Campus Surveys
Online and phone surveys of UMass Amherst students are conducted by the Student Assessment, Research, and Evaluation Office (SAREO). These "Project Pulse" surveys help the administration measure student satisfaction and identify problems that need to be addressed. Some surveys of particular interest to Jewish students are listed below.
Anti-Semitism Surveys
Periodic surveys on Anti-Semitism assess the extracurricular, residential, and classroom experiences of Jewish students. The questions have remained fairly consistent since the survey's inception in 1991, although in 2004 some questions were added to explore Jewish students' perceptions of criticism of Israel by professors, other students, and columnists in the student newspaper. It turns out that more than 40 percent of Jewish students consider any criticism of Israel to be inherently anti-Semitic.
2004 summary
2004 item-by-item
2000 summary
2000 item-by-item
1997 summary
The 1991 and 1994 anti-Semitism surveys are not currently available online.
Please contact us if you would like copies of those surveys.
Spirituality Surveys
According to the most recent Spirituality Survey (Spring 2002), 6.2 percent of under-graduates at UMass Amherst identified their "religious or spiritual orientation" as Jewish. However, it should be noted that the precise number of "cultural" or "secular" Jews who do not identify themselves as Jewish in religious or spiritual terms is unknown.
Spirituality Survey (2002)
Spirituality Survey (1995)
Jewish Life Survey
This one-time survey of Jewish students was sponsored by Hillel and the Office of Jewish Affairs (referred to in the survey by its initial working title, "Program for Issues of Jewish Awareness and Anti-Semitism").
Jewish Life Survey (1996)
