Jewish undergraduates have been leaving elite Northeastern campuses, a trend that accelerated after the October 7, 2023 Hamas invasion and ensuing protests and backlash. Anti-Israel campus activism and incidents of anti-Semitism have been concentrated at a small number of hyper-selective schools, prompting high-school seniors and parents to reconsider applications. Hillel data shows Jewish enrollment at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania fell 3 to 5 percent from 2023 to 2025. A 2024 Hillel survey of 427 Jewish parents found nearly two-thirds removed at least one college from application lists over anti-Semitism concerns. Some admitted students opt for campuses perceived as more welcoming, and selective colleges outside the Northeast are actively recruiting these students.
The recent wave of anti-Israel campus activism, and accompanying incidents of anti-Semitism, have mostly taken place at a small number of hyper-selective schools. And high-school seniors have noticed. The population of Jewish undergraduates at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania shrank by 3 to 5 percent from 2023 to 2025, according to data gathered by Hillel, the national Jewish student organization. (Only Hillel tracks these numbers, because colleges generally don't monitor religious affiliation.)
But anecdotal reports suggest that a significant number of high-achieving Jewish teenagers are deciding not to apply to them at all. In Hillel's 2024 survey of 427 Jewish parents, nearly two-thirds said that they had eliminated a college from their child's application list because of concerns about anti-Semitism. And nearly every rabbi and professor I spoke with for this article knew students who, once admitted to an elite northeastern college, opted to go somewhere they perceived as more welcoming.
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