The College Fix

The University of Virginia “has willfully ignored its longstanding antisemitism problem” and must address it now, according to the Jefferson Council, an alumni network dedicated to preserving Thomas Jefferson’s legacy at the venerable university.

The alumni group recently published a 13-page report authored by council President Joel Gardner that argues antisemitism has been “exponentially exacerbated” on campus over the last year, following the massacre of Israeli citizens by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2024.

One example featured in the report details how a student “waited inside his Jewish housemate’s room with a firearm” then “threatened his housemate with the weapon when he returned to their off-campus home,” according to a report in Washington Examiner.

A chart in the report details how reported incidents of religious-based bias, discrimination and harassment at UVA over the last eight years is primary against Judaism, far outpacing Islam and Christianity.

UVA did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The College Fix.

Gardner, a UVA alumni, said in an email interview with The College Fix that President Jim Ryan “has exhibited a serious lack of concrete leadership in addressing the many major antisemitic incidents at UVA.”

“I have often heard that college presidents live in fear of their faculty. At UVA, the faculty is overwhelmingly of a left wing bent. Many, if not most, are more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.”

One example cited in the report comes from a pro-Palestinian march last fall. A Jewish professor told Gardener he was “horrified” by the demonstration and “could not believe they allowed masked demonstrators to march down the Lawn shouting threatening slogans.”

“He noted that they never would have allowed demonstrators in white sheets and masks
shouting racist slogans to march like that. He could understand why many students would be
frightened by this incident as he thought the whole incident was scary,” the report stated.

While Gardner’s report highlighted the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents following the Oct. 7 attacks, even prior to that “antisemitic bias incidents were 43% of the total and almost twice as many as the next highest category,” according to the report.

“[T]he number of antisemitic incidents in 2023-24 alone is equal to all Islamophobic
incidents for the entire 7-year period combined. And yet, our administration rarely if ever
mentions antisemitism without referencing Islamophobia in the same sentence,” it stated.

An Anti-Defamation League spokesperson told The College Fix that UVA has received an “F” grade on its analysis of the university’s protection of Jewish students partially due to “having high rates of severe and non-severe incidents relative to total Jewish student population, a pro-BDS vote passed by the student government, and hostile anti-Zionist student groups on campus.”

In addition, UVA lost points for “not having antisemitism included in its Code of Conduct, non-discrimination policy or related policies” and for “not offering mandatory antisemitism education for all members of the campus community,” a group spokesperson told The Fix via email.

However, “the grade was updated to a D in June 2024 for the University’s swift response in handling the Spring 2024 encampment.”

Gardner’s report states that rather than addressing antisemitism “the administration created a ‘Task Force on Religious Diversity and Belonging’—thus once again failing to specifically recognize antisemitism as a distinct problem, while genuflecting to the altar of moral equivalence.”

In his statement to The Fix, Gardner pointed out that “[d]espite the fact that the Jewish people have been the most oppressed group in history, about 40% of whom were slaughtered worldwide less than 80 years ago, Jews are seen by DEI programs as being oppressors.”

“There is no doubt as demonstrated by specific examples in my article, that antisemitic acts are treated much differently than acts against perceived oppressed groups. The current administration has been defined by its double standards in numerous instances and antisemitism is the natural fruit of the DEI narrative,” Gardner said.

When asked to clarify criticism that addressing antisemitism may stifle legitimate political debate, Gardner argued that a “civil and academic debate on the Israel/Palestinian conflict can take place without resorting to harassment, intimidation, threatening behavior and illegal activities.”

“You don’t notice throngs of masked Jewish students parading about and calling for the destruction of Islamic countries,” he said.

Gardner also told The Fix that UVA may have self-interested reasons for failing to counter antisemitism on campus: “It would be interesting to find out how much money UVA receives from Middle Eastern sources.”

MORE: UVA rejects student and faculty calls for divestment from Israel

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