A new report from the advocacy group Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF) finds that US university leadership's response to campus tensions is decisive in whether Jewish students feel safe or targeted, with support or hostility varying sharply between institutions. The 2025-26 Campus Climate Brief ranks 14 campuses as "most concerning" and 17 as "most supportive" for Jewish students across 17 states, arguing that colleges willing to actively back Jewish and Zionist students tend to see thriving, welcoming communities, while others have allowed anti-Zionist sentiment to take hold institutionally.

ACF assessed schools against five criteria: recorded incidents, institutional response to antisemitism, anti-Israel organising, the state of Jewish campus life, and the legal and structural environment. Among the ten campuses named most concerning were Middlebury College, The New School, DePaul University, Smith College, Sarah Lawrence College, San Francisco State University, the University of Texas at Dallas, UC Berkeley, Oberlin College and George Mason University, with further "honourable mentions" including the City University of New York system and the University of Washington. Cited incidents included antisemitic graffiti and "wanted" posters targeting Jewish regents at Berkeley, a vigil advertised by a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter honouring a Hamas leader, and a Justice Department lawsuit against Berkeley over an alleged hostile environment; San Francisco State disputed its inclusion, citing its Hillel partnership and antisemitism-prevention programme.