Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

By Laura E. Adkins August 15, 2018

With anti-Semitism on the rise, safety is on the top of many Jewish parents’ and prospective college students’ minds. While we factored anti-Semitism into last year’s score, this year, we’ve separated it out into an entirely new category: safety. While the bulk of the score is based on the number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2017, the score also takes into account the campus crime rate, the prevalence of crimes covered by the Violence Against Women Act, such as domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, the city crime rate, the crimes committed per capita, and whether or not the university has an LGBTQ center on campus.

We had three schools that scored perfectly in the safety category, and every school on this list scored at least 10 out of 11 safety points.

Perfect Scores

Chapman University

College of Staten Island (CUNY)

Lehigh University

Runner-Up Safest Schools

Carleton College

Elon University

Hofstra University

Villanova University

Washington and Lee University

Wellesley College

Second Runner-Ups

Muhlenberg College

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

University of Tampa

Honorable Mention

Amherst College

Baruch College

Brooklyn College

Bryn Mawr College

Colgate University

College of William & Mary

Florida Atlantic University

Hamilton College

Kent State University

Queens College

State University of New York at Oswego

Touro College

University of Maine

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

University of North Texas

University of Oklahoma

University of Rhode Island

University of Vermont

Image by Kurt Hoffman

This article is part of the award-winning Forward College Guide — to read more fascinating stories and see the definitive rankings, click here.

Laura E. Adkins is the Forward’s deputy opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @Laura_E_Adkins

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