Columbia Sued by Jewish Students Over ‘Endemic’ Antisemitism

Columbia University was sued a second time by Jewish students who claim the Ivy League school had permitted “endemic” antisemitism to flourish for decades until the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel unleashed “yet another intolerable wave” of anti-Israeli abuse.

The New York campus had been “one of the worst centers of academic antisemitism” in the US, but Jewish students have feared for their safety since the Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis, according to the complaint. The lawsuit filed Wednesday by five students and two nonprofit groups follows a similar case last week.

Students claim Columbia violated a federal civil rights law that Jewish students have used in recent weeks to sue top schools including Harvard University, New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley.

In the latest lawsuit, students claim “violent and exclusionary anti-Jewish rhetoric” has escalated since students returned from their winter break. On Feb. 13, for instance, protesters chanted “there is no safe place, death to the Zionist state” and other threatening phrases.

“Even with advance knowledge of these rallies, which violate numerous provisions of Columbia’s policies and are organized by suspended student groups, Columbia refuses to stop them and curtail the pervasively hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students,” claims the lawsuit filed in federal court in New York.

Read More: Columbia Added to House Antisemitism Probe of Ivy League

A spokesperson for Columbia declined to comment.

Columbia also faces a US Department of Education investigation into a 2019 complaint by a Jewish student who claimed the school violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin. The department has opened investigations of suspected antisemitism or Islamaphobia at more than 40 colleges and universities since Oct. 7.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Students Against Antisemitism and StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice by the New York law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, which has sued several other schools.

They asked a judge to order Columbia to discipline administrators and faculty responsible for antisemitic discrimination and suspend or expel culpable students. In addition to financial damages, it also seeks the appointment of a “neutral expert monitor” and a return of donations conditioned on the hiring or promotion of faculty who espouse antisemitism.

Read more: Campus Antisemitism Fight Hinges on Law Testing School Power

The case is Students Against Antisemitism v. The Trustees of Columbia University, 24-cv-1306, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story:
David Voreacos in New York at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth

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