For obvious reasons, everyone is talking about political violence in the US. Coincidentally, I have been working on two lists for an appendix to an article I am writing about hostile environment law. The first list, below, is of actual physical battery. The second is of threats and intimidation against Jewish individuals or institutions like Hillel. Since the article is not done and won't be out for a while, I thought it would be helpful to others working on related topics, and of course to curious blog readers, to see these lists. Note that these are not complete lists, but only contain incidents regarding which I could find public sources. I know of two cases of battery against Jewish students, one at Johns Hopkins and one at George Mason, that aren't on my list, and presumably there are many more. Note that while some of these incidents are more serious than others, they are listed in chronological order, not order of gravity.
Part I. Assaults and Physical Violence
This section documents reported incidents of physical violence directed against Jewish students or visibly Jewish individuals on or adjacent to U.S. university campuses. Entries are arranged in chronological order. For reading ease, I will delete the citations, but I'm happy to send them to anyone who requests them. Most of these assaults are attributable to anti-Israel activists, but in some cases the precise motivation (beyond targeting a Jewish student or students) is unknown.
Drexel University (Oct. 2023) — (Philadelphia, PA)
The door of a Jewish student's dorm suite in Race Hall was intentionally set on fire. The incident was investigated as arson and antisemitic harassment by local police and federal authorities.
