Founded in 2023 in response to surging antisemitism on American campuses, the Brandeis University Presidential Initiative to Counter Antisemitism in Higher Education honors Brandeis’ distinct responsibility to the Jewish community and to the ideals of higher education. Read a message from President Liebowitz.
Upcoming Events
Executive Seminar on Antisemitism for Jewish Community Center Leaders
Message from Brandeis President Ronald D. Liebowitz
Brandeis is the singular secular university in the United States founded in 1948 by the American Jewish community specifically to counter widespread antisemitism and bigotry in higher education. Though other universities opened their doors to Jews and other underrepresented groups since Brandeis’s founding, the tide has once again turned, and Jews find themselves in a more precarious situation than ever on many college and university campuses.
The Brandeis University Initiative to Counter Antisemitism in Higher Education is meeting the need of educating university administrators by convening leaders to share and provide a platform for discussion of the most up-to-date and reliable research methods for recognizing and addressing campus-based antisemitism. Through various symposia and residential programming* these leaders will gain trustworthy and practical guidance on ways to engage their own students, faculty, and staff to help curtail this millennial-old scourge that has once again become prevalent in society.
The Initiative will also offer programming to K-12 educational leaders and educators. Engaging and sensitizing them to the ills, sources, and impact of antisemitic attitudes and behavior will help to address the impact of antisemitism early in our students’ personal development—before they set foot on the campus quad.
*Events for the Initiative are made possible by the generous support from the Robert Kraft Family and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS).
“Brandeis must honor and strengthen the values upon which it was founded — including fighting all forms of bigotry and antisemitism with clarity and conviction — to galvanize higher education peers and the Jewish community to act.”
— President Ronald D. Liebowitz
“Antisemitism is an enduring scourge that has been woefully understudied. Brandeis can refresh higher education’s role and response. Rooted in academic inquiry, Brandeis’ initiative on antisemitism will spur action and lasting change.”
Deborah Lipstadt, MA ‘72, PhD ‘86, HHL ‘19
Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, U.S. Department of State