaviour and statements (including online), the university weasel-worded and equivocated me and ultimately did nothing.”

“The university responds to complaints from Jewish staff by saying they are taking concerns on board but never take any action. I feel that if the same were experienced by any other minority, it would be the targeted minority group that was called on to define what counts as harassment for them, however, this has not been extended to Jewish people. I was told that we imagine threats to Jewish staff and students.”

Full report: Antisemitism in Australian Universities (5A)