An interconnected network of faculty groups, academic unions, and professional organizations is helping organize and sustain anti-Israel activism at US colleges and universities, including efforts to advance boycotts of Israel and support student protest movements, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League.
The report identifies Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, the American Association of University Professors, the California Faculty Association, the Coalition for Action in Higher Education, and the Sanctuary Campus Network among organizations involved in anti-Israel or pro-Palestinian campus activity.
Faculty participation became particularly visible during the spring 2024 campus encampments. At New York University and Columbia University, professors formed physical barriers around encampments as universities sought to clear them, while Northwestern University faculty members locked arms to prevent university police from reaching student tents.
Some faculty also helped establish or promote encampments. San Jose State University Professor Sang Hea Kil, an adviser to the campus Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, described helping set up an encampment at San Francisco State University before encouraging students at San Jose State to organize their own.
The ADL said faculty networks have also pushed divestment measures, opposed the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, and sought clemency for students facing disciplinary proceedings over protests.
Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine has grown to more than 130 affiliated faculty and staff groups, primarily in the United States, since forming in February 2024. Its chapters support Students for Justice in Palestine organizations and promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions efforts targeting Israeli institutions.
A 2025 ADL/AEN survey of 209 Jewish-identifying faculty found nearly three-quarters had observed anti-Jewish activity originating from faculty, staff, or administrators. One respondent said, “Faculty are not talking to me because they know I’m a Zionist.”
The report said cooperation among faculty activists, unions, student organizations, and community groups intensified following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terror attacks, allowing organizing efforts to extend beyond individual campuses and protest campaigns.
