Jewish students have filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, alleging that the institution has permitted a rise in antisemitism on its campus that has effectively turned it into a “bastion” of such behavior. The complaint, lodged on Wednesday night, accuses the university of selectively applying its anti-discrimination policies, failing to shield Jewish students from harassment, and employing professors who endorse anti-Jewish violence and disseminate antisemitic propaganda. Among the plaintiffs in the Harvard lawsuit are Alexander Kestenbaum, a master’s degree candidate at Harvard Divinity School, and five unnamed students from Harvard’s law and public health schools, along with the nonprofit organization Students Against Antisemitism. The students argue that Harvard’s justification of free expression does not excuse the university from its inaction in the face of growing antisemitic sentiments and actions. The lawsuit notes that Harvard’s approach to these issues would not be tolerated if any other group besides Jews were targeted similarly, and suggests that Harvard would not remain passive if students and professors called for the destruction of any country other than Israel. The lawsuit accuses the 388-year-old Harvard of violating federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination. It was filed eight days after Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, resigned amid criticism over her handling of antisemitic attacks and incidents following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7. Gay was also facing multiple plagiarism allegations – and it appears that the university did not force her out because of her stance on antisemitism, but rather because of the plagiarism allegations. . Similar lawsuits have been filed against other institutions, including New York University and the University of California, Berkeley. The lawsuit reads, in part: Antisemitism at Harvard is hardly a new phenomenon. In the 1920s, it was official Harvard policy, implemented by President Abbott Lawrence Lowell, and complete with quotas on admissions to “diminish the Jews” and restore Harvard as a “Gentile” college. Over the last decade in particular, Harvard’s tolerance for, and enabling of, antisemitism has caused a surge in antisemitic hate and harassment culminating in the current intolerable anti-Jewish environment at Harvard following Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack. Rather than discipline the perpetrators of antisemitism on campus, Harvard has enabled antisemitic abuse and harassment to intensify, forsaking its Jewish students to a hostile environment that deprives them of the educational experiences other students enjoy. Over the past ten years, Harvard Jewish students have been subjected to numerous antisemitic incidents, of which the following are examples. On October 15, 2015, Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee (“Harvard PSC”)—a Students for Justice in Palestine (“SJP”) affiliate and Harvard-recognized student group—hosted a “die-in” in front of Harvard Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, to protest an event featuring an Israeli soldier—according to Harvard Hillel Executive Director Jonah C. Steinberg, the “first time in my five years at Harvard that I have seen an effort to interfere with the event of another organization.” Although Harvard’s Statement on Rights and Responsibilities proscribes such interference with campus activities, Harvard not only failed to discipline Harvard PSC, but its administrators and faculty members, including Dean Stephen Lassonde and Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations Director S. Allen Counter, attended and supported the violations. On November 5, 2015, three weeks after the die-in, a swastika was discovered on a Harvard Law classroom desk. SJP—which has a […]