ICYMI: SCN and Hillel International Launch Operation SecureOurCampuses

SCN and our partners have been hard at work equipping all centers of Jewish life on university campuses with tools and resources to address the growing concerns over the safety and security of Jewish students, faculty, and staff.

As the academic year approaches, we anticipate a challenging environment on campus based on intelligence reports, open-source monitoring, and telegraphing of intent by increasing numbers of organized protest groups. Following the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks, SCN tracked 674 campus threat incidents and reports of suspicious activity targeting the Jewish community from October 2023 through July 2024.

Last week SCN and Hillel International announced “Operation SecureOurCampuses,” a comprehensive effort designed to fortify campus security as the fall semester begins. 

Key elements of the initiative include:

• Deployment of full-time intelligence analysts to monitor campus security incidents and provide real-time support.
• Security assessments and direct consultations for Jewish campus facilities.
• Enhanced coordination with law enforcement and Jewish life centers.
• Specialized training programs for Jewish students, faculty, and staff focusing on situational awareness and emergency response with an emphasis on 50 specific high-risk campuses.

In preparation for the new academic year, SCN also co-hosted a campus safety roundtable, bringing together law enforcement and public safety officials from 92 universities across 24 states, including representatives from the FBI, Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), and Jewish security professionals. The discussion led to 10 key recommendations aimed at protecting Jewish students and staff, emphasizing proactive planning, strict enforcement of security policies, and strengthened cooperation with law enforcement.

Below, you will find articles highlighting SCN and our partners’ efforts to create a safer, more secure environment for Jewish students, faculty, and centers of Jewish life, while ensuring greater accountability from campus administrations in their response to incidents and enforcement of campus protocols.

Jewish Groups Launch Campus-Security Campaign As Schools Face Threats Of Violence With Protests Set To Start New Semester

Two organizations said Thursday they’ve launched an initiative to increase security for Jewish students on campus this fall. The move comes on the heels of a House of Representatives committee report that none of the students arrested after breaking into and occupying a Columbia University building during anti-Israel demonstrations this spring have been expelled by the Ivy League outpost.

Two groups — Secure Community Network and Hillel International — are out to change that. They said the “Operation SecureOurCampuses” effort will help “fortify” campus security in the face of anticipated protests as classes begin. The campaign will include full-time intelligence analysis of campus developments, consultations on security and emergency plans and procedures, and “enhanced cooperation” with law enforcement to safeguard centers of Jewish life on and near campus.

“The unacceptable threat environment for Jewish students, faculty, and staff on campuses across the country demands an immediate and robust response,” said SCN National Director and CEO Michael Masters. “We are committed to ensuring that members of the community feel safe and supported as they pursue their education — they should be able to walk across our campuses free from fear, harassment, or targeted violence.”

SCN, which tracked 674 incidents of threats and suspicious activities targeting the Jewish community since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, says many schools “struggled to protect Jewish students and faculty.”

The group already has brought together law enforcement and public-safety officials from 92 universities in 24 states, along with FBI representatives and Jewish security professionals. Ten recommendations emerged, including proactive planning, strict security policy enforcement, and increased cooperation with local law enforcement.

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Hillel, SCN Launch Program To Fortify Campus Security For Jewish Students

In response to anti-Israel protests, encampments, and security issues on campuses since the October 7 massacre, Hillel International and the North American Jewish safety nonprofit Secure Community Network (SCN) announced on Thursday a new security partnership at over 50 campuses as the fall semester commenced.

The new partnership, Operation SecureOurCampuses, will see full-time intelligence analysts monitor campus developments and provide information and real-time support. SCN will provide assessments of Jewish facilities on campuses and offer consultations on physical security, emergency plans, and procedures.

Ahead of the school year, SCN and the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) held a roundtable discussion with representatives from major law enforcement agencies including the FBI to discuss the protection of Jewish students and staff, identify security failures at academic institutions over the year, and offer recommendations.

“Our expectation is that colleges and universities do ‘better’ in the coming weeks and throughout the fall than what we saw in the spring, but we are not waiting around necessarily for campus administrators to define what ‘better’ is on their own,” said SCN National Director and CEO Michael Masters. “We are setting the expectation of what we want to see, and also then working directly with the student organizations, campus law enforcement, faculty, and staff as to what that means.”

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From Protest Skits To Full-Time Surveillance, Universities And Jewish Groups Hope To Change The Campus Climate As The School Year Begins

Facing lawsuits, Congressional hearings, donor pressure, Title VI complaints and the occasional high-profile resignation of a campus president, many schools are still improvising what exactly protecting Jewish students will look like this year. Universities have issued revised policies around the acceptable time, place, and manner of student protests. 

Some, such as Indiana University and the University of Denver, have banned all tents, late-night rallies, and writing on campus walls. George Washington University preemptively suspended student groups, including the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace, before classes began. Others, such as the small liberal arts school Ohio Wesleyan University, are trying the approach that gained renown for Dartmouth College last year by launching new civic dialogue initiatives.

All this is worrying Jewish leaders, who are warning they will continue taking action if universities don’t get their act together.

Other Jewish groups are taking more aggressive action for students, without waiting for the schools to improve their policies. The Community Security Service, saying it had heard from Jewish students who “fear for their life,” recently announced new self-defense training for students. 

Hillel International and the Secure Community Network, which organizes security for Jewish spaces, are partnering on “Operation SecureOurCampuses,” their own training initiative for Jewish students and staff. The new venture includes what the groups describe as “full-time intelligence analysts to monitor campus security incidents and provide real-time support.” Some individual Hillels are also taking their own steps: Penn State University’s is reinstating a full-time Israel educator to its staff.

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SCN Partners With Hillel To Protect Jewish Students On Dozens Of Campuses

As students return to universities to start the fall semester, many will find that campuses remain just as hostile to Jews as they were last year, when the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks resulted in a major surge of antisemitism on college campuses and university administrations came under scrutiny for not enforcing rules to protect Jewish students. But this year will also look different, as Jewish groups say they are better equipped to help protect Jewish students. 

The newest such initiative is an effort to expand resources to more than 50 campuses by the Jewish safety and security organization Secure Community Network and Hillel International, the groups announced on Thursday. Called “Operation SecureOurCampuses,” the initiative will “leverage SCN’s national, regional, and local resources, along with the national network of security professionals, to deploy critical resources to protect Jewish students,” according to a release from the groups.

SCN is rapidly deploying existing resources to support campuses because the need and urgency couldn’t be greater,” a spokesperson for SCN, [delete comma] told eJP ahead of the launch. “However, additional investment is necessary to ensure that every student and every center of Jewish life is adequately supported.” 

SCN is rapidly deploying existing resources to support campuses because the need and urgency couldn’t be greater,” a spokesperson for SCN told eJP ahead of the launch. “However, additional investment is necessary to ensure that every student and every center of Jewish life is adequately supported.” 

The campus safety initiatives come as SCN is “actively fundraising,” they told eJP. “Due to the current threat dynamics, we have already had to surge and redeploy internal resources to meet the urgent needs on campuses.”

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Intelligence Analysts Part Of Plans To Monitor Threats Against Jewish Students

Hillel International has partnered with the Secure Community Network (SCN) to launch “Operation SecureOurCampuses” to offer a variety of resources for Jewish groups this academic year.

“As we approach the fall, we know based on intelligence work, open-source reporting, and telegraphing of intent by organized protest groups that we will anticipate a challenging environment on campus,” a spokesperson for SCN told JNS, noting a focus on 50 North American universities it described as “high-risk.”

Topping the list of services the program aims to provide are “full-time analysts dedicated to monitoring campus safety/security developments and providing intelligence and information-sharing support.”

SCN developed a new training program for the initiative that would instruct Jewish students on how to respond when confronted by protesters. Other training sessions teach situational awareness and responses to life-threatening events. The group will also provide security assessments for Jewish facilities on campus. SCN says it further aims to enhance coordination across Jewish organizations and consult on developing emergency plans.

“Creating vibrant Jewish life on campus depends on having safe environments for Jewish college students, which is why we are so proud to work alongside SCN in strengthening our security support for campus Hillels worldwide,” said Adam Lehman, President and CEO of Hillel International.

“We are committed to ensuring that members of the community feel safe and supported as they pursue their education,” said Michael Masters, SCN National Director and CEO.

“Operation SecureOurCampuses, coordinated with key partners across the community and public safety, is a proactive measure to address these threats and work closely with our partners to protect every center of Jewish life on campus,” he stated. “We are committed to ensuring that members of the community feel safe and supported as they pursue their education—they should be able to walk across campuses free from fear, harassment, or targeted violence.”

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Secure Community Network Releases Guidance To Protect College Students

Given the inability to provide a secure learning environment for Jewish students at certain universities across the United States, particularly in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, the Secure Community Network has put out a 10-point plan to counter hate on campus.

Michael Masters, National Director and CEO of SCN, said on Thursday that “in the wake of Oct. 7, college campuses across the country failed to provide their Jewish students with a safe place to learn and study.”

He said that “as campuses prepare to welcome students back to campus this year, there must be a plan, and it must be enforced. Every campus must adopt these critical steps to ensure the safety and security of its Jewish students and to prevent the chaos that unfolded in the spring.”

Items in the plan came from a roundtable discussion SCN convened with the Major Cities Chiefs Association, an organization of police executives representing the largest cities in the United States and Canada, tasked with examining events and threats.

Recommendations include anticipating upcoming pro-Hamas protests, recognizing the likelihood of targeted intimidation against Jewish students, developing plans to secure students during building takeovers or encampments, and properly communicating policies.

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Most years, Aimee Shattuck’s role as the chair of Portland State University’s protest and expression advisory team is a small slice of her job supporting student groups as the executive director of student involvement. As the university gears up for fall 2024, there’s more work ahead. Amid the usual back to school events and activities, Shattuck said she hears constant discussion of world events, student activism, and the university’s role in both.

Aliza Tuttle, a research associate in the school of social work, worries the campus environment could get worse for Jewish students and faculty in the fall. The Secure Community Network, a national security group oriented around the Jewish community, says that Jewish students have seen heightened threats and harassment since the escalation of the war in Gaza and created a campus guide for enhancing security.

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