University leaders shoulder a dual responsibility: fostering academic inquiry and the free exchange of ideas, while cultivating a healthy learning environment that is genuinely safe, inclusive, and pluralistic. These commitments are not in opposition, but they can be in tension, particularly in conversations involving antisemitism, Israel, and Palestine. The challenge is not choosing between free expression and safety. It is learning how to uphold both.

 

Project Shema’s university engagement model is designed to support institutions in navigating this tension with clarity, nuance, and principled consistency. The frameworks we provide are applicable beyond antisemitism and can strengthen institutional responses to polarization more broadly.