Jewish Students File Lawsuit Against Harvard University For Not Taking Action Against Alleged Cases of Anti-Semitism
Jose Nino
|
6 Jewish students launched accusations against Harvard University of “selectively” enforcing its anti-discrimination policies by letting “rampant” anti-Semitism to continue on campus in a federal lawsuit that was filed on January 10, 2024.
This lawsuit claiming that there is “severe and pervasive” anti-semitism at Harvard is the latest lawsuit that’s part of a broader array of lawsuits being filed by Jewish students against universities that supposedly foster anti-Semitism.
Some of the universities experiencing these lawsuits include the following: University of Pennsylvania, University of California-Berkeley, New York University, Rutgers University, and McMaster University.
The Harvard students claimed that their university “has become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment” in the past few months, per the lawsuit. Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, such sentiments have increased on campus according to these Jewish students.
Their lawsuit asserts that the Ivy League university was in violation of the Title VI and the Civil Rights Act by “selectively” enforcing its anti-discrimination policies. The students proclaimed that Harvard treats Jews as “unworthy of the respect and protection it affords other groups.”
“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 highlighted.
In one example that the lawsuit mentioned, Harvard lets students and faculty “advocate, without consequence, the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel, the only Jewish country in the world.” However, the university issues warnings to students that they could be disciplined if they “engage in sizeism, fatphobia, racism, transphobia, or other disfavored behavior,” per the complaint.
In their complaint, the Jewish students claimed that anti-Semitism has been an issue at Harvard for several years. However, this problem has magnified since the October 7 attacks.
The non-profit organization Students Against Antisemitism also is involved in the lawsuit.
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, the law firm that is representing the Jewish students, said on January 11 in a statement that they want Harvard to carry out “concrete” disciplinary measures against faculty, staff, and students who carry out “antisemitic abuse.”
Additionally, the lawsuit aims to have the university reject and/or return donations “conditioned on the hiring or promotion of professors who espouse antisemitism or the inclusion of antisemitic coursework of curricula,” the law firm declared.
In recent months, Harvard has experienced significant pushback from big donors who have been angered by its perceived lack of a response or a proper condemnation of the Hamas terror attacks.
The fact of the matter is that any criticism of Israel, no matter how uncouth it may be, is still protected under free speech. Compromising on this issue will only open the floodgates to further abuse against free speech rights.
At the end of the day, the best way to get rid of campus Palestine v. Israel problems is by having the US halt all economic and military aid to Israel in addition to taking a neutral stance to this conflict.
Share: