Statewide rise in antisemitism doesn’t mirror BU’s campus climate, Jewish leaders say

Massachusetts recorded 147 anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2024, the highest total reported for any group listed that year, and a 23.5% increase from 2023, according to a state report released last month.

However, according to Jewish campus leaders, this increase is not fully reflected at Boston University, which has the largest Jewish population among private universities in the country, according to Hillel International. 

“Compared to the global trends or even the national trends, BU has been a really safe place for Jewish students,” said Yisroel Posner, Rabbi of BU Chabad, a Jewish community center on campus.

Sophomore Katie Gross, co-president of BU’s chapter of Jewish on Campus — an organization that aims to combat antisemitism on college campuses — said they have “infrequently” needed to report instances of antisemitism recently. 

“There’s been cases where there’s been posters with swastikas that people put up, but that happened last year,” Gross said. “This year, luckily, [there’s only been a few incidents], but I think it’s nice to have an organization that is dedicated to [reporting them], so students can feel safe and have somewhere to report it without going directly to university.”

Gross said members of BU’s Jewish on Campus chapter send their reports to representatives of the national organization, who then offer further assistance on how to work with the University to prevent future incidents. 

The BU chapter reported the Quinobequin Student Front for Palestine encampment to their national partners in September, but ultimately did not take action because BU addressed the protest immediately, Gross said. 

While it’s important to report antisemitic incidents, Posner said, it’s not the entirety of the Jewish experience.

“It’s not like Jews are cowering in fear and looking around to make sure nobody is being antisemitic,” Posner said. “They’re really turning inwards and feeling out what that identity means to them, and engaging with it and being proud of it.”

Steven Katz, founding director of BU’s Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, said the “spark plug” for the uptick in anti-Jewish hate crimes was the Israel-Hamas war.

“There are other factors besides The Middle East, but The Middle East became the catalyst for giving excuses for all these other things to explode in the public square,” Katz said. 

He said antisemitism is a deeply rooted tradition of prejudice that has persisted over centuries. When society feels unstable — from economic crises, disease outbreaks or political frustration — individuals turn to false narratives and treat the Jewish community as scapegoats, Katz said.

 “What I try to teach [my students] is, as I see it, the facts of the history of this subject,” he said. “All of the talk about Jews, and what Jews do and don’t do, and what power they have and don’t have, in relation to money and myths about conspiracy theories … they have to be alert to these facts, and when they see them, they hear them, they have to have zero tolerance for them.”