Former Stanford instructor who allegedly put Jews in a corner during class sues university
A former Stanford University instructor who allegedly put Jewish students in a corner during a class exercise filed a lawsuit against the institution, saying his termination was wrongful.
A former Stanford University instructor who allegedly put Jewish students in a corner during a class exercise filed a lawsuit against the institution, saying his termination was wrongful.
During an October 10, 2023 class session, an instructor allegedly asked Jewish students to stand in a corner of the classroom and used them as an example, according to The Forward. Reports at the time identified the instructor in question as Ameer Loggins. This identification is corroborated by recent coverage from the Stanford Daily.
As Campus Reform reported, Loggins’ contract was not renewed in January. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Loggins alleged in the lawsuit filed Wednesday that Stanford administrators initially suspended him and publicly shared his work status because he’s Black and Muslim.
The lawsuit states the administrator’s actions were discriminatory because they “do not publicly confirm personnel actions taken against Caucasian, Jewish and non-Muslim employees.”
The former instructor also accused a Ph.D. student of slander in the lawsuit, citing a Stanford Daily article where the individual called Loggins among “Stanford’s most racist faculty members” during a Congressional hearing.
The lawsuit states that Loggins “is categorically not racist.”
In a statement to the outlet, a Stanford spokesperson said “We are disappointed that Mr. Loggins has chosen to file this lawsuit and we will vigorously defend against the claims being made.”
Citing several student accounts with individuals with whom he had spoken, Rabbi Dov Greenberg, director of the Chabad Stanford Jewish Center, told The Forward that the instructor asked Israeli and Jewish students to identify themselves, then told them to grab their belongings and stand in a corner, stating, “This is what Israel does to the Palestinians.”
“How many people died in the Holocaust?” the instructor asked. “Six million,” a student allegedly responded.
“Colonizers killed more than 6 million. Israel is a colonizer,” the instructor said.
According to Greenberg, the instructor allegedly said “Hamas is a legitimate representation of the Palestinian people. They are not a terrorist group. They are freedom fighters. Their actions are legitimate.”
The lawsuit did give some Loggins account of what happened during the controversial class session.
According to the lawsuit, Loggins told students in the class that he wanted to discuss “dehumanization, Israel and Palestine,” adding that he didn’t condone the loss of innocent lives or the “ ‘slow death’ that comes with dehumanization.”
Loggins also told students that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant compared Palestinians to animals and wanted to deny them basic needs such as food and electricity.
But, according to the New York Times, Gallant actually said “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.”
Loggins, according to the lawsuit, said to the class that he was “not asking the students to pick sides between Israel or Palestine,” asking the class to focus on Palestinian civilians rather than Hamas.
The instructor went on to ask if there were Jewish students in the classroom, but said in the lawsuit that it was “not to isolate Jewish students” but rather to “speak to diversity within the Jewish diaspora.”
Loggins did confirm a portion of the lesson where he asked the class how many people died in the Holocaust. When students said 6 million Jews died, Loggins brought up other mass murders.
The former instructor says he also picked one Jewish and Asian student, who agreed to participate, to participate in an exercise. According to the lawsuit, they were chosen for their seat location and “physical size to illustrate a power differential between the large and the small, the oppressed and the oppressor.”
Loggins would go on to take some of their belongings and ask them to face a window, telling them they could turn around “if they could produce identification. The exercise was meant to “do an exercise on profiling and policing” in comparison to Gaza.
Derek Sells, who is an attorney representing Loggins, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Ameer wants to teach again.
“What Ameer wants is justice. His reputation. His ability to teach and support his family,” Sells said.
