Graham W Wright

This study explores how faculty at US universities think about contentious political issues and how these issues are addressed in the classroom. We examine the political identities and viewpoints of faculty, their levels of political activism, their concerns about being targeted because of their political views, their approach to addressing current political controversies in the classroom (climate change, racism in America, Donald Trump and American democracy, Russia-Ukraine, and the Israel-Palestine conflict), and the extent to which they hold hostile views about Jews and Israel. The study is based on a survey conducted in spring 2025 of more than 2,200 faculty at the 146 Carnegie-2021 classified R1 universities, who taught undergraduates in the 2024-25 academic year. This study provides insights about the role faculty play in shaping the climate on campus, in light of the intense focus on US institutions of higher education around issues of viewpoint diversity and antisemitism and the ongoing related federal investigations and funding cuts to university programs.

This report explores the impact of financial insecurity on the college trajectory of Jewish young adults. The findings are based on survey data collected in spring 2024, from 2,164 Jewish respondents, and from 19 in-depth follow-up interviews conducted in spring 2025. All respondents were 23-24 years old at the time of data collection.

The report examines how those who grew up with the most financial need (16% of all respondents) compared to their peers who grew up in more affluent circumstances with respect to their journey from high school to college and beyond.

In summer 2024, Birthright sent over 4,500 young American Jews to Israel on 10-day, peer-educational trips, just as it had been doing since 2000. Unlike at any other period, these young Jews chose to go to Israel while multiple military conflicts were ongoing, and when a spike in antisemitic hostility related to criticism of Israel was occurring at many of the college campuses they attended. The unprecedented context of summer 2024 trips raises important new questions about the Birthright program and US Jewish young adults in general. This report explores the kinds of young Jews who chose to apply to Birthright during this challenging summer and participants' beliefs when they arrived in Israel. The report also examines whether the quality of the experience was disrupted by the war, the extent to which the Birthright trip influenced participants' relationship to Israel, and the trip's effect on their responses to hostile discourse surrounding Israel after returning to the United States.

The Jewish Futures Project (JFP) has been following a panel of respondents who applied to go on a Birthright Israel trip between 2001 and 2009. The panel includes Birthright participants, and others who applied to the program but did not go. The findings from the JFP’s seventh wave document the stability of Birthright’s impact on many domains of Jewish life, including participants’ relationship to Israel and their Jewish religious and social engagement. A particular area of exploration is Birthright’s impact on choices participants make about the Jewish education and socialization of their children.

Data for the seventh wave of the study were collected through an online survey that took place between May 2023 and January 2024. A total of 2,218 panelists responded to the survey, representing an overall response rate (AAPOR RR2) of 40% (59% for Birthright participants and 31% for nonparticipants).

This report explores how October 7, the Israel-Hamas war, and the hostile climate on campus affected the day-to-day lives of Jewish students. Jewish students and Jewish campus professionals discuss the various responses to events on campus and how successful they were in addressing student concerns during the 2023-24 academic year. Drawing primarily on data collected through long-form interviews with Jewish students and Jewish campus professionals, the report also includes survey data from Jewish undergraduates collected in fall 2023 and spring 2024.

We know that Jewish students have experienced a heightened hostile environment on many college campuses since October 7. But what are the factors that contribute to that climate? This study aims to understand the underlying influences that contribute to the perception of antisemitism on campus. In particular, how non-Jewish students think about Jews and Israel and how these views relate to their other political beliefs or philosophical outlooks. The data for the study were collected in the spring semester of 2024 from undergraduate students at 60 schools with large Jewish student bodies.

In the summer of 2023, over 10,000 Jewish young adults from the United States participated in a Birthright Israel trip. For 10 days they experienced and learned about Israel by visiting historical and cultural sites, hearing about Israel’s history as well as contemporary life, and exchanging views with their Israeli peers (many in the IDF). These trips took place before Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack and the start of the Israel-Hamas war. In the wake of October 7th, and the intense animosity directed at Israel around the world, recent Birthright alums encountered a new reality. How did these events influence how they understood their personal experiences in Israel? How did their Birthright experience impact how they thought and felt about the war and Israel’s actions? How did participation in Birthright impact Jewish identity and Jewish connections in a world of heightened antisemitism, where “being Jewish” meant something very different than it did in the summer of 2023?

In our December 2023 report, we documented the level of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hostility on 51 US campuses since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. One question prompted by our findings was how Jewish students “draw the line” between acceptable political discourse and antisemitism. Guidelines developed to define antisemitism (IHRA, NEXUS, JDA) agree that while criticism of Israel is not necessarily antisemitic, particular statements can be, depending on the broader context. This report explores which forms of anti-Israel sentiments are viewed by Jewish college students as “crossing the line” into antisemitism, including critical statements about Israel that have received attention during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The findings are based on survey data collected in November-December 2023 from more than 2,000 Jewish undergraduate students at 51 US colleges and universities with large Jewish student populations. 

Birthright Israel Onward (Onward) offers Jewish young adults an opportunity to participate in a fellowship or to gain professional experience working in an Israeli organization while deepening their connection to Israel, their Jewish identity, and their Jewish peers. Designed as a second experience in Israel, Onward is experienced either as an extension program to a ten-day Birthright trip (“Birthright & Onward”) or as a stand-alone program (“Onward Only”) primarily for individuals who have already been to Israel on Birthright or under other auspices.

This report summarizes findings from the pre-trip and post-trip surveys of summer 2023 applicants to Onward and Birthright Israel. The evaluation focused primarily on the educational experience of the programs and their impact on participants’ Jewish and Israel connections.