Vanderbilt University has 1,000 Jewish undergraduate students, comprising 14% of the undergraduate student body, and 200 Jewish graduate students, 3% of the graduate student population. There is a Hillel, Chabad and Jewish Greek life organizations.

What’s Happening on Campus?

Following October 7, the Vanderbilt Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter set up a demonstration which depicted bodies in bags with blood.

In March 2024, Vanderbilt’s SJP chapter erected an “Apartheid Wall” exhibit on Rand Yard, and nearly 30 students on campus held a sit-in in protest of an administrative decision to remove a BDS-related proposal from the student ballot.

University Policies and Responsive Action

Vanderbilt’s DEI Office offers Jewish programming, including education surrounding Jewish holidays and allyship with the Black community.

In January 2024, the University declined to comment on whether it had adopted an official definition of antisemitism, following requests from alumni for Vanderbilt to adopt the IHRA Definition.

At the start of the Spring 2024 semester, Chancellor Daniel Diermeier released a statement condemning antisemitism and other forms of hate, including a rejection of the BDS movement.  In December 2023, Diermeier wrote an op-ed in Forbes defending and reiterating the need for institutional neutrality regarding external issues and urging campuses to focus on creating an atmosphere for open dialogue and discourse.

In March 2024, the administration removed from a student ballot a proposed amendment to the Vanderbilt Student Government Constitution which would have prevented student government funds from going to certain businesses that support Israel. After students staged a nearly 24-hour sit-in in the school’s main administration building in response, they were removed from the premises and placed on interim suspension. Four students were arrested on charges of assault and vandalism in connection with the demonstration. A spokesperson said, “The university will take action when our policies are violated, the safety of our campus is jeopardized and when people intimidate or injure members of our community.”