{"id":140430,"date":"2024-01-12T14:48:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T19:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=140430"},"modified":"2024-01-12T14:48:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T19:48:50","slug":"jewish-students-sue-harvard-alleging-inaction-against-rampant-antisemitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/jewish-students-sue-harvard-alleging-inaction-against-rampant-antisemitism\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish students sue Harvard alleging inaction against ‘rampant’ antisemitism"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘It became so unbearable that this was our only option,’ student says<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Six Jewish students accused Harvard University of “selectively” enforcing its anti-discrimination policies by allowing \u201crampant\u201d antisemitism to continue on campus in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Their complaint <\/a>alleging \u201csevere and pervasive\u201d antisemitism at Harvard is the latest in a growing list of similar lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Students at the University of Pennsylvania, University of California-Berkeley, New York University, Rutgers University, and McMaster University also have filed lawsuits accusing<\/a> their institutions of failing to crack down on antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.<\/p>\n

The Harvard students said their university \u201chas become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment\u201d in recent months, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Their complaint alleges the Ivy League university violated Title VI and the Civil Rights Act by \u201cselectively\u201d enforcing its anti-discrimination policies. The students said Harvard treats Jews as “unworthy of the respect and protection it affords other groups.”<\/p>\n

“Based on its track record, it is inconceivable that Harvard would allow any group other than Jews to be targeted for similar abuse or that it would permit, without response, students and professors to call for the annihilation of any country other than Israel,” the complaint states.<\/p>\n

According to one example mentioned in the lawsuit, Harvard allows students and faculty to \u201cadvocate, without consequence, the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel, the only Jewish country in the world.\u201d At the same time, the university warns students that they could face disciplinary measures if they \u201cengage in sizeism, fatphobia, racism, transphobia, or other disfavored behavior,\u201d according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

In another example, the complaint states that Harvard gave burritos and candy to a mob of students who \u201ctook over a campus building to further their antisemitic agenda\u201d \u2013 when it should have disciplined them instead.<\/p>\n

The Jewish students, in their complaint, said antisemitism has been a problem at Harvard for many years.<\/p>\n

But it \u201cskyrocketed\u201d after Oct. 7, Alexander Kestenbaum, a student at Harvard Divinity School and one of the six in the lawsuit, told<\/a> The Harvard Crimson<\/em> student newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became so unbearable that this was our only option,\u201d Kestenbaum said.<\/p>\n

The other five students are unnamed; the nonprofit Students Against Antisemitism also is involved in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, the law firm representing the students, said<\/a> Thursday in a statement that they want Harvard to implement \u201cconcrete\u201d disciplinary measures against faculty, staff, and students who engage in \u201cantisemitic abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also seeks to have the university decline and\/or return donations \u201cconditioned on the hiring or promotion of professors who espouse antisemitism or the inclusion of antisemitic coursework of curricula,\u201d the law firm stated.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit comes less than two weeks after Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned<\/a> amid allegations of plagiarism and criticism about her response to antisemitism on campus.<\/p>\n

Harvard also has faced backlash from major donors upset by its response to antisemitism and the Hamas terrorist attack, The College Fix<\/em> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE: Lawmaker questions Harvard president about flying Ukraine flag, not Israel\u2019s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

IMAGE: JanYuan\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

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