Jewish students sue Harvard, alleging campus antisemitism

A group of Jewish students is suing Harvard University, alleging that the Ivy League college has become “a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment.”

Filed Wednesday in Boston federal court, the lawsuit accuses Harvard of failing to enforce policies that would protect Jewish students from harassment, hiring professors who promote antisemitism, and ignoring Jewish students’ pleas for protection. 

“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 lawsuit alleges. 

According to the complaint, the problems at Harvard started long before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel put a spotlight on campus antisemitism and stoked a free speech controversy that contributed to President Claudine Gay’s resignation last week.

“In fact, Harvard has been aware of its antisemitism problem for years, but its response has been, to say the least, clearly unreasonable and totally unacceptable in not just tolerating, but enabling antisemitism,” the lawsuit states. 

The plaintiffs include Harvard Divinity School student Alexander Kestenbaum, five other unnamed Jewish Harvard students, and the non-profit Students Against Antisemitism, Inc., a group whose website lists a “check back soon” message. 

They’ve accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal civil rights law barring discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. The same statute was recently invoked in similar lawsuits filed by Jewish students against the University of Pennsylvania and New York University. 

The plaintiffs in the Harvard lawsuit are asking a judge to order the university to discipline faculty, administrators, and students who engage in or permit antisemitism on campus. They’re also calling for financial damages and the creation of a mandatory antisemitism training for community members. 

The students allege that Harvard’s purported discrimination extends to its admissions, claiming that Harvard’s policies have reduced the number of Jewish students by as much as 60% over the past decade — “an enormous decline that evinces an intentional effort, much like Harvard’s quotas one hundred years ago, to exclude Jews.” The source or veracity of this statistic was not immediately clear. 

Through a spokesperson, Harvard declined to comment on the pending lawsuit Thursday. 

The litigation comes during a period of turmoil for the prestigious university, which is still reeling from Gay’s resignation on Jan. 2 — just months into her tenure. Gay notably came under fire for the ambiguous response she gave during a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism last month, when she responded to a question about whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard’s policies against bullying and harassment.

According to the Associated Press, Gay said it depended on the context, adding that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.”

In a message to the Harvard community this week, interim President Alan Garber urged unity amid an “extraordinarily painful and disorienting time for Harvard.”

“It’s crucial that we bridge the fissures that have weakened our sense of community and, through our words and deeds, affirm the immense worth of what we do here, notwithstanding our shortcomings,” Garber wrote. “Doing so will not be easy, especially in the face of persistent scrutiny, but we must rise to the challenge.”

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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