Since Hamas' October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel, antisemitic activity has stirred American colleges and universities. But this past weekend, New York City was the setting of the Rise & Respond: Global Student Summit Against Antisemitism, an event that went the other direction – in favor of Jews.
Susan Tuchman, director of the Center for Law and Justice for the Zionist Organization of America, says the nonprofit Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) hosted the summit that was attended by more than 300 students.
"This conference is really just one of the many, many important ways … to bring people together, to support students and engage students and energize them to make sure that they know that they're not alone," says Tuchman.
Organizations like CAM and ZOA want to give students the tools and strategies they need to effectively address harassment and discrimination.
"That's what that conference did," she asserts. "That is what we do every day at the ZOA. We have a campus department that works directly with college students across the country. We educate them about antisemitism, about Israel, [and] give them the facts that they need to dispel the lies that they're hearing about Israel on their campuses."
Tuchman says this is a job for everyone.
"We need help from the Jewish community, from the non-Jewish community," she tells AFN. "This is such a serious and alarming problem."
The conference featured speeches from notable figures like Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-New York), who emphasized the need for federal action against campus antisemitism and the importance of standing firm against hate.
Meanwhile, losing more than $400 million in federal funding has compelled Columbia University to come to an agreement with the Trump administration.
"I am happy to see that we are now moving toward Columbia University being a welcoming place for Jewish students and a safe place for Jewish students," Tuchman responds. "Colombia has really been a campus where Jewish students have been threatened, physically assaulted, prevented from getting into buildings that they need to go to, prevented from going to classes they need to attend. Buildings have been vandalized."
Investigations into the university's antisemitism continue, while it also faces a federal civil rights investigation for a December 2023 incident in which administrators reportedly ignored a complaint about swastika graffiti throughout Hamilton Hall.
And despite leadership's stated willingness to comply with the agreement on antisemitism, masked protestors openly violated the mask ban at Columbia's main campus Monday, when loved ones of October 7 victims filed a lawsuit alleging that anti-Israel organizations like Columbia University Apartheid Divest and Columbia's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter knew about Hamas' plans to carry out the deadly terror attack in Israel before it happened.
Still, Tuchman hopes there will be more positive change at Columbia and at other schools as the Trump administration combats antisemitism.
Her organization has been fighting antisemitism on college campuses for decades, but the problem has skyrocketed since the 2023 terrorist attack on Israel. Tuchman laments that Jewish students have been shown little compassion and have faced more problems.
"All of us need to do whatever we can to support them," the attorney submits.
