The University of Southern California (USC) has 2,000 undergraduate Jewish students who comprise 10% of the student population; the 2,000 Jewish graduate students make up 7% of the student body. There are Hillel, Chabad, Jewish Greek life organizations and partnerships with Hebrew Union College and the USC Shoah Foundation.

What’s Happening on Campus?

In July 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened a Title VI investigation into allegations of antisemitism at USC after a Jewish student resigned from her position as student government vice president in August 2020, after being targeted for discrimination because of her perceived Jewish identity. The student reported that the harassment had taken a toll on both her physical and mental health.

After October 7, there were several incidents of students and other individuals removing posters of kidnapped Israeli civilians who are being held hostage in Gaza.

In February 2024, three student groups – Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Palestinian Youth Movement and Dissenters – held a vigil for Palestine and launched the “National Divestment Campaign,” calling on the University to divest from Israel and saying “We know that USC is very complicit in violence.”

Complaints have been lodged against some professors for allegedly promoting antisemitic and anti-Zionist content online, and Jewish students — particularly in the law and medical schools — have also reported being targeted with online harassment.

University Policies and Responsive Action

In January 2022, President Carol Folt convened an Advisory Committee on Jewish Life at USC, and in August of that year, she accepted the committee’s final report, including a number of proposals to combat antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and to develop and improve campus processes for addressing harassment and discrimination.

In November 2023, USC hosted the Western Region Summit on Antisemitism in Higher Education conference in partnership with Hillel International and the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles.

In April and May 2024, at the request of the University administration, law enforcement dismantled two encampments, leading to 93 arrests after the first encampment and zero after the second. In an April 2024 announcement, the University canceled its main commencement ceremony, citing security concerns following campus protests.