Jewish students at DePaul, divided between Zionist and anti-Zionist beliefs, say they have both experienced antisemitism on DePaul’s campus, but in different ways. 

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Pro-Israel antihate organization created to combat antisemitism, extremism and bigotry, also has given DePaul an “F” grade on its campus antisemitism report card. 

DePaul’s rating comes in the light of the approaching first anniversary of the protest encampment along with the recent attack of two Jewish students on campus which has been classified as a hate crime by the Chicago Police Department. The two victims, Max Long and Michael Kaminsky have filed a lawsuit against DePaul, and an alleged perpetrator of the attack has been arrested and charged. 

The organization alleges that DePaul is at high concern for increased antisemitic and anti-Zionist incidents on campus. In comparison, Ivy League schools that have been in the spotlight under the Trump administration for various reasons, such as Harvard, have received a “C”’ grade on their report card; with University of Chicago and Columbia University receiving a “D.”

Craig Klugman, DePaul professor of bioethics and health humanities, serves as the faculty advisor for DePaul’s Students in Support of Israel chapter and is one of the founding members of the university’s Jewish Faculty Staff Alliance.

Klugman has committed 12 years teaching to DePaul. In the first 10 years of teaching, he said he “didn’t notice a lot (of antisemitism),” and what he did see, he believed “stemmed from ignorance.”

He described not getting time off for important holy holidays, which was met with a “lack of understanding and empathy” on part of the university community. 

But after October 7, 2023, Klugman identified a “definite shift on campus.”

Klugman described being followed on the Quad, being threatened through anti-Zionist chants by fellow colleagues participating in the encampment and seeing Jewish students being “doxxed, yelled at” and given death threats.

“It changed. It became threatening,” Klugman said. 

Owen Howard, biology graduate student and one of the founding members of Jews4Justice (J4J), identified specific encounters he’s had with antisemitism on campus.

Howard characterized J4J as an organization that allows Jewish students “to have a space that is very strictly anti-Zionist … and provide community for each other.”

Howard said he experienced professors handing out readings which described “Jews and Muslim as being demonic.” Another professor taught about cultural Marxism, which is “an antisemitic conspiracy theory that says that Jews are subverted to Western culture,” Howard said. Howard was also singled out in a study abroad group because of his Jewish identity, where he recalled being pointed at and met with comments like “look, there’s the Jew.”

Teddie Waxler, a sophomore and  DePaul Hillel student president, is calling upon DePaul and the Chicago Police to “do more to protect the campus.”

“We are disappointed by the ADL’s assessment,” DePaul said in a statement. “At DePaul University, we condemn antisemitism in all its forms and will continue to stand firm in doing so, in line with our values.” DePaul continues to urge students to visit their “Confronting Antisemitism” page. 

“DePaul is working with partners within the Jewish community to take stock and make improvements to our campus climate,” university communications continued in a statement to The DePaulia.

“No student should be beat up on campus property, for any reason,” Waxler said, referring to the assault of Long and Kaminski.  

Waxler saw a similar shift as Klugman after Oct. 7 and the encampment that followed in the spring. For Waxler, the encampment was a time of isolation, fear and loneliness. She described late nights living in the dorms and “hearing chants until one or two in the morning … telling me to go back to Poland … or for the erasure of all Jews.”

Waxler boiled down her freshman year to be “honestly a nightmare,” where she felt like she was personally attacked. 

For Waxler, her Zionism is a large part of her Jewish identity. Klugman believes that “Israel is our spiritual homeland.” 

For other Jewish DePaul students, the intersection between being Zionist and being Jewish poses as a more difficult crossroads when analyzing their Jewish identity and comfortability on campus. 

In six years at DePaul, Howard, the J4J president, was eager to join Jewish life on campus, and became a member of DePaul Hillel.

But after member Ethan Schatz was removed by Metro Hillel Chicago from his board position in 2023, Schatz, along with Howard and senior Ezra Adamski founded J4J. Following the “intensification of violence in Palestine in 2023,” the founders felt motivated to form an anti-Zionist group. 

Howard said the organization aims to counter the narrative that “every Jew is a Zionist.” 

While Adamski and Howard say they’ve found community in J4J, Klugman and Waxler have also found solace in their respective Jewish life organizations. 

“(Hillel and Chabad) were the ones that were there for us every single day, being a shoulder to cry on, or providing us meals because it was too hard for us to think about going to the dining hall,” Waxler said. 

Pew Research found that “eight-in-ten U.S. Jews say caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them,” in their May 2021 study. Klugman identified those protesting against Israel in the spring to be a “small number.”

But Adamski said Zionism is what contributes to his feelings about Jewish student safety on campus. 

“I will say that the most antisemitism I’ve personally experienced is from Zionist students,” Adamski said. “I don’t wear a kippah everyday, but when I do, I’ve had people point at me and scream, ‘Free Israel.’”

Howard added he has been stalked and harassed because of his anti-Zionist beliefs. 

“Targeting a Jewish organization because they don’t support Israel, that’s antisemitism,” Howard said. 

During the encampment, which caused both Klugman and Waxler to fear for their safety, Howard described the environment to be taking an “nonaggressive kind of statement,” where students of many identities, including Jewish students, participated. 

The crisis in Gaza has become a personal one for Howard. He said he speaks to his friends in Gaza daily, sometimes waking up to messages “being like my little brother got hit in the face with shrapnel, my mom has a thyroid condition and she can’t survive it.”

“I think any conversation about Jewish safety should be relative to the genocide in Gaza. This is all relative to actual suffering,” Howard said. 

The death toll in Gaza has risen above 50,000 as violence continues. Over 1,700 Israeli and foreign nationals have been killed in attacks in or originating from Gaza, according to the latest report from December. 

As the debate over Zionism and Judaism continues on DePaul’s campus and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to intensify, Jewish community members have faced antisemitism and threats to safety from multiple facets.

“I am so impressed with the Jewish students at DePaul,” Klugman said. “They stand up. They speak. They gather.” 

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• Jewish students victims of hate crime on DePaul campus
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