The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) upgraded Pomona and Pitzer Colleges’ rankings from ‘F’ to ‘C’ grades in their 2026 Campus Antisemitism Report Card released last month, while Scripps College received an ‘F’ grade again and Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd Colleges remained unranked.
ADL, founded in 1913, is an international organization dedicated to fighting against antisemitism, extremism and bigotry, according to their website. In 2024, ADL began reviewing colleges and universities in the United States to evaluate anti-semitism on campus and each institution’s response to it, assigning each school a letter grade.
ADL’s definition of antisemitism includes prejudiced “comments and behavior based on [individuals’, groups’ and institutions’] Jewish identity (or perceived identity)” and “language, rhetoric or actions that demonize, delegitimize or apply a double standard to the Jewish state, Zionism and Zionists.”
Pomona was the only Claremont College assessed in ADL’s first report card, while Scripps and Pitzer joined the rankings last year.
While rankings can gauge campus climate, Executive Director of Claremont Hillel Dr. Bethany Slater said evaluating Jewish safety on campus should be considered more holistically.
“We wouldn’t reduce the experience of Jewish students to a single letter grade — it’s far more complex and deeply personal than that,” she wrote in an email statement to TSL.
Slater said Claremont Hillel — a 5C chapter of the world’s largest Jewish campus organization — will not take any specific actions in response to the new rankings.
“Students are navigating a broader campus and global climate in which antisemitism is a real and growing concern,“ she wrote. “We recognize there is still important work to be done, and remain committed to supporting efforts that strengthen the campus climate for Jewish students.”
“We recognize there is still important work to be done, and remain committed to supporting efforts that strengthen the campus climate for Jewish students,” Slater wrote to TSL.
Tali Edelstein SC ’29, a member of Hillel’s board, said she feels proud to be a Jewish student and appreciates that she can freely express her Jewish identity. Yet, she said she understands why Scripps continues to receive a failing grade from ADL based on its definition of antisemitism that includes anti-Zionism.
“When it comes to my Israeli identity, I feel less open to expressing it here,” she said. “I can definitely see why we got an F.”
She said she hopes the new rankings will initiate change on campus.
“I hope that [the new ADL rankings] create some desire for change within our whole institution,” she said. “I want Hillel to be a place for students who feel like they’re experiencing [antisemitism to] find community and safety.”
Scripps College did not respond to TSL’s request for comment.
Eli Chang PO ’29 is an active participant in Hillel and said the ADL’s ranking does not accurately reflect the Jewish student experience at Pomona.
“I do not feel that Pomona College nor any of the 5Cs in my experience are antisemetic at all,” he said.
Chang said he does not have much faith in ADL to accurately call out anti-semitism, particularly after the organization defended Elon Musk after he performed an apparent Nazi salute twice during the inauguration rally for President Donald Trump.
“[That] led me and at least a couple other young Jews to take [ADL] a little less seriously,” he said.
Pomona’s ADL report card now says publicly disclosed administrative actions at Pomona are “above expectations,” while Jewish life on campus is “excellent” and there are “low to none” campus conduct and climate concerns.
ADL reached out to Pomona prior to releasing this year’s rankings, and the college “shared some general information about Jewish life on campus,” a Pomona College spokesperson wrote in an email to TSL.
While the spokesperson said the college is “encouraged” by the updated ranking, the numerical value is not their only measure of progress.
“Our focus here is not on grades or rankings,” they said. “The measure that matters most is whether our own community experiences Pomona as a place where all students can learn, live, and express themselves openly — with a genuine sense of belonging.”
The Pomona report card also includes how protestors disrupted a vigil Hillel held for the victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel. It also includes a section on the settlement between the college and Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Hillel International and ADL last December to resolve claims that the college permitted violations of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act against its Jewish students, including severe discrimination and harassment.
Pitzer’s report card says the school improved Jewish life on campus and reduced campus conduct concerns this past year, while publicly disclosed administrative actions remain an issue. The report specifically cited how Pitzer College’s Free Wall — a space on the northeast side of Mead Hall dedicated for uncensored, political discourse — depicted back-and-forth messages between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine students regarding the Israel-Hamas War last April.
In an email to TSL, Pitzer Vice President of Communications and Marketing Tricia Milford-Hoyt said the college also provided data and information to ADL prior to the release of the new ranking. She also emphasized, however, the need to look beyond rankings.
“[While we] recognize that rankings are part of the broader higher education landscape, our primary focus remains on our mission and supporting the needs of our campus community,” she wrote.
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