As the parent of a high-school junior and someone who has worked with Jewish college students almost my entire career, nearly all the conversations I have with other parents revolve around the college search process and — unfortunately — one question: “Is there antisemitism on campus?”

It’s the wrong question.

Not because antisemitism isn’t real or serious. It is. In our “new normal,” the unfortunate reality is that antisemitism is everywhere. According to a recent survey by the American Jewish Committee and Hillel International, 42% of Jewish college students nationally reported experiencing antisemitism.

The right question to ask is: “If there is antisemitism, what happens next?”

What actually shapes a Jewish student’s experience isn’t the absence of incidents, it’s the support in place if they occur. Is there a professional staff that knows administrators and community partners by name? Does the campus have a Hillel or other Jewish student organization with deep relationships across the university, faculty, deans, trustees, forged over years, not........

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