Jewish students shouldn’t have to choose between safety and silence

Rhode Island law student Jadyn Turner (third from right) meets with Rep. Gabe Amo, D-R.I., on Capitol Hill as part of a delegation from the Jewish Grad Organization.

Courtesy Jewish Grad Organization

For many Jewish students, antisemitism on campus and in the classroom is not an abstract issue that we can simply ignore. It impacts where we sit and what we say in class, the clubs we join and even whether we express our Jewish identity at all.

As a Rhode Island law student and leader of the Jewish affinity club at my law school, I have increasingly found myself listening to peers struggling with these issues. So when students tell me they feel unsafe or uncomfortable simply for being Jewish, I feel a responsibility to take them seriously.

And yet, graduate students like me are often missing from the national conversation about antisemitism on campus. Our experiences are distinct from those of undergraduates: We are researchers, teaching assistants, clinicians, law students and future professionals, navigating specialized academic environments while also thinking about our careers and the communities we will lead.

This is one of the reasons I recently attended the Jewish Grad Organization’s Partners Summit, the only national conference dedicated specifically to Jewish graduate student leaders, and participated in its Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill.

The annual JGO Summit brings together Jewish graduate student leaders from around the country, offering us a rare space to compare experiences, to learn how to build stronger Jewish communities on campus and to hear from experts from both our fields of study and from across the Jewish world.

But it was also a chance to turn those experiences into action.

As part of the Summit, a smaller delegation of 40 graduate student leaders representing campuses all over the United States went to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress, to share our experiences and to advocate for meaningful change.

Preparing for those meetings alongside student leaders from other states opened my eyes to the sheer scale of the impact antisemitism has on Jewish students today. Each of us had stories to share from our own campuses showing a clear pattern: More often than not, antisemitism in graduate school does not come in the form of encampments or people shouting in your face, but an insidious, subtle feeling of exclusion and hostility that shows up constantly — the uncomfortable classroom moments, the hesitation to speak up during a lecture and the burden of self-censorship.

Over the past few years, the climate in higher education has forced too many students to look at other careers or consider leaving school entirely when the hostility becomes overwhelming. Graduate students are constantly performing invisible mental calculations: whether to communicate their views honestly or remain silent to avoid having those views judged through the lens of their Jewish identity and potentially jeopardizing their future job prospects. For too many of us, it has become a full-time job to defend our existence while trying to get an education.

Academic freedom cannot survive in an environment where students must constantly choose between safety and silence. Campus administrators have an important role to play, but even they cannot by themselves fix a cultural climate, festered over decades, that makes it acceptable to exclude Jewish students.

That is why student advocacy must also reach those we have elected to office.

In Washington, D.C., our delegation sat down with lawmakers from across the country and on both sides of the aisle, including my own representative, Gabe Amo, D-R.I. Our conversation with Rep. Amo helped bridge the gap between what Jewish students experience on campus and the policy discussions taking place in Congress. We did not just talk about abstract legal frameworks; we had a genuine conversation about how unchecked campus hostility threatens Jewish students’ safety, education and professional prospects in real life.

Our primary focus during these meetings was advocating for the Jewish American Security Act. JASA addresses critical gaps in the federal response to antisemitism by strengthening Title VI enforcement, expanding vital security resources for at-risk educational and community institutions and demanding greater accountability from online platforms.

One trip to Washington, D.C., will not solve campus antisemitism overnight, and no single piece of legislation will instantly make students feel safe. But for Jewish law students sitting in classrooms in Bristol, participating in clinics in Providence and attending synagogues across Rhode Island, getting federal legislation like JASA passed should be the bare minimum.

Being a Jewish student leader today requires far more than planning Shabbat dinners or organizing holiday parties. It means stepping up when students feel vulnerable, refusing to hide who we are even when silence may be easier and making sure every Jewish student has a place on campus.

Having brought our experiences to Washington, we now have a responsibility to keep speaking up. Because Jewish students have an absolute right to participate, learn and belong on every campus in Rhode Island and across the nation — without fear.

JADYN TURNER is a student at Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, where she serves as President of the Jewish Law Students Association.