A federal judge denied Harvard’s motion to dismiss an anti-discrimination lawsuit, saying the evidence presented so far show that the university “failed its Jewish students” by allowing campus hostilities to escalate in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli civilians.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said Harvard officials often denounced antisemitism in public, but responded weakly or not at all to the anti-Israel protests and antisemitic incidents that roiled the campus after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.
Harvard’s public assurances “proved hollow when it came to taking disciplinary measures against offending students and faculty,” said Judge Stearns in the 25-page decision released Tuesday.
“In other words, the facts as pled show that Harvard failed its Jewish students,” said Judge Stearns, a Clinton appointee.
The decision means that the lawsuit filed in January by six Harvard students and Students Against Antisemitism in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts may proceed to trial on its claims that Harvard acted with “deliberate indifference,” in breach of its contract with students.
Harvard Divinity School graduate Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum, the only named student plaintiff, cheered the judge’s ruling.
“The judge recognized what Jewish students have been saying for months: Harvard has normalized, tolerated, and accepted antisemitism on its campus,” said Mr. Kestenbaum on X. “We will hold every last America and Jew hater accountable.”
At the same time, Judge Stearns dismissed the claim that Harvard committed “direct discrimination” against Jewish students.
The judge recognized what Jewish students have been saying for months: Harvard has normalized, tolerated, and accepted antisemitism on its campus. We will hold every last America and Jew hater accountable
— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) August 6, 2024
https://t.co/79UCrr8HUc
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton responded by saying that “Harvard is confident that once the facts in this case are made clear, it will be evident that Harvard has acted fairly and with deep concern for supporting our Jewish and Israeli students.”
“We appreciate that the Court dismissed the claim that Harvard directly discriminated against members of our community, and we understand that the court considers it too early to make determinations on other claims,” Mr. Newton said in a statement to the Harvard Crimson.
A week earlier, Judge Stearns dismissed an antisemitism lawsuit filed by Jewish students against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ruling that “the court cannot find that MIT acted with deliberate indifference.”
“Far from sitting on its hands, MIT took steps to contain the escalating on-campus protests that, in some instances, posed a genuine threat to the welfare and safety of Jewish and Israeli students, who were at times personally victimized by the hostile demonstrators,” said the judge in his 17-page order issued July 30.
The lawsuit filed by two MIT students and the StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice accused the university of violating Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act with its lack of action, but the judge disagreed.
“Boiled down to its essence, deliberate indifference means affirmatively choosing to do the wrong thing, or doing nothing, despite knowing what the law requires,” he wrote in his order. “Tempered by this understanding, the court cannot find that MIT acted with deliberate indifference.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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