US humanities doctoral students more likely to hold anti-Jewish prejudices — Jerusalem Post

Doctoral students in the humanities in the United States were more likely than other graduate students to demonstrate anti-Jewish prejudices and hostility toward Israel. The authors of the study “Antisemitism and Prejudice Among US Graduate Students” reached these conclusions, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Survey results

The study was conducted by Graham Wright, Shahar Hecht, Daniel Nussbaum, Samantha Shortall, and Leonard Saxe of the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. The Steinhardt Social Research Institute and Generation Lab also took part in the work.

The online survey ran from March 5 to April 30 and included 3,107 graduate students from 222 four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The sample included doctoral students in STEM fields, social sciences and humanities, as well as students in professional programs in social work, education, business, and law.

Overall, 62% of respondents demonstrated a low level of prejudice toward Jews, Israel, Muslims, Black people, and Asian Americans. At the same time, an analysis of ten statements concerning prejudice showed that 9% of respondents belonged to a group hostile toward Jews, 11% to a group hostile toward Israel, and 2% displayed hostility toward several minorities at once.

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Differences between fields of study

Among humanities doctoral students, 26% fell into the category hostile toward Israel, while 12% fell into the category hostile toward Jews. At the same time, most members of this group, as well as graduate students overall, had a low level of prejudice.

Additionally, 41% of humanities doctoral students described the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an issue of high personal importance — the highest figure among all educational fields studied. Among graduate students overall, domestic political issues in the United States, including American democracy, racism, and immigration policy, had greater personal importance.

Attitudes toward protests

Surveyed international students were less likely than students from the United States to express hostility toward Israel — 4% — and were also less likely to support protest actions that disrupt the usual order. At the same time, they had higher rates of expressed prejudice toward Jews — 17%, Black people — 19%, and Asian Americans — 9%.

According to the study, 79% of graduate students consider violence unacceptable under any circumstances. However, a majority considered actions such as occupying university buildings or shouting down speakers acceptable at least in certain cases. Support for such actions was more widespread among students with extremely liberal political views.