Jewish students sue Harvard, say school failed to respond to anti-Semitism
Jewish student are suing Harvard, alleging that the university has failed to properly responded to incidents of anti-Semitism.
Jewish students at Harvard University are suing the Ivy League institution, alleging that administrators haven’t properly responded to incidents of anti-Semitism.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in a Boston federal court, according to Bloomberg, and alleges that the Cambridge, Massachusetts university hasn’t punished the rampant anti-Semitism on campus that spiked after the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
Students who filed the lawsuit cited a civil rights law that’s been used to sue several universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
“Jewish students have been attacked on social media, and Harvard faculty members have promulgated antisemitism in their courses and dismissed and intimidated students who object,” the lawsuit alleges. “What is most striking about all of this is Harvard’s abject failure and refusal to lift a finger to stop and deter this outrageous antisemitic conduct and penalize the students and faculty who perpetrate it.”
According to Bloomberg, the students asked a federal judge to take action and remove administrators and faculty engaged in anti-Semitic discrimination. The lawsuit also asked the federal judge to require that Harvard return or decline donations that are “conditioned on the hiring or promotion of professors who espouse antisemitism.”
The lawsuit comes at a perilous time for Harvard, as Claudine Gay resigned earlier in January after facing allegations of plagiarism and criticism over comments she made during a congressional hearing on anti-Semitism.
Gay resigned on Jan. 2 following allegations of plagiarism earlier in her career, as well as criticism stemming from a December 2023 congressional hearing on anti-Semitism she attended.
When asked during the hearing by Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., if calls for the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard’s bullying and harassment policies, Gay failed to give a clear answer.
”It can be, depending on the context,” Gay responded.
Gay would go on to apologize for her response several times.
