The University of Virginia has 1,000 undergraduate Jewish students, comprising 6% of the student body, and 600 Jewish graduate students, making up 7% of the student population. There is a Hillel, Chabad and Jewish Greek life organizations.

What’s Happening on Campus?

UVA officials acknowledge there have been dozens of recent reports of antisemitic activity. One Jewish student said he has received death threats since Oct. 7, was physically assaulted while counterprotesting at an anti-Israel walkout and has been called antisemitic slurs. This prompted the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to open a Title VI investigation against UVA in December 2023.

UVA students also passed a referendum this spring calling for divestment from companies that do business with Israel. Prior to the referendum, an art history professor at the college canceled her class in solidarity with the divestment movement.

University Policies and Responsive Action

The University created a task force on Religious Diversity and Belonging in December, charged with assessing reports of antisemitic incidents and recommending educational offerings. UVA President Jim Ryan also spoke out against the divestment resolution, saying the school should not use its investment strategy to take sides on a “complex and deeply contested” issue.

The University updated its policies on time, place and manner restrictions for campus protests after white supremacists marched across campus during the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.

In April 2024, pro-Palestinian protestors at the University began a demonstration. While initially peaceful, violations of policies were recorded a few days in, leading administrators to issue a number of requests for protesters to comply with University policies. The protest – labelled as “upsetting, frightening, and sad” by President Ryan – was thereafter disbanded by state police.

*The IHRA definition of antisemitism has been adopted by Virginia as a tool for training and education.

**On April 11, 2024, University of Virginia was graded an "F"; in light of new information or events, the grade was changed to a "D" on June 18, 2024.