A new report by the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance found that Jewish undergraduate enrollment at Harvard University has fallen to about 7 percent in 2025, marking its lowest level since before the Second World War and the lowest among Ivy League schools with available data. The analysis reviewed nearly six decades of information and found that the proportion of Jewish students at Harvard has declined by roughly half over the past decade, down from an average of about 25 percent in the late twentieth century.

The report compared enrollment trends across nine elite universities and examined factors such as geographic diversification, expanded financial aid, international student growth, and athletic recruitment. It concluded that these factors do not fully explain the sharper decline at Harvard compared to peer institutions. The authors also noted that Harvard does not systematically track religious affiliation in its admissions data and urged the university to begin collecting voluntary data on Jewish self identification and to commission an independent review of its admissions policies.

The findings come amid heightened scrutiny of Harvard over allegations of antisemitism on campus following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel and the war in Gaza. Lawmakers have raised concerns that campus climate issues may influence admissions, and federal funding to the university has faced political challenges as a result of the controversy.