PRESS RELEASE: Leading Education Scholar Jay P. Greene to Join DFI as Senior Fellow

WASHINGTON—The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI) announced today that Jay P. Greene, Ph.D., a nationally recognized education scholar, will join the team as a Senior Fellow, where he will focus on combating anti-Semitism in K–12 education, higher education, and teacher unions.

“Jay Greene is a fearless advocate for reform and an accomplished scholar,” said DFI President and Co-Founder Bob Eitel. “At a moment when anti-Semitism is openly tolerated—and even encouraged—by powerful actors in education, Jay brings the seriousness and moral clarity needed to expose these failures and hold people and institutions accountable.”

Greene joins DFI after serving as a Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, where his research examined the effects of education on character formation, civic values, and institutional capture by ideological movements.

“Anti-Semitism in American education is not an accident. It is the predictable result of ideological capture and institutional cowardice,” said Greene. “I’m joining DFI to apply serious research and clear thinking to a problem that too many leaders across the spectrum would prefer to explain away instead of confront.”

Over the course of his career, Greene has authored or co-authored hundreds of peer-reviewed articles, policy reports, and opinion pieces on education reform, school choice, higher education governance, and the role of leftist ideology in public institutions. His research has appeared in leading academic journals and major national outlets, and he is a frequent commentator on education policy and campus culture.

Greene served for more than sixteen years at the University of Arkansas, where he was Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Education Reform, a department he founded and led. Earlier in his career, he held faculty appointments at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston and was a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Greene earned his B.A. in History from Tufts University, where he graduated summa cum laude, and received his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University.

At DFI, Greene will lead research and public engagement efforts addressing the rise of anti-Semitism in American education.