Amid Efforts to Battle Antisemitism, the Trump Admin Sends a Demographic Survey, Leaving Jewish Faculty Baffled

Uri Pilichowski
May 3
3 min read

Updated: May 5

Dozens of current and former Barnard College employees received a text message last week from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The text message contained a link that led to a survey that asked respondents if they were Jewish or Israeli, and if they had been subjected to harassment. Barnard confirmed that the survey was part of a federal investigation into discrimination against Jewish employees that started last summer.

The New York Times reported that the survey appears to be part of an aggressive new tactic by the Trump administration to collect reports of alleged antisemitism at Barnard, a women’s college affiliated with Columbia University that has come under heavy criticism for pro-Palestinian demonstrations on its campus.

Why does this matter?

The initial shock

Debbie Becher, a Barnard sociology professor who is Jewish, told the Times that the survey disturbed her in several ways. As a Jew, she said she found it “a bit terrifying” that the federal government “wants to know who the Jews are through some text message and Microsoft Office form.” The two days following the text message, she said, had been filled with group chats among professors, teaching assistants, and others who received the survey and questioned its validity. They also expressed dismay over why Barnard did not tell them that the college was sharing their cellphone numbers with the government. “Clearly, it made everyone scared,” Becher said. “I’ve been getting text messages from my former graduate students and other faculty members — I still am — asking what they should do.”

What was the survey’s goal?

Faculty and staff members were asked to check all that apply from a list of 10 options that included “unwelcome comments, jokes or discussions” and “antisemitic or anti-Israeli protests, gatherings or demonstrations that made you feel threatened, harassed or were otherwise disruptive to your working environment.”

The Trump administration has been taking on elite universities over what it says is a systemic problem with antisemitism, but critics of the administration say the confrontation represents a broader attack on academic and institutional freedom. The administration has withheld more than $400 million in federal research funding from Columbia until it does more to fight antisemitism, and immigration authorities arrested several pro-Palestinian demonstrators in an attempt to deport them.

The questions in the survey for employees were pointed. One question read, “While working at Barnard College, were you subjected to any of the following because you practice Judaism, have Jewish ancestry, are Israeli, and/or are associated with an individual(s) who is Jewish and/or Israeli?”

What’s the best method to fight antisemitism on US campuses?

The Trump administration has taken on the challenge of fighting antisemitism across college campuses. Jewish students have long felt under attack—steps needed to be taken to address the problem.

At the same time, not every method of stopping antisemitism will be effective, and some can be counterproductive. Creating an atmosphere that makes antisemitism unacceptable, including taking disciplinary steps against acts of antisemitism, can be an effective way of stopping antisemitism. But if efforts at stopping antisemitism will cause the very people, the educators and administrators at universities, to be wary of reporting or disciplining acts of antisemitism, the efforts will be counterproductive. Stopping the surge of antisemitism after October 7th will be an arduous task filled with many landmines.

Uri Pilichowski is an author, speaker, and senior educator at institutions around the world.