The UniGuard Safety and Ethics Index was compiled on the basis of meticulously collected data from a range of sources. This is a preliminary Beta version and we are continuously improving the website, adding new campuses and updating the existing entries to reflect ongoing events.
We selected 17 leading campuses from around the United States based on academic prominence and media attention. We included campuses that were featured most often in news coverage following Oct 7 2023 as a result of virulent anti-Israel activism on campus, as well as some prominent schools which adopted a different approach to anti-Israel activism. We are in a continuous process of expanding and updating the list of campuses in order to provide a comprehensive guide that can inform research, public opinion and – most importantly – decision making by would-be students and their parents.
We graded schools based on seven criteria which are aimed to capture the most important dimensions in terms of campus safety and the ethics of the academic institution, with a focus on minority groups (Jews, African-Americans, women).
Safety:
Campus antisemitism. We calculated scores based on reports and investigations by the Anti-Defamation League (the 2024 ADL Campus Antisemitism Report Card and earlier reports published by the League) as well as a recent survey of campus antisemitism conducted by Brandeis University. Universities were scored from A to F based on ADL’s scores.
Racial inclusivity. We based scores on data from the National Center of Education Statistics college navigator which allowed us to measure the percentage of African-American students in each college to their share of the national population. Universities were graded by quintiles (for example, universities in the highest quintile in terms of the percentage of African-Americans were graded A).
Risk of sexual violence. Scores are based on the number of on-campus rapes from the National Center of Education Statistics college navigator(means for 2019-2021, per 1,000 students). Universities were graded by quintiles (for example, universities in the highest quintile in terms of rapes per 1,000 were graded F).
Support for Terror. This is a composite score that grades universities by the degree of pro-terror activism that they tolerated. Drawing on news reports from various sources, it takes into account all aspects related to the pro-terror demonstrations after the October 7 attack, and especially the extent to which administrations capitulated to Hamas supporters, including the toleration of illegal encampments, negotiating with Hamas supporters, yielding to calls for divestment and so on. Universities were scored from A to F using an AI model that analyzed lists of relevant incidents.
Ethics:
Foreign Influence. Universities’ grades reflected the amount of money received from China and authoritarian Arab countries (most importantly Qatar). Our main data source was the Department of Education’s College Foreign Gift and Contract Report, which we supplemented with reports from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, and various news publications listed under “Further Reading”. We created universities’ grades using an AI model on the basis of the amounts that they had received and their sources.
Freedom of Speech. We used the college free speech ranking published by FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The grades reflect countries’ ranks in FIRE’s ranking of 248 universities, with the top quintile ranked A, the second-highest ranked B and so on.
