Harvard University talks a good game when it comes to combating antisemitism, but a newly filed lawsuit contends that the Ivy League institution is all talk and no action.
The Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law hit Harvard with a federal complaint Wednesday, accusing the storied university of tolerating “cruel anti-Semitic bullying, harassment, and discrimination” both before and after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians and others.
“Through its public actions and failures to act, Harvard has made its position clear: Jews are fair game,” said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. “Students and faculty can harass and discriminate against Jews, and they can do so openly and with impunity. Harvard will go out of its way to protect antisemitic protestors and conspiracy-theorists.”
The motion accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin, including Jews based on their ancestry.
Harvard is already under investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, but Kenneth Marcus, Brandeis Center founder and chairman, said the legal filing was warranted “given the extent of the problems at Harvard.”
“It’s unusual to see an institution admit as much as Havard has admitted, and yet do as little as they have done to address it,” Mr. Marcus told The Washington Times.
DOCUMENT: Brandeis Center vs. Harvard
The complaint represents something of an antisemitism trifecta for Harvard. Earlier this month, the House Education and Workforce Committee released the results of its investigation, which found a “pattern of inaction by Harvard leadership in combating antisemitism.”
In addition, the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance issued a May 2024 audit detailing “how Harvard’s education systemically planted and spread the seeds of hatred for Israel and Jews well before October 7th, 2023.”
The Brandeis lawsuit cited numerous examples of harassment and hostility directed at Jewish students, including an Israeli student at Harvard Business School student who was accosted, pushed and yelled at by anti-Israel protesters as he walked through and filmed a November “die-in.”
An anonymous Harvard message board includes posts such as “Harvard Hillel burning in hell,” a student who “proudly accept[s] the label of terrorist,” and “LET EM COOK,” an apparent reference to news reports saying babies were found dead in ovens after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israelis.
An independent investigation found that Harvard Kennedy School Professor Marshall Ganz discriminated against Jewish students during the spring 2023 semester, but the university refused to say whether he or his teaching fellows suffered any consequences.
“To the contrary, Defendant [Harvard] subsequently publicly touted Professor Ganz as a civil rights hero in the Harvard Gazette, without making any mention of his recent violation of HKS Members’ civil rights,” the lawsuit said. “This news came as a slap in the face to HKS Members, whose civil rights he had violated with impunity.”
Harvard has issued multiple statements condemning antisemitism. For example, the university denounced the “flagrantly antisemitic” cartoon posted by an undergraduate group in February that showed a Black man and Arab man with nooses around their necks held by a hand etched with a Star of David and dollar sign.
The lawsuit comes with Harvard struggling over how to discipline student protesters who violated school conduct codes.
Harvard sent notices earlier this month for at least 60 students to appear before the administrative board, but the university reinstated at least 22 students last week from involuntary leaves of absences in exchange for dismantling the anti-Israel encampment at Harvard Yard, according to the Harvard Crimson.
“In fact, just last week Harvard’s interim president backtracked on the school’s disciplinary plan, retracting suspensions and agreeing not to enforce consequences to protestors who violated numerous university rules and harassed, threatened and intimidated Jewish students,” said the Brandeis Center.
The Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted Monday to urge the administration to allow 13 seniors barred from graduating over their protest activity to receive their degrees at commencement, to be held Wednesday and Thursday.
Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, the campus anti-Israel coalition, warned of disruptions, saying Saturday on Instagram that “commencement will not proceed as normal while Harvard penalizes the students that speak against genocide.”
In November, the Brandeis Center filed a lawsuit alleging that the University of California Berkeley has tolerated the “longstanding, unchecked spread of antisemitism” on campus.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.