Harvard Must Defend Claim It Was Indifferent to Antisemitism

Harvard College must face claims that it was deliberately indifferent to the plight of Jewish students in the Fall of 2023 when anti-Israel demonstrations were happening on campus, a federal court said.

The case, brought by students and nonprofit advocacy groups, stems from the protests on campus after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, and a professor’s decision to prevent students doing a pro-Israel project. The protests on campus after the Hamas attack also lead to the resignation of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay.

The plaintiffs sufficiently claimed that the school knew about the harassment, Judge Richard G. Stearns of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts said Tuesday. He rejected Harvard’s argument that dismissal of the deliberate indifference claim was appropriate because the college didn’t know that a Jewish student was harassed by pro-Palestine protesters on campus, and because it started an investigation into two other incidents.

“To conclude that the mere act of launching an investigation without any further follow-through necessarily defeats a deliberate indifference claim, would be to prioritize form over function,” Stearns said.

The ruling is the latest development in a series of lawsuits brought by students across the country in the eve of Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, with students alleging the schools failed to adequately address antisemitism on campus. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently defeated a similar challenge. And NYU settled a lawsuit over “egregious” antisemitism, while alleged antisemitism at the University of Pennsylvania resulted in a lawsuit against the US Department of Education earlier this year.

Stearns dismissed claims by The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education, alleging direct discrimination by Harvard and retaliation.

The judge consolidated this case with another lawsuit accusing Harvard of not protecting Jewish students during the protests, according to a docket entry on Tuesday.

Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky Josefiak PLLC, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, and Libby Hoopes Brooks & Mulvey PC represent the plaintiffs. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, and King & Spalding LLP represent Harvard.

The case is Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law v. President & Fellows of Harvard Coll., 2024 BL 397600, D. Mass., No. 24-11354-RGS, 11/5/24.