Young American Jewish adults are more than five times as likely to report being targets of anti-Semitism as older American Jews are (Pew 2013).

The National Demographic Survey of American Jewish College Students, conducted by Ariela Keysar and Barry A. Kosmin of Trinity College in 2014 with 1,157 self-identified Jewish college students from 55 campuses, revealed that more than half of the students personally experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism during the 2013-2014 academic year (Keysar & Kosmin, 2014).

In remembrance of Kristallnacht, Professor Ariela Keysar will present "International Comparisons of Anti-Semitism on Campus: Why are Women more likely to be Targeted" on Wednesday, November 9, on the Storrs Campus, at 5:00pm in the Class of ’47 Room at Babbidge Library. A reception will follow.

Professor Keysar will use the surveys of college students in the U.S. and the U.K. as well as a survey of eight European countries in 2012 to address off-campus anti-Semitism and shed light on both cultural variations and universal patterns of anti-Semitism. The implications of one of the most startling findings in the 2014 U.S. survey, namely the hostile environment reported by Jewish female students will be discussed. The link between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism as it shapes the discourse and debates on campus today will also be explored.

Professor Keysar, a demographer, is associate research professor in public policy and law and the associate director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College. She was the associate director of the landmark Longitudinal Study of American and Canadian Conservative Youth and a principal investigator of the Demographic Survey of American Jewish College Students, 2014; the National College Students Survey 2013; the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2008; and the Worldviews and Opinions of Scientists: India 2007-08. She was the study director of the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2001.

Professor Keysar was born in Israel and holds a BA in statistics and an MA and PhD in demography from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.

Sponsored by the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at UConn.