Even as student-driven protests against Israel and the war in Gaza have quieted down on college campuses, two new Anti-Defamation League reports reveal rising levels of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in university classrooms nationwide driven by faculty, noting that some instructors are still presenting one-sided views on Israel as fact, assigning readings by terrorist groups and offering extra credit for attending anti-Israel protests.

“The Faculty Factor: Inside the Networks Driving Anti-Israel and Anti-Zionist Activism on Campus,” published on Wednesday, documents how faculty groups, unions and networks drive anti-Israel and anti-Zionist actions at universities. The report claims that faculty networks such as Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine and the American Association of University Professors have shielded anti-Israel student groups from discipline since the 2024 campus anti-Israel encampments, detailing methods used by influential organizations to provide institutional cover.

The report follows a 2025 ADL and Academic Engagement Network survey that found that 73% of the 209 Jewish faculty members polled from universities around the U.S. reported observing antisemitic activities or statements from faculty, administrators or staff on campuses, including calls to boycott Israel and doxxing campaigns. Forty-four percent said they were aware of an organized Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapter on their campus.

A second report, “Antisemitism Among Faculty and in the Classroom: Trends, Patterns and Institutional Dynamics,” highlights anti-Israel narratives presented to students through regular course study since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and the ensuing Gaza war.

The report cites incidents of professors presenting one-sided narratives, framing lectures around a single political view and treating contested claims as settled fact. In some cases, courses feature extensive criticism of Israel without engaging substantively with counterarguments or historical complexities, according to the ADL. 

For instance, at Stanford University, the course “Palestine Across Disciplines: An Introduction” asked in its description, “How do we talk about Palestine and Palestinian life in the midst of devastation and genocide?” At Yale, a seminar description referred to Israel as a “settler-colonial structure of occupation and violence.” And at Princeton, a course titled “Gender, Reproduction and Genocide” focused on Gaza and featured readings that described “Israel’s genocidal project” as unfolding since the “1948 Nakba.” 

In 2024, University of California, Berkeley students in a history course were reportedly assigned to read Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani, a former spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, alongside materials on Kanafani’s fellow PFLP member and plane hijacker Leila Khaled that explored armed struggle and Palestinian resistance.

At the University of Missouri, a journalism student reported that a professor used a film about a former mayor of the West Bank city of Ramallah in a required course to push a personal anti-Israel view, as he called Israel an occupying force that aims to kill all Palestinians.

In extreme cases, professors use their platforms to direct students to oppose protections against antisemitism, according to the report. It pointed to an incident where a California State University, Los Angeles professor allegedly urged his class to petition Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto bill AB 715, California’s landmark K-12 antisemitism prevention law.

In response to these reports, the ADL announced it will launch the Campus Classroom Reporting tool to provide a confidential channel for the public to report classroom antisemitism, aiming to improve upon what it says are low reporting rates. Alongside this, ADL released best practice guides and model policies to assist institutions in addressing discrimination, tenure and academic freedom issues.