A group of Jewish students sued Harvard on Wednesday, alleging the university allowed antisemitism to flourish on campus.
Harvard’s “deliberate indifference” and “enabling” of antisemitism violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the suit argues.
The only plaintiff named—Harvard Divinity school student Shabbos “Alexander” Kestenbaum—(the five other students are not identified) told The Harvard Crimson that antisemitism was always present on campus but after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, it became “out of control” making the lawsuit the students’ “only option.”
Kasowitz Benson Torres, on behalf of several Jewish students at Harvard, has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Harvard University, alleging that Harvard is egregiously violating the civil rights of its Jewish students, who are subjected to a severe and pervasive antisemitic hostile educational environment, which has worsened since the October 7 Hamas murder, rape, and kidnapping of 1,200 Israelis. […]
In their complaint, plaintiffs allege that Harvard’s tolerance and enabling of antisemitism permit students and faculty to harass, intimidate, and assault Jewish students, disrupt classes and other campus activities with continual antisemitic demonstrations calling for the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel, the sole Jewish country in the world, and that Harvard’s response to antisemitic discrimination and harassment reflects an egregious double standard by which it treats Jewish students as unworthy of the protections it readily affords non-Jewish students.
The complaint alleges claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief requiring Harvard to implement institutional, far-reaching, and concrete remedial measures, including disciplinary measures against deans, administrators, professors, and other employees responsible for antisemitic abuse, whether because they engage in it or permit it; against students who engage in such conduct; declining and returning any donations, whether from foreign countries or elsewhere, conditioned on the hiring or promotion of professors who espouse antisemitism or the inclusion of antisemitic coursework or curricula; and requiring antisemitism training for Harvard community members. (Kasowitz Benson Torres)
In addition to the lawsuit, Harvard is currently under investigation by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights for race and religious-based harassment and is also the subject of a House Education Committee antisemitism probe.
“Rededicating ourselves to free inquiry and expression, in a climate of inclusion and a spirit of mutual respect, has never mattered more,” interim president, Alan Garber, said in a letter to the campus community this week.
