Harvard must face lawsuit over alleged antisemitism on campus, US judge says
- Jewish students accuse university of letting its campus become a bastion of antisemitism. Judge said ‘Harvard failed its Jewish students’
Harvard University failed to persuade a US judge to dismiss a lawsuit in which Jewish students accused the Ivy League school of letting its campus become a bastion of antisemitism.
Without ruling on the merits, US District Judge Richard Stearns said the plaintiffs plausibly alleged that Harvard response to on-campus incidents was inadequate, and that “the facts as pled show that Harvard failed its Jewish students”.
Stearns said he was also “dubious” that Harvard could hide behind the argument that some of the challenged on-campus activity was protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
Students sued in January, accusing Harvard of selectively enforcing its anti-discrimination policies to avoid protecting Jewish students from harassment, ignoring their pleas for protection, and hiring professors who supported anti-Jewish violence and spread antisemitic propaganda.
Harvard and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the students did not immediately respond to similar requests.