NYU received an “A” grade on a campus antisemitism report from the Anti-Defamation League released Tuesday — a step up from the “C” it received in 2024 and “B” in 2025. 

 In the report, which evaluated 150 U.S. universities, NYU was one of 23 labeled “Ahead of the Pack” for supporting Jewish life on campus, with “hostile anti-Zionist” staff, faculty and student groups flagged as ongoing “climate concerns.” It referenced the slew of pro-Palestinian protests on campus in 2024, a student’s post on a roommate Facebook group  requesting “No zionists!” last June and a dorm door that was vandalized with graffiti reading “Free Palestine” and “Jew” in September.

“The fact that there’s antisemitism out there is not necessarily something the university can control,” Scott Richman, ADL Regional Director in New York and New Jersey, told WSN. “NYU believes in free speech. They can’t necessarily stop that, so it’s important for Jewish students to know — but it’s not enough in the face of the overwhelming positive evidence to deny NYU an A.”

The ADL — a leading antisemitism watchdog group that has focused on college campuses since October 2023 — assessed universities based on three areas: administrative policies, Jewish student life and campus conduct and climate concerns. The organization said it measured each of its 32 subcategories, which included areas such as partnerships with Israeli institutions and policies prohibiting encampments, using a blend of objective data and “certain subjective impressions.” NYU was among the 47% of schools with improved grades from last year. 

Richman told WSN that while the university is doing well overall, there are steps it can take in terms of education, specifically spreading awareness of Jewish identity and “banning antisemitism in coursework.”

“They put in place the right policies,” he said. “Jewish life has always been strong on NYU’s campus, that was never an issue. But the other two buckets have changed dramatically than the first report card in 2024 — we’re very pleased.”

The ADL gave an “F” grade to The New School, along with three other institutions, while schools including Columbia University, Cornell University and Syracuse University received “C” grades. Johns Hopkins University, American University and the University of Southern California were among the other schools to have received an “A.”

In the 2024 report, NYU received a “C” grade, with the ADL criticizing the university’s lack of “mandatory antisemitism education.” The Trump administration later announced a Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which investigated NYU and nine other schools that had received a “C” or lower.

The next year, NYU improved to a B grade after the university updated its student conduct guidelines to cite “code words, like ‘Zionist,’” as examples of potentially discriminatory speech and released mandatory training modules on Brightspace requiring students to consent to the new policy. 

“Hate in any form has no place at NYU,” university spokesperson Joseph Tirella wrote in a statement to WSN. “We’re proud to have earned an A. We are a community that takes antisemitism seriously.”

Last May, NYU’s then-spokesperson John Beckman criticized Gallatin graduate Logan Rozos for condemning the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza during his graduation speech, sparking national discourse after the university announced that it withheld his diploma. The ADL’s New York and New Jersey office said it was “appalled” by Rozos’s “divisive and false comments about the current Israel-Hamas war” and thanked the administration for its “strong condemnation” and “pursuit of disciplinary action.” Earlier this month, the university revealed that graduation speakers will no longer deliver live remarks at school-based ceremonies and must instead prerecord their statements.

In early September, a student’s mezuzah was taken from their Weinstein Hall dorm door, prompting NYU to launch an investigation before it was “voluntarily returned” days later. The following week, the university launched a second investigation after another Weinstein Hall door was defaced “with antisemitic graffiti.” Both incidents were reported to NYU’s Title VI coordinator, who was hired last spring to oversee discrimination-related complaints based on race, ethnicity or religious affiliation. The role was created as part of a settlement with Jewish students claiming NYU was indifferent to antisemitism on campus, and is the first of its kind at a U.S. university. 

“It’s too bad they don’t give out A+’s!” Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, Executive Director of the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life, wrote in a statement to WSN. “The more that harassment of one group is tolerated, the more likely it is that discrimination against other groups will follow. Not here. NYU offers both a safe, embracing community as well as daring opportunities for exploration.”

Contact Eva Mundo at [email protected].