NEW YORK — Back when Julia Jassey was a first year at the University of Chicago, she joined the French Club. But instead of baguette and banter, she got her first taste of antisemitism, an experience that changed her career path.
“There was a student who made a joke about Nazis and the Holocaust. I was uncomfortable, other students were uncomfortable. Growing up in Long Island I was never the only Jew in the room. I didn’t know what antisemitism was like. That’s when realized I wanted to become someone who knew how to respond to antisemitism,” Jassey, 23, told The Times of Israel.
Today Jassey is out on the front lines combating campus antisemitism as co-founder and CEO of the non-profit Jewish on Campus (JOC). The student-powered organization, which advocates for Jewish students, recently announced a new partnership with the ADL.
In addition to including a series of co-created educational sessions and resources for JOC student leaders, the two organizations will co-sponsor national events to fight antisemitism on college campuses. The announcement comes as antisemitism continues to surge nationwide, with no signs of abating.
Indeed 93 percent of American Jews said antisemitism is a very or somewhat serious problem in the United States, with 53% saying the problem is very serious, according to a recent survey by the American Jewish Committee.
When it comes to college and university campuses, 26% of American Jews said fears of antisemitic backlash meant they avoided expressing their views on Israel. One in five reported feeling excluded from a group or event because of their Jewish identity. And one in four reported feeling uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event because they are Jewish.
Since Jassey, who majored in political science and minored in Jewish studies, launched JOC, the organization has compiled thousands of instances of antisemitism from Jewish students worldwide. JOC, which began as an Instagram account and is funded through donations and grants, uses those stories to help raise awareness about campus antisemitism.
It also established the Jewish on Campus Student Union. The first democratically-elected representative body for Jewish students, Jassey said it’s modeled after the European Jewish Student Union and the Latin American Jewish Student Union. Earlier this month, the organization launched the first campus chapter of the Jewish Student Union at Columbia University.
Above all, Jassey said, JOC is positioned to bring students from campuses large and small together to combat antisemitism.
“Our civic duty is to educate each other. We are in a moment that should be seen as a call to action,” Jassey said.
The Times of Israel spoke to Jassey over Zoom in late February, as she was set to speak a few days later at the Anti-Defamation League’s annual summit.
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Times of Israel: Jewish on Campus started as an Instagram account designed to document antisemitism on campuses. How does social media help, and how does it hinder, discussion about antisemitism?
Julia Jassey: We know that algorithms feed off controversy, and the angrier you get the more you click. It can be pretty toxic. But it can also be informative; you can make connections and exchange ideas across cities and countries.
At this point, there’s no jumping off social media, so you have to know how to use it to be effective.
Given the current situation, are you hopeful we can return to what has been described as the Golden Age of American Jewry?
If I didn’t believe we could return to that, I wouldn’t be doing what I do. I’d make aliyah [Hebrew for immigrating to Israel]. I’ve realized that we’ve always kept going, we’ve always found a way through, and I think that can be motivating. As a people, we have a legacy of surviving.
Don’t get me wrong, the levels of antisemitism we are seeing are frightening. We are in a moment of extreme tension and strife. There was [the Unite the Right rally in] Charlottesville and [the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in] Pittsburgh and now what’s happening on campuses. But we can’t give up. We can have an equal experience here as Americans, like everybody else.
What’s one of the greater challenges facing students?
One of the biggest things students struggle with is the absence of empathy on campus. The response to an incident almost never includes Jewish students, they are almost always excluded from the conversation.
What do you think is missing in the discussions about campus antisemitism?
What’s missing is that the antisemitism we see on campus doesn’t always start out as virulent hatred. It starts with young people at university wanting to be involved in something they think of as good, and over time that turns to a virulent hatred.
Also, what’s missing is the idea that what happens on campus isn’t just about campus. These students will become the decision makers of tomorrow and that could be a huge problem down the line. We’re lucky right now that we have a pro-Israel and pro-Jewish president and government.
Can you expand on that?
What’s become normative on campus is now becoming normative off campus — globally.
The moment a student, or anyone, expresses empathy toward Israel, Jews, or Zionists, it’s considered a barrier to entry to certain clubs and organizations. It’s becoming a real challenge for students and it’s a stigma we need to break.
There has been a culture, especially since October 7, that requires Jews to pass a litmus test, whether they are a Zionist or think Israel should exist. That’s not okay. It’s led to so many people hiding their identities and isolating [themselves]. It’s led them to not being able to exist in a space in their full expression of who they are.
I would say to people thinking of leaving that we can’t cede these spaces. America will be a place for Jews as long as we demand that it is. We have to keep holding our ground.
