U.S. Rep. Schneider, college students talk antisemitism on campus

Oren Nochimowski grew up “very Jewish” and doesn’t hide his faith.

“I regularly wear a kippah and keep a mezuzah on my door frame,” said Nochimowski, a student at University of Michigan.

Recently, he found his mezuzah, a small case holding parchment with Hebrew verses from the Torah, removed from his door and thrown down the hallway of his dorm.

“That was an attack directly against me,” Nochimowski said. “If whoever did that knew who I was and what I stood for, I think they would understand that they don’t need to attack me because of my religion and beliefs.”

But he said he wasn’t shaken and put the mezuzah right back on his door frame.

“I’m not scared to be Jewish,” he said.

Nochimowski was one of 13 Jewish college students who met with U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) Monday at the Jewish Community Center in Northbrook to talk about how they’ve seen an increase in antisemitism on their college campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Anti-Defamation League has recorded 2,031 antisemitic incidents — 400 of which occurred on college and university campuses.

Nearly three-quarters of Jewish college students have experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism on campus since the beginning of the school year, according to a survey conducted by the ADL and Hillel International.

Hate crimes against Muslim and Jewish people spiked in the Chicago area after the war broke out.

In the most serious case, a Muslim Palestinian-American boy was killed and his mother was critically injured in Plainfield Township when their landlord allegedly attacked them with a knife in what police called a hate crime. The boy had just turned 6 years old.

Schneider represents the 10th District, which is anchored in the northern suburbs including parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties and has a substantial Jewish population.

The students, all from the 10th District, represented colleges in the Chicago area, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Washington.

Schneider told the students that when he was a student at Northwestern, which he attended from 1979 to 1988 when he received his MBA, he didn’t experience the same level of antisemitism.

“I could wear a Star of David or a yarmulke on campus and not worry,” he said.

“Antisemitism is not new, but what’s different now is how front and center it is, and it’s the most front and center on college campuses,” said Schneider, who is one of 27 Jewish members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Most of the students described how strong the Jewish community is on their campuses. But they all shared stories about antisemitic incidents they’ve witnessed or experienced themselves at their schools.

Both Elana Passmore and Jack Pinsky picked Tulane University in New Orleans for the strong Jewish community on campus.

“Tulane feels as Jewish as Deerfield, where I’m from,” Pinsky said.

They’ve both noticed an uptick in antisemitism on campus, but the two feel safe on campus because of Tulane’s administration and the two Jewish campus organizations Hillel and Chabad.

“I was confident going to Tulane that I would feel proud as a Jew to go there and feel supported and safe,” Passmore said.

But she said Tulane could do more to provide training for students to understand and prevent antisemitism.

Joshua Weisskopf, who attends University of Chicago, described a rise in antisemitic activity on campus. He also said there has been ongoing tension between Jewish student groups and the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on campus.

“While there has been an increase in antisemitism, the Jewish community on campus has really come together and is stronger than before,” Weisskopf said.

Hayden Hischhaut said many of her fellow students at Loyola University of Chicago aren’t well-informed on the war and the history of the region in general, yet many have taken strong stances.

“They’re getting their information off Instagram and TikTok and they’re not doing their own research,” Hischhaut said. “If I’m not presenting information in an aesthetically pleasing infographic, people aren’t going to listen to me.”

The Jewish population at Loyola is much smaller than the other campuses represented at Monday’s discussion, she said.

“I had to seek out my own Jewish community on campus,” Hischhaut said. “There isn’t a lot of support, and it makes me feel like I have to hide that I’m Jewish.”