University of Maryland, College Park has 5,800 Jewish undergraduate students on campus, representing 19% of the student body, and 800 Jewish graduate students, 8% of the graduate student population. There are Hillel, Chabad and Jewish Greek life organizations.

What’s Happening on Campus?

There have been multiple incidents of antisemitic chalking and graffiti at Maryland, including chalking that said “there is only 1 solution, intifada revolution.” Last fall, students reported that others said, "As soon as we get rid of these Jews, we will free Palestine" about a competing intramural flag football team.

In a November 2023 demonstration on campus, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) protesters expressed hateful, antisemitic sentiments and, after one demonstration, antisemitic messages were discovered on the sidewalk. SJP has led walk outs and sit-ins and has called Israel an apartheid state and accused Israel of genocide. A JVP chapter was established at Maryland after October 7.

University Policies and Responsive Action

President Darryll Pines issued two statements after October 7, immediately condemning the Hamas attack in October and ensuring the safety of Jewish students on campus, and in November, the University condemned acts of discrimination and all forms of hate and made clear that students would be held accountable for violations of the code of conduct. Maryland also increased campus safety measures and created a Joint Presidential and University Senate Task Force to provide “guidance, recommendations and counsel on a strategy to confront antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus.” Maryland also reminded students of the online system to report hate-bias incidents that the Office of Diversity and Inclusion implemented in 2018 and charged campus leaders to create educational programming to address antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias.