Survey is measuring antisemitism on campus
A national survey of current and recent university students is currently underway.
Bren Carlill
The survey is a project of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) in partnership with the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Scanlon Foundation.
The survey is being conducted by the Social Research Centre, a polling company owned by the Australian National University.
The objective of the survey is to measure the levels of antisemitism on campuses.
ZFA Director of Public Affairs Bren Carlill told J-Wire, “When we speak to university leaders, they tell us they don’t have an antisemitism problem on campus. But Jewish students relate many stories about antisemitic incidents that are happening at their universities. It’s important that we objectively measure the situation, so we can take that data to universities.”
AUJS President Alissa Foster agrees. “We want every single Jewish student to understand just how important reporting and writing down these sorts of incidents are, no matter how big or small.
Alissa Foster
“It’s that information that allows us to start that educational process, with the universities and with other students, to understand what antisemitism looks like and how we can better educate on ways to combat it.
“Without the data and with just anecdotal stories, it’s very difficult to do that, so we hope this survey fills that gap.”
The survey asks Jewish university students (or anyone who was a student at any time since 2018) not just whether they experienced antisemitism at university but what that antisemitism looked like and, importantly, whether they have modified their behaviour in order to avoid antisemitism, such as choosing not to wear jewellery or clothing that could reveal them as Jewish, or choosing not to make a complaint for fear it would affect their marks.
Dr Carlill said, “If the results from the survey reflect the anecdotes we’ve been hearing, they will help convince universities that they need to do more to combat antisemitism on campus.”
The survey is live until 3 April. About 4000 students have been emailed the survey by the Social Research Centre with an invitation to complete it. Organisers are hoping as many as possible will do so. For those who didn’t receive the emailed invitation, they can access the survey by going to www.aujs.com.au/srcsurvey
Dr Carlill encouraged everyone who was a Jewish university student any time between 2018 and today to complete the survey. “We want highly credible and highly accurate results”, he said. “And this means we want as many eligible people as possible to fill it in.”
