this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
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Harvard University has been sued by Jewish students alleging it "has become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment".

The complaint alleges the Ivy League school is violating the civil rights of its Jewish students by tolerating and enabling discrimination on its campus.

It comes just over a week after its president, Claudine Gay, resigned in part over her handling of antisemitism.

Harvard has not yet commented on the lawsuit.

The complaint, filed on Wednesday night, argues that Jewish students have been "subjected to a severe and pervasive antisemitic hostile educational environment" that have worsened since Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.

It claims that Harvard students and faculty members have harassed, intimidated and assaulted Jewish students in classrooms, in on-campus activities and on social media, including by calling for the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel.

"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," the complaint states.

The claimants - a student at Harvard Divinity School and a group called Students Against Antisemitism, which include students at Harvard's law and public health schools - allege that antisemitism on campus "manifests itself in a double standard".

Harvard, they say, "selectively enforces its policies to avoid protecting Jewish students from harassment, hires professors who support anti-Jewish violence and spread antisemitic propaganda, and ignores Jewish students' pleas for protection", while disciplining those who engage in racism, transphobia and other forms of discrimination.

The complaint seeks monetary damages and an injunction to stop Harvard's alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars those who receive federal funds from allowing discrimination based on race.

The court filing was made by the Kasowitz Benson Torres law firm, which has launched similar lawsuits at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Harvard has been under fire in the months since the Hamas attack, with the US education department and the House of Representatives both opening investigations into its handling of antisemitism on campus.

Last week, Claudine Gay - the university's first black president - resigned following criticisms of her response to anti-semitism on campus, and allegations that she plagiarised parts of her academic work. She faced a firestorm of criticism over her December testimony before Congress, in which she failed to explicitly say that calls for the genocide of Jews violated university policy.

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[–] stoly@lemmy.world 93 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I'll reserve judgement until more information comes out, but this really strikes me as a group of lawyers and agitators latching on to the zeitgeist.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 76 points 10 months ago (3 children)

It's really quite sad that the Israel simps have abused the idea of antisemitism to the point that when I see accusations of antisemitism, I genuinely have no idea if they're taking about serious bigotry or if they're talking about people saying it's bad to murder civilians.

[–] Altofaltception@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago

The picture that the BBC included in the article seems like it may be the latter.

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (4 children)

No need to speculate; the allegations are linked in the article:

Harvard students and faculty harass, discriminate, and assault Jewish students—including on October 18, when a mob of protesters attacked a Jewish student, and the next day, when a mob trapped a group of Jewish students in a study room

Subjected to intense anti-Jewish vitriol, including from their own professors and Harvard administrators, Kestenbaum and other Jewish students, including SAA members, have been deprived of the ability and opportunity to fully participate in Harvard’s educational and other programs and have been placed at severe emotional and physical risk.

Moreover, over the past ten years, Harvard has instituted admissions policies that have severely reduced—by as much as sixty percent—the number of Jewish students, an enormous decline that evinces an intentional effort, much like Harvard’s quotas one hundred years ago, to exclude Jews.

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

when a mob of protesters attacked a Jewish student, and the next day, when a mob trapped a group of Jewish students in a study room

The important part here seems to be left out: did Harvard punish the students responsible for this? I find it hard to believe that they got away with this if they actually did it and we know who they are.

[–] ferralcat@monyet.cc 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

He showed up at a pro Palestinian protest to try and dox the students there. They asked him to leave. He ignored them and was then escorted out. People did not say nice things to him.

I'm not sure there was a lot to punish.

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

That's still speculative; for it's merely one side making allegations without demonstrating substantive evidence in front of a court.

[–] ferralcat@monyet.cc 1 points 10 months ago

I start d (slowly) reading this and... Is this how legal briefs are written? It seems like a reddit blog post. For instance in the examples section they write "SJp ... is one of the most vitriolic antisemitic networks on college campuses. SJP was founded by the chairman of American Muslims for Palestine (“AMP”), the leadership of which overlaps with the leadership of organizations that have been shut down by federal authorities, whose assets were frozen by the U.S. Treasury Department, or that were found liable in civil actions for providing material support to Hamas. SJP receives funding and training from AMP as well as from universities. SJP and its affiliates sponsor antisemitic events, host antisemitic speakers..." All of which I'm reading expecting a citation somewhere... Anywhere. It seems like easily verifiable stuff. But there is none. Is this how legal briefs are written?

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Being anti Israel is just not the same as being antisemitic. I'm not sure why that is such a hard thing for people to understand. Israel and Judaism are different things.

[–] goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 10 months ago

It's because it makes it so much harder to be critical of Isreal if they can continue having anything labeled as antisemitic.

[–] Sumpfkraut@kbin.social 0 points 10 months ago

With the information about the organzied harassment campaign that is openly available, I feel confident in judging that group as agitators and lawyers that terrorize human rights advocates.