About

In this complicated landscape, Jewish students and families need better resources to assess where to go to college and why. The JNS Campus Report aims to answer that need in a serious way.

At their best, American universities serve multiple noble aims: to immerse young men and women in the great books and ideas that ought to shape their moral and intellectual imagination; to prepare them for the responsibilities of American civic life; to help them explore and discover their professional callings; and, for American Jews, to deepen their understanding of why Jewish civilization is so central to America, the West, and their own exceptional place and purpose in history.
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Over the past few years, two remarkable developments have changed the university landscape in profound ways. In a very hopeful turn, we have seen the founding of major new centers, academic programs, and honors colleges at key universities across the country devoted to reinvigorating the study of Western civilization. In a very dangerous turn, we have witnessed the campus reaction to the October 7 attacks on Israel, revealing that many universities (including many of our most prestigious universities) harbor faculties and students who disparage Jews, Israel, America, and the West.
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The problem with most college rankings systems is obvious, despite their prevalence. They focus on reputation surveys that often reinforce prestige without substance; graduation rates that reward grade inflation; financial metrics that ignore what students actually learn; and consumer experiences rather than the culture of serious ideas. Such rankings systems reduce complex institutions into simple scores, and they create a perverse incentive among the universities to adapt themselves simply to move up in the rankings. We recognize the appeal of quantifiable metrics, but we also understand the inherent limitations of this approach and the need for something deeper.

The Campus Report offers something very different: an in-depth assessment of every major American university focused on:

1. The resources each institution provides for pursuing a classical liberal education oriented towards the great ideas of Western civilization and the enduring lessons of history for understanding the defining questions of our age
2. The culture of discourse and free inquiry on campus
3. The quality and depth of Jewish learning and Jewish communal life on campus. We confront head-on the perverse “intersectional” alliance between the radical Left and modern Islamism that has damaged and distorted the culture of so many universities, while also searching for the good within each institution: namely, the excellent teachers, courses, and programs that offer a pathway to serious moral and intellectual formation.

Over the coming months, we will release our Campus Reports on a large number of key universities. We will evaluate each university according to seven distinct criteria, organized to illuminate what truly matters in choosing a college.

1. Does this university offer a BA program, honors program, or independent academic unit focused on the great books and ideas of Western civilization and on preparation for American civic leadership?
2. Does this university have excellent people and programs focused on the study of Jewish civilization and modern Israel?
3. Does this university have world-class individual teachers and scholars in the humanities and social sciences, or specific academic departments in these soul-shaping and citizen-shaping fields that are committed to excellence?
4. How strong is Jewish life on campus—including religious community and Jewish infrastructure, rabbinic leadership, and pro-Israel engagement?
5. What intellectually serious clubs, publications, and organizations exist outside of the formal curriculum?
6. How did the leaders of this university respond to the attack on Jews, Israel, America, and the West in the aftermath of October 7th? How prevalent and hostile were protests, and how involved were members of the faculty? Were the worst offenders opposed, denounced, and held accountable to the rule of law, or accommodated and appeased? What does this response reveal about the overall culture of the institution?
7. Despite the—sometimes profound—shortcomings of the attempt to rank schools according to a quantifiable metric, there are many products that endeavor to do so. These include overall rankings, anti-Semitism “report cards,” grades for liberal arts requirements, and free-speech scores. We present each school’s placement along the major metrics, and give special attention to City Journal’s recent entry into the field.

As much as possible, our aim is to celebrate, elevate, and highlight sources of light at each school, as opposed to lamenting the myriad shortcomings. We seek to provide families—and other stakeholders—a serious analysis of the core strengths and current limitations of each institution. Our tone is more factual than polemical, albeit informed by a strong view of what a good education and a healthy university ought to look like.

We celebrate institutions that have created—or are now building—academic programs dedicated to the study of great ideas and great leaders; universities whose leaders possess the vision and courage to defend free inquiry against mob ideology; and campuses where Jewish students can live fully committed Jewish lives while studying in classrooms that honor rather than denigrate the Jewish contribution to Western civilization. Our first priority is to serve Jewish families navigating an increasingly complicated academic landscape, but the standards we apply matter for all Americans who care about liberal education.

The release of each new profile of a specific major university will add to a growing database of reports that we will regularly update and refine. We will also host a series of panel discussions about each university, engaging with leading administrators, professors, rabbis, students, and alumni from each institution. We will actively solicit corrections, updates, and additional perspectives from the academic community, revising our profiles as new information emerges. Our goal is not merely to guide college selection, but to encourage universities to pursue their highest purpose as citadels of an American renaissance, where young Jews and young Americans can deepen their understanding of and commitment to the civilization we rightly cherish.