In times of crisis, we expect our community institutions to stand firmly with those who need them most. Yet as antisemitism surges on college campuses across America, Hillel International, the very organization whose sole purpose is to support Jewish students, seems increasingly concerned with appeasing everyone except the vulnerable Jewish students they’re meant to protect.
As the president and CEO of Hillel International, Adam Lehman recently issued a deeply troubling statement expressing “concerns” about government actions to combat campus antisemitism. While claiming to support accountability for those violating laws and college codes, he simultaneously undermines these necessary enforcement actions by suggesting that they might “inadvertently fuel further antisemitism.”
This doublespeak is not merely disappointing. It’s dangerous.
I’ve witnessed this pattern before. In May 2024, when a Shabbat meal at the University of Pennsylvania’s Hillel had to be shut down because the university couldn’t guarantee Jewish students’ safety amid antisemitic protests, I posted about this troubling situation on social media. A Hillel representative promptly called asking me to remove my post. I refused.
Just a month earlier, as the situation at Columbia University became so severe that various rabbis advised Jewish students to leave campus for their own safety—advice that was echoed by the Biden administration as physical intimidation targeting Jewish students intensified—Hillel contradicted this counsel, telling students to stay and assuring them the campus was safe. Events proved otherwise.
Now, when the government finally takes meaningful action to hold accountable those who have created hostile environments for Jewish students—deporting foreign students who violated their visa terms through illegal activity and withholding grants from institutions enabling antisemitism—Hillel expresses “concerns” about such measures.
Let’s be clear: There is nothing “inadvertent” about addressing antisemitism head-on. The suggestion that enforcing laws against those who harass and intimidate Jewish students might somehow feed into “tropes about outsized Jewish influence” is itself a capitulation to antisemitic thinking. We cannot allow fear of antisemitic reactions to prevent us from taking necessary actions against antisemitism.
What message does this send to Jewish students? That their protection might be sacrificed on the altar of avoiding antisemitic backlash? That standing up for their rights is somehow problematic because it might confirm hateful stereotypes?
Meanwhile, the Jewish community has rallied. Many of our students are becoming more engaged with Jewish life, with some even running in the upcoming World Zionist Congress elections. In the face of hatred, they’re embracing their identities more strongly than ever.
To have the organization that supposedly represents these courageous young people issue a statement undermining efforts to protect them is mind-boggling.
The Jewish community has always been committed to tikkun olam, efforts to repair the world. We contribute enormously to social justice, humanitarian aid and making the world better for everyone. But we cannot neglect our first responsibility: the protection of our own family.
When Jewish students are being terrorized on campuses—harassed, threatened and made to feel unsafe at their educational institutions—and the government finally takes this seriously by enforcing existing laws and regulations, Jewish organizations should be the first to stand in wholehearted support of these efforts.
Due process is indeed important, as the president of Hillel notes, but the suggestion that current enforcement actions lack due process is unfounded. Foreign students who engage in illegal activity have always faced potential visa revocation. Universities that permit hostile environments have always risked federal funding consequences under Title VI. What’s changed is not the rules but the willingness to apply them to protect Jewish students.
The time for equivocation is over. Students need Jewish institutions that will advocate unambiguously for their safety and well-being. They need organizations that recognize that “dialogue across difference” becomes impossible when one side is subjected to intimidation and threats.
If Hillel International truly wishes to fulfill its mission as the foundation for Jewish campus life, it must recalibrate its priorities. The safety and dignity of Jewish students must come first, not concerns about how protecting them might be perceived.
Our message should be unequivocal: We stand with Jewish students. We demand their protection. And we support all lawful measures necessary to ensure it.
Anything less is an abdication of responsibility.
