From the Desk of Adam Lehman: Six Predictions for Jewish Life on Campus in 2026
Friends,
Students are in the process of returning to campus for the spring semester or winter quarter. Given the volatility and unpredictability of campus life during the past several years, many people in the Jewish community and beyond are understandably wondering: what will the next 12 months look like for Jewish students on campus?
Based on everything we’re seeing and doing through the Hillel movement, here are my predictions for what Jewish life on campus will look like in 2026:
1. Fewer Antisemitic Incidents on Campus
Campuses witnessed less hostility this fall compared to any time since October 7, 2023. There were fewer overall incidents of antisemitism, including a significantly lower number of assaults and physical harassments impacting Jewish students. Universities are more consistently enforcing time, place, and manner restrictions on protest activities, preventing out-of-control disruptions that spawned hostility and vitriol directed at Jewish and Zionist students. And my recent discussions with university leaders from across the country have underscored their commitments to maintain safer, more inclusive environments for Jewish students and all students.
Even so, we continue to see and address a high volume of instances of more targeted harassment, vandalism, and discrimination — especially online, in dorm rooms and classrooms. As such, we’ll be continuing to deepen our work with universities to establish and enforce stronger policies to govern the conduct of students, staff and faculty, and expand our support for Jewish students to advocate for themselves through resources like Campus for All. We’ll also be fostering new initiatives to grow understanding and support from other communities on campus, through initiatives like our Black-Jewish Unity series(pursued in partnership with UNCF and the Blue Square Alliance), and new bridge-building service cohorts we’re pursuing in partnership with Repair the World. Based on all of these further investments, I expect that we’ll see more significant reductions in targeted acts of antisemitism and further improvements in the overall campus climate for Jewish students.
2. Sustained Growth in Deep Jewish Life Engagement and Leadership
At Hillel, we’ve sustained record levels of overall student engagement, with nearly 200,000 students participating in our Jewish life programs and experiences during the 2025 calendar year. While we’ll continue to invest in growing those overall levels of engagement, I expect 2026 to be defined more by growth in the depth of how Jewish students engage.
The challenges of the past two years have awoken a heightened level of identity and commitment for many of the Jewish students we serve. This deeper commitment was personified by the more than 80 student leaders who I met with as part of our Hillel Leadership Passport program at the 2025 JFNA General Assembly. In my discussions with students from small campuses like Clark and York, to large campuses like Michigan and UCLA, and global Hillels including those in Montreal, Rio, Poland, and Israel, I was blown away by the inspiring ways these students are embracing their opportunities to lead their peers and strengthen their campus Jewish communities. (You can see my discussion with three of these incredible student leaders here.)
In addition, for students who initially sought out Jewish spaces to just be in social environments where they wouldn’t need to explain or defend their Jewish and Zionist identities and beliefs, I expect we’ll see many of them pursuing new opportunities to deepen their Jewish understanding and identities through involvement in Jewish learning, Shabbat, and other immersive Jewish experiences. I saw this deepening level of engagement in action during fall Shabbat programs and other Hillel events at campuses ranging from Brown to GWU to University of Oklahoma. And we’ll be supporting these enhanced Jewish experiences through our new Ruach Fellowship, training and empowering 60 student ritual and song leaders to add vitality and spirit to Shabbat and other core Jewish experiences at the 24 campus Hillels piloting this new fellowship program.
3. Resurgent Israel Travel
I predict we’ll see a major bounce-back in student travel to Israel. When we opened registration for summer Birthright Israel trips in December, we saw a strong response; and provided that there’s not a resumption of active wars in the region, I expect we’ll generate and see high interest for all of the immersive Israel experiences we offer. On campus, it’s inevitable that there will be continued campaigns to delegitimize and demonize Israel, due to the dedicated core of students and outside organizations who have made this their mission. However, we’ve already seen a major decrease this academic year in BDS initiatives at student government levels, and I expect we’ll continue to see these tactics falter and fail, including based on growing recognition of anti-Zionism as a form of impermissible discrimination.
4. Discernible Shift in Jewish Student Enrollment
We will see even more demonstrable growth in Jewish student enrollment at institutions in the Southeast and Southwest, due to both perceptions around where Jewish students will find more welcoming campus environments, and cost considerations. We’re leaning into this growth through enhanced Hillel presence both at campuses with large and growing Jewish student populations, such as University of Florida, Florida State, University of Central Florida, Arizona State University, University of Texas at Austin and University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Alabama, and campuses that are emerging as newer destinations for Jewish students, such as High Point, Clemson, and Southern Methodist University.
5. The Organizational Landscape Will Return to Normalcy
As the media and public focus continues to shift away from the quad, many of the organizations that ramped up campus-focused initiatives following October 7 will quietly retrench from those initiatives, simplifying the landscape for students, administrators, and the few Jewish organizations, like Hillel, that were dedicated to Jewish life on campus before October 7 and will remain focused on campus moving forward. At the same time, we’ll be expanding our Hillel Leadership Passport program to make it easier for other Jewish community organizations to incorporate student participation in their signature convenings and programs.
6. The Dominant Vibe Will Be Joy, Not Oy
While we’ll still be contending with both heightened issues of antisemitism unique to this period and longer term structural issues in how higher education perceives and addresses these dynamics, I’m confident that the dominant campus experience for the vast majority of Jewish students will be positive, as they derive joy, meaning, and a deeper sense of belonging from their involvement in Jewish life on campus. This fall, we saw this expression of joy and belonging take beautiful shape both on a wide variety of campuses and at the many new regional Jewish student convenings we supported this fall, such as the Asian Jewish Shabbaton, Cleveland Songleaders Summit, and the Hillel Poland Shabbat Across Borders.
Bottom line, I see 2026 providing clear opportunities to grow stronger and more vibrant Jewish life on campus – and at Hillel, we’ll be doing everything within our power to cultivate and nurture those opportunities for Jewish students on campuses across the country and around the world.
With gratitude,
Adam Lehman
President and CEO of Hillel International