USA
NYU settles lawsuit alleging ‘festering Jewish hatred’
Three students accused the University of “egregious civil rights violations” by allowing antisemitism to go unpunished
July 10, 2024 13:16
Three students accused the University of “egregious civil rights violations” by allowing antisemitism to go unpunished
July 10, 2024 13:16New York University (NYU) has settled a lawsuit brought by three Jewish students, who accused the university of failing to protect them from “festering Jewish hatred permeating the school”.
The lawsuit was filed last November by Bella Ingber, Sabrina Maslavi, and Saul Tawil. They accused the university of “egregious civil rights violations” by allowing antisemitism to go unpunished on campus.
The suit alleges that antisemitism had already been a “growing institutional problem’ at NYU, even before October 7. Since the Hamas attacks, Inger, Maslavi, and Tawil claim that the University failed to act on antisemitism, even as fellow students chanted “gas the Jews” and “Hitler was right”.
Inger and Maslavi said that while attending a vigil on October 17 for the victims of the Hamas attacks, facult and students nearby protested, with some demonstrators burning an Israeli flag. Other protesters made “slit-your-throat” gestures toward Jewish students.
The lawsuit also claims that Jewish students’ concerns are “ignored, slow-walked, or met with gaslighting” by NYU administrators.
The settlement resolves one of the first of many lawsuits accusing major universities, including Columbia, of allowing or encouraging antisemitism post-October 7.
Brown University also reached an agreement this week with The Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education. The University committed to volster nondiscrimination training. Other schools faced with similar lawsuits include Harvard, the University of California, Berkeley, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania.
The students in the NYU case were seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They also urged NYU to terminate employees, or suspend or expel students, responsible for antisemitism. The terms of the settlement have not yet been made public.