When Jewish students in the University of Central Florida system return to school this month, there will be new rules in place to prevent occupied buildings, destroyed property, physical violence and anti-Israel coursework that marred campuses nationwide last year. 

Over summer break, UCF’s Board of Trustees, responding to protests spurred by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, approved a campus-wide ban on camping, months after dozens of students were arrested across Florida schools for participating in illegal anti-Israel encampment demonstrations. Meanwhile, the state’s university system sent orders to university presidents to flag any course descriptions and syllabi that might contain what it calls “antisemitic or anti-Israeli bias.” 

Beyond the Sunshine State, several schools nationwide have also used the relative quiet of summer break to institute new or clarify existing policies that deter encampments and other protest methods that could be used for anti-Israel demonstrations. On Monday, University of California President Michael Drake directed the chancellors of all UC campuses to establish and make public rules against encampments, unauthorized structures, restricting free movement and masking to hide identity. “These policies have generally been in place in various forms for many years, [and] warrant particular emphasis in light of recent campus protests,” Drake wrote to chancellors.

But experts remain skeptical that elite colleges will enforce their own rules. Mark Yudof, chair of the Academic Engagement Network, told Jewish Insider that he expects “the encampments, disruptions and other antisemitic or anti-Zionist behaviors will return on many campuses.” 

Adam Lehman, CEO of Hillel International, told JI that he “unfortunately anticipates continued drumbeat of disruptions on campuses this fall.”

“That is a simple function of reality. There remain pockets of students, and non-students, who are committed to using and abusing campus spaces,” Lehman said. 

As Jewish students began their summer vacations, many had hoped that a year marked by turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war was behind them. But as fall semesters commence throughout August and September, Israel’s war in Gaza shows no signs of slowing down and Jewish students say they have been given little indication that campus will feel safer than it did in the spring as colleges struggle to balance students’ right to express political speech with protecting Jewish students from intimidation.

“I am nearly certain that this year will be worse. Jewish students are rightly apprehensive about returning to campus,” Eliana Goldin, a rising fourth-year political science major at Columbia University who co-chairs the pro-Israel campus group Aryeh, told JI.

However, Lehman also expressed optimism that the upcoming semester could be “less problematic” for Jewish students compared to last year. Hillel has “pursued several initiatives in the last three months to try to improve the prospects for safe and sane Jewish student life on campus,” he said. 

At the urging of Hillel, Lehman said, many campuses have strengthened their policies when it comes to protest activity and have taken steps to prepare for “more aggressive enforcement of those policies.” Additionally, legal recourse that has taken place over the summer, including court cases and Title VI settlements, could lead to a safer campus climate, Lehman said. He added that Hillel is using a series of grants to kick off the year with “major welcome events” for Jewish students, such as “Fresh Fest” and Shabbat dinners, “so that it’s clear as they come or return to campus that our campuses are safe and welcoming environments.”  

Of the six elite universities that saw some of the highest profile anti-Jewish incidents last year — Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and University of Pennsylvania —  only Cornell, Columbia and Harvard responded to inquiries from JI asking what actions they will take to keep Jewish students safe.

“[Cornell] will enforce its content-neutral time, place and manner policies that protect the rights of all in our community. As we begin the new academic year, a wide range of programs, activities, and courses will promote these democratic principles,” Joel Malina, vice president for university relations, told JI. 

A spokesperson for Columbia pointed to an Aug. 9 announcement from the school’s COO, Cas Holloway, that campus access will now be restricted to only affiliates who have a valid ID “to keep our community safe given reports of potential disruptions at Columbia.”

Columbia University did not respond to a follow-up question from JI about how it plans to enforce rules this year compared to last year. According to a summary of Columbia disciplinary hearings from the end of last semester that was released on Monday by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, of the 40 students arrested when Columbia brought police to the campus to remove a student encampment on April 18, just two remain suspended. The remaining students are in good standing and can enroll in classes while waiting for their disciplinary hearings, although roughly half are on “disciplinary probation.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chair of the committee, said in a statement that the lack of consequences for students was “reprehensible.” 

Goldin’s pessimism that the Columbia campus environment would improve comes as her school saw a major leadership change over the summer. Earlier this month, it was announced that the three Columbia deans who were placed on leave in June after exchanging antisemitic text messages would resign. 

Columbia University’s president, Minouche Shafik, abruptly resigned last week, several months after the end of a chaotic school year that saw her testify before Congress about antisemitism and navigate the fallout from the first anti-Israel encampment in the nation. 

Dr. Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia’s Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president. Goldin said “the only hope” is that Armstrong will be “able to restore Columbia’s values and integrity and that she can put a strong foot down to return campus back to normal.” 

But some would-be Columbia students have given up on the prestigious New York school. For the first time in at least 20 years, Ramaz, a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school on the Upper East Side, is not sending any graduates to Columbia. (One Ramaz student enrolled in Columbia’s School of General Studies, but not at the college, while three Ramaz students are reportedly attending Columbia’s sister school, Barnard College. A Ramaz spokesperson declined to provide JI with Columbia enrollment numbers from previous years.)

Last month at Harvard, administration drafted a new set of rules, some of which are similar to the UCF orders. The Harvard guidelines would prohibit daytime and overnight camping, excessive noise, unapproved signage and chalk or paint displays on campus property — all of which overwhelmed the campus last spring amid anti-Israel protests. 

In a statement to JI, a Harvard spokesperson said that “Harvard is committed to ensuring that all of our Jewish and Israeli students can pursue their intellectual and personal interests, and feel a sense of belonging on campus.” The spokesperson said that the university has “taken numerous steps to maintain the safety and security of our campus community in the year ahead and will continue to take action so that every student can thrive at Harvard.” 

Most of the policies outlined in the new document draw on existing Harvard policies that went largely unenforced last semester, leaving the Jewish community skeptical that the policies will be enforced this year.

“Not only were most of these new policies not actually new, but have been repeatedly violated by students in an effort to harass Jews,” Shabbos Kestenbaum, a recent Harvard graduate who is suing the university over its handling of campus antisemitism, told JI earlier this month.

Yudof, the former president of the University of California and a law professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Shira Goodman, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior director of campaigns and outreach, both warned that the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks will likely be a particularly fraught period for Jewish students if administrators don’t start preparing now. 

“The key is to have reasonable rules and procedures and to enforce them,” Yudoff said.

Goodman said that even with university leadership changes, the ADL is “still very much concerned that we will see renewed efforts on these campuses and across the country to disrupt campus academic and extracurricular activities, especially as we move closer to the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.” She pointed to a four-page set of joint recommendations released over the summer by leading Jewish communal organizations, including the ADL and Hillel, in an effort to compel universities to enforce their own codes of conduct on campus. Goodman said, “We urge university administrators to follow the guidelines set forth.”