Jewish UC Davis professor: Protecting free speech is not antisemitic | Opinion

Universities across the country, including UC Davis, face accusations of institutional antisemitism. While antisemitism must be strongly opposed, this attack on higher education threatens core American values and our democracy itself. It relies on a misguided definition that conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and it also plays into the hands of a presidential administration that is using this attack as part of its effort to impose an autocratic grip on American society.

As a Jewish person committed to countering antisemitism, promoting peace and justice in Israel-Palestine and defending higher education, this is deeply personal.

To identify institutional antisemitism, we need clear criteria. An ideology becomes institutionalized when embedded in an organization’s values, policies and actions — creating pervasive bias that denies resources, inclusion and safety to a targeted group. Beyond individual incidents, the institution’s structure must enable or condone this discrimination.

UC Davis doesn’t meet this test. While antisemitic behaviors undoubtably occur on campus, the evidence for institutional antisemitism is not sufficient to support the accusation.

Critics claim the university allows a campus culture where Jews feel unsafe and undervalued. Yet UC Davis boasts a thriving Jewish Studies program, a new Jewish Culture, Heritage and Identity Faculty and Staff Association, an active Hillel, a vibrant Aggies for Israel chapter and a comprehensive antisemitism resources webpage. In 2025 alone, the campus hosted seven events addressing antisemitism.

These demonstrate strong and growing institutional commitment — not hostility.

The second charge focuses on the recent Gaza war protests. Critics argue the university condoned antisemitism by not evicting student protesters from their encampment or preventing their rallies. They also point to incidents where Jewish students were assaulted or heckled. In fact, while protecting the rights of the protesters to freedom of speech and assembly, the university condemned these latter behaviors and referred several cases of vandalism by protesters for prosecution.

More fundamentally, equating the pro-Palestinian protest at UC Davis and elsewhere with antisemitism is deeply flawed. Some war defenders brand anti-war activism and critiques of Israel’s ethno-religious state structure as inherently antisemitic. Yet Jews and Jewish organizations (like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow) played prominent roles in these protests. Critiquing Israeli policies isn’t antisemitic, just as opposing U.S. policies isn’t anti-American. Even Israel’s identity as a Jewish state has long sparked debate among Jews: questioning it isn’t antisemitic.

While some Jewish faculty and students have reported otherwise, I have not experienced antisemitism at UC Davis and did not personally feel threatened by the encampment or associated protests.

Instead, I attended an inspiring Shabbat service at the encampment and enjoyed several excellent lectures by scholars unpacking the historical struggles in Israel-Palestine. I also have several Jewish students who participated in the encampment and identified the source of their safety fears not as antisemitism, but the aggressive pro-Israel counter protesters and potential for violent police evictions.

By inappropriately applying the label of institutionalized antisemitism, the Trump administration’s campaign to strip funding from campuses it judges as antisemitic threatens to distract from efforts to address the true causes and impacts of antisemitism. Supporting this campaign legitimates the Trump administration and allies’ project to undermine higher education’s role in a democratic society.

Instead of attacking the UC Davis administration, we should support its championing free speech, including the wide range of perspectives on Israel-Palestine. We should encourage campus leaders to continue to apply the campus Principles of Community that protect freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. We should also advocate that it not follow UC Berkeley’s shameful lead in turning over campus files on those accused of antisemitism to the Department of Justice without due processes, chilling freedom of expression.

Antisemitism must be eradicated, but attacking UC Davis and other colleges and universities is not the way to achieve it.

Jonathan K London is a professor of community and regional development at UC Davis