Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published on the College Fix on August 12, 2025. With edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission.
Columbia University has adopted a new definition of anti-Semitism as part of its recent agreement with President Donald Trump’s administration, a university news release states.
However, experts voiced mixed opinions to the College Fix about the effectiveness of these measures.
A pro-Israel advocate praised the adoption of the new definition as a key step in addressing campus anti-Semitism, while a City University of New York professor highlighted confusing explanations and limited policy integration.
StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein told the Fix, “Columbia is joining a growing list of university administrations that recognize the value of using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism.”
The co-founder of the Israel education group said adopting this definition in educational trainings “is a crucially important step in addressing campus antisemitism.” Using this definition is “just common sense,” she said.
“This is especially true since the Department of Education is required to utilize this very definition when investigating allegations of antisemitism under Title VI,” she said.
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This definition states, “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” according to the IHRA.
“Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities,” the definition states.
Rothstein also told the Fix that contrary to some claims, the IHRA definition is not intended to limit speech or impose penalties. Rather, it is simply “a tool for understanding and identification.”
“The more administrations that recognize this and are willing to properly utilize this definition, alongside consistent enforcement of applicable nondiscrimination policies, the better the campus environment will be for all students,” Rothstein said.
On the other hand, Professor of Law Jeffrey Lax of the City University of New York told the Fix that “Columbia is giving conflicting and confusing explanations about what they mean by ‘adopting the IHRA definition.’”
A member of their Antisemitism Task Force has made remarks that appear to limit the IHRA definition’s application to training and education, excluding its use in official discrimination policies or disciplinary actions. Lax said this “worries” him, he said via email.
He said the IHRA definition must be incorporated into the school’s policies and linked to disciplinary measures, not just educational training.
“NYU did something very interesting where they adopted the IHRA definition without any examples, which was completely useless. There was nothing telling us how they’re implementing it. It was just sleight of hand. This may be the same thing,” the professor said.
When asked about any foreseeable changes in the classroom, Professor Lax said that he doesn’t anticipate any.
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“You have an enormous amount of faculty who include an overwhelming number of Marxists who call each other ‘comrade.’ These are the people who are pushing anti-Semitism, and really, without exception, Marxist views are despicably antisemitic,” he said.
“At the classroom level, these people are so devoid of any moral value … That’s why they’ll never change their views about bringing down America, and anti-Semitism is just one way they can go about that,” he said.
Lax agreed with Rothstein that the new definition doesn’t infringe upon free speech.
“I’ve spoken with the people who have drafted it, as well as top constitutional scholars, and they have emphatically spoken about how this definition does not infringe on free speech,” the professor said.
However, one Columbia professor argues that the new definition does suppress speech.
Anti-Israel Professor Rashid Khalidi canceled his course on Middle Eastern history over the school’s recent agreement, claiming the newly adopted definition of anti-Semitism renders the course “impossible to teach.”
The IHRA definition “deliberately, mendaciously and disingenuously conflates Jewishness with Israel, so that any criticism of Israel, or indeed description of Israeli policies, becomes a criticism of Jews,” Khalidi wrote in an article published by the Guardian.
This makes it “impossible with any honesty to teach about topics such as the history of the creation of Israel, and the ongoing Palestinian Nakba, culminating in the genocide being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza with the connivance and support of the US and much of western Europe,” he wrote.
A pro-Palestinian group on campus agrees.
“The IHRA definition’s conflation of a political ideology with an ethno-religious identity is dangerous, distracting, and discriminatory in and of itself,” Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition told the Columbia Spectator.
“If implemented, Palestinian students will not be allowed to express grief over the genocide of our people without censorship, let alone call for divestment,” it said.
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The College Fix reached out to Columbia University via multiple emails to inquire about plans to implement the new definition, but received no response.
Columbia reached the deal with President Trump last month, agreeing to pay over $200 million to resolve federal investigations into alleged breaches of anti-discrimination laws in addition to adopting the new definition, the College Fix previously reported.
The school also agreed to launch educational programs and training in collaboration with national Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League.
What’s more, Columbia also announced an “Affirmation of Zero Tolerance” initiative slated to release this fall.
As part of the initiative, Columbia “will not, recognize or meet with” any pro-Palestinian student group “that calls itself ‘Columbia University Apartheid Divest’ (CUAD), its representatives, or any of its affiliated organizations,” the announcement reads.
The deal came after the New York City university was the scene of disruptive pro-Palestinian protests last year, including the takeover of a campus building where two janitors say they were trapped inside. Three deans were also caught mocking Jewish leaders and students during an anti-Semitism panel on campus.
Image: “View of Columbia University” by NHRHS2010 on Wikimedia Commons
