ISCA Early Career Speaker Series, Session Four: Campus Climate, Identity, and Belonging

October 29, 2025.

Yael Silverstein (Columbia University) - "Ambient Antisemitism and the Struggle for Belonging: Insights into University Environments"This talk presents findings from a multi-university study examining how different forms of antisemitism affect Jewish students, faculty, and staff. It shows that belonging is most strongly undermined by ambient antisemitism— institutionalized and environmental cues of exclusion—more so than by direct interpersonal incidents (e.g., overt harassment or subtle insults), and argues that belonging must be treated as central, not peripheral, to understanding Jewish experiences on campus.Yael Silverstein is a doctoral student in Social-Organizational Psychology and an MS candidate in Applied Statistics at Columbia University. Her research explores how stereotypes and organizational cues influence perception, belonging, and well-being in minority populations. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and dual BAs from Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary.“Antisemitism and Jewish Day School Enrollment in Europe” - Nadia BeiderThis study examines whether rising antisemitism affects Jewish parents’ decisions to enroll their children in Jewish vs. mainstream schools. Using data from the EU FRA survey and European enrollment figures, Dr. Beider compares expressed and revealed preferences to understand how prejudice, passing, and community solidarity shape school choice.Dr. Nadia Beider is a lecturer at the Melton Center for Jewish Education and leads the Jewish Day School Census at the JPPI. She was previously a Rothschild postdoc at UCL and a Martin Buber Fellow. Her research focuses on educational sociology, Jewish identity, and the intersection of religion and discrimination.

Music: "Pleasant Porridge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/