Harvard students file anti-Semitism lawsuit claiming school is a ‘bastion of hatred’ and say they’re being bullied over president Claudine Gay’s resignation
- Jewish students were labeled as ‘pedo-loving Zionists’ after the resignation of Claudine Gay
- They want anti-Israel professors fired and students disciplined
Six Jewish students at Harvard University have sued the school, claiming it has become a “stronghold of anti-Semitism and hatred.” They describe how they have been bullied since university president Claudine Gay resigned.
The lawsuit, filed this week in Massachusetts, claims that President Claudine Gay’s comments about anti-Semitism on campus are just the tip of the iceberg of the school’s problem.
Gay resigned on January 2 after her comments sparked anger and threats of a donor boycott. By this time, she was also accused of plagiarism.
The school supported her and refused to accept that there was an anti-Semitism problem. In her resignation letter, Gay said she had been subjected to racist threats because she is a black woman.
The lawsuit, filed by student Alexander Kestenbaum (pictured) and five unnamed others from Students Against Antisemitism, describes how Gay’s student supporters bullied them and other Jewish children after her dismissal.
The students say Harvard has demonstrated anti-Semitism for years, but events following the October 7 Hamas attack have made it a ‘more serious’ problem
The lawsuit, filed by student Alexander Kestenbaum and five unnamed others from Students Against Antisemitism, details how Gay’s student supporters bullied them and other Jewish children after her dismissal.
In internal chat rooms, Jewish students were labeled as “pedo-loving Zionists,” according to the lawsuit.
Some pro-Palestinian students said they also supported Hamas’ attack and saw it as a “moment of decolonization.”
The students say the issue existed before Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, but that the issue became “more serious” afterward.
They are now calling for students who threatened them to be expelled, and for anti-Israel professors to be fired.
They chose Professor Marshall Glanz who, they claim, told them they could not consider Israel a “democracy” in a class project because it would “offend other students.”
“Crowds of pro-Hamas students and faculty have marched in the hundreds through Harvard’s campus, shouting vile anti-Semitic slogans and calling for the death of Jews and Israel.
Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned in January after being accused of plagiarism. It came out after her testimony in Congress, which was universally admonished
The students are calling for the dismissal of Professor Marshall Ganz. They say he stopped them from referring to Israel as a ‘democracy’ during a project
“These gangs have occupied buildings, classrooms, libraries, student lounges, plazas and study halls, often for days or weeks at a time, promoting violence against Jews and harassing and abusing them on campus.
“Jewish students have been attacked on social media, and Harvard faculty members have trumpeted anti-Semitism in their courses and fired and intimidated students who objected.
“What is most striking about all of this is Harvard’s stunning failure and refusal to lift a finger to stop and deter this outrageous anti-Semitic behavior and to punish the students and faculty who perpetrate it,” they said. their attorneys in their 79-page complaint.
The university’s lawyers have not yet responded to the complaint.
Claudine Gay has been temporarily replaced by Provost Alan Garber. He was among the Harvard faculty who supported Gay at the congressional hearing, nodding as she made her remarks.