Harvard among more than a dozen schools to receive failing grade on ADL's Campus Antisemitism Report Card

The Anti-Defamation League gave Harvard University and 12 other schools a failing grade for policies to protect Jewish students from antisemitism on campus.

The ADL said it selected 85 of the top national and liberal arts colleges for assessment this year and chose those with the highest Jewish student populations. It assigned grades from A through F in a Campus Antisemitism Report Card released Thursday.

"ADL produced this Report Card during a time of incredible volatility on college campuses," the organization said on its website. "It takes the temperature at a moment in time and provides a roadmap for improving campus climate."

Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and the University of Virginia were among the schools to receive a letter grade of "F."

Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, numerous incidents of antisemitism have been reported at U.S. schools, with some resulting in arrests.

In November, the U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation into a half-dozen U.S. colleges and universities and a local school district for alleged antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents. It opened a separate probe into Harvard following a complaint that alleged the Ivy League school discriminated against Jewish and Israeli students when it failed to respond to alleged incidents of harassment, The Boston Globe reported.

In December, former Harvard President Claudine Gay and two other elite university presidents testified before the House Education Committee on campus antisemitism. But Gay drew heated criticism for appearing to sidestep the issue during her testimony. Gay announced her resignation in January.

A spokesperson for Harvard said: "Antisemitism has no place in the Harvard community. We remain steadfast in our commitment to combating antisemitism and hate, in whatever form it manifests itself."

In March, the Ivy League shared its ongoing efforts to combat antisemitism with the House Education and Workforce Committee. Over the last several months, the school has taken steps to strengthen campus security, clarify policies, increase ways to report harassment and has organized community spaces where Jewish and Israeli students can connect.

MIT, Princeton University and the University of Virginia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The ADL said it worked with a panel of experts to come up with a list of 21 criteria for assessment that was split into three broad groups: administrative action and policies, incidents on campus, and Jewish student life on campus.

It provided each school with a questionnaire, ultimately receiving responses from 84% of the campuses it assessed. ADL also conducted research to determine which campus fulfilled the criteria and looked at public information including high-profile investigations.

Twenty-four schools received a "D," 29 got a "C" and 17 schools received a "B." Only two schools — Brandeis University in Massachusetts and Elon University in North Carolina — received an "A."

"Every campus should get an A — that’s not grade inflation, that’s the minimum that every group on every campus expects," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. "Like all students, Jewish students deserve to feel safe and supported on campus. They deserve a learning environment free from antisemitism and hate. But that hasn’t been the experience with antisemitism running rampant on campus since even before October 7."

The ADL noted that Brandeis University was the first private university to revoke its recognition of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and quickly deemed phrases including "From the River to the Sea" as hate speech.

Elon University was praised for encouraging the community to learn more about the Oct. 7 attack and hosting an event attended by more than 200 students, faculty and staff. NBC News reached out to Elon for comment.

Brandeis President Ron Liebowitz noted that the school was founded by the Jewish community “to counter the antisemitism and quotas on Jewish participation in higher education.”

“From its beginning, Brandeis has been open to all qualified individuals and has opposed hate toward other groups; our founders knew that hate often begins but rarely ends at antisemitism. We are proud that the ADL recognizes our continued support for our Jewish students, faculty and staff at a time when some campuses are struggling to protect those members of their community,” Liebowitz continued.

Other campuses still have work to do, Greenblatt said.

"As I travel the country, I’m constantly hearing from Jewish families agonizing over where they will send their kids to college," he said.

"School leadership must make serious changes to support Jewish communities on their campus; we expect nothing less. Along with the Report Card, we’re providing guidelines and resources for how schools can improve campus climate and therefore improve their grades, and we look forward to working with them and other partners to achieve that reasonable goal.”