FIU earns top grade from Anti-Defamation League for its support of Jewish students

FIU strives to be a place where students can live in accordance with their beliefs, share their opinions and feel safe doing so.

In a confirmation of the university’s success on that front, it this week earned an “A” grade from the Anti-Defamation League – one of only eight higher-education institutions around the country that received a top score. The organization surveyed 135 schools to understand how each serves Jewish students in an atmosphere free of hostility.

The ADL refers to its annual Campus Antisemitism Report Card as a “tool” in support of students and families looking for information “about the current state of antisemitism on campus and how universities and colleges are responding.” Schools are graded from A to F based on 30 criteria in three categories.

The authors state that their analysis “combines objective data with certain subjective impressions . . . as well as our beliefs about how to weigh different factors.”

The ADL in 2024 debuted its report card in response to a significant spike in anti-Israel protests and harassment targeting Jewish students.

Among those contacted for the survey was Jon Warech, executive director of Hillel at FIU, the university chapter of the Jewish organization that offers weekly dinners, opportunities for travel and more to enrich the lives of students “culturally, educationally and socially” on campuses around the world.

“I'm thrilled that FIU got an A,” Warech says. “I think it’s well deserved. The administration has been fantastic. The campus police have been fantastic. Faculty and staff have been fantastic. FIU is a great place to be a Jewish student.”

Warech says that critical to making students feel secure is the attitude of those charged with the task.

“You can tell they really care about the well-being of all students,” Warech says, “and so when there's an uptick in antisemitism around the country, FIU stepped up to the plate and consistently did the right thing.”

Hillel International on its web site reports, “Since the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents against Jewish students on college campuses have reached alarmingly high rates, increasing by 700% from 2022 to 2023.”

Says Warech, “The administration here at FIU, they were never going to allow any of that, and it makes our students feel good, comfortable. And it's not, again, just because they're Jewish. I think [the administration] would react this way no matter what the situation was.”

Warech cites statements made by then-President Kenneth A. Jessell and universitywide emails sent during the height of protests nationally around Israel’s retaliation for the Hamas attack. Jessell took those opportunities to reiterate campus policies around behavior that breeched the limits of protected speech, Warech says. He also praised Jessell’s mandating that protests at FIU take place prior to sunset to help ensure students’ safety after dark, particularly as outsiders have the legal right to participate in such activities on public university property.

Beyond protection from violence and harassment, the ADL report card takes into consideration things that contribute to positive campus life.

“How many universities have their own Jewish museum?” Warech asked, referring to FIU’s museum on Miami Beach that tells the story of the Florida Jewish community’s contributions to industry and the arts. He also mentioned Hillel’s annually partnering with the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs to present more than a dozen programs during Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Week, in January, and tipped his hat to Miros food truck, the MMC staple that serves kosher food during the lunch hour. Additionally, several other groups on or near campus, such as Chabad at FIU, also support Jewish students.

FIU is home to between 3,000 and 3,500 Jewish students, or between 6% and 7% of the university’s overall enrollment, according to Warech. He adds that the university Jewish community also includes faculty and staff in addition to local parents, who receive occasional invitations to attend the traditional Friday night Shabbat dinner on campus

Only half of the schools in Florida’s State University System were surveyed and ranked as part of the annual report, which examines higher-education institutions with “significant Jewish populations.” FIU was the only public university in Florida to receive an A, with most of the others earning a B.

The news and its timing are both good for FIU, Warech adds, as high school seniors typically make their college decisions in the spring. “A lot of people around the country will be talking about FIU in these coming days,” he says.