Harvard Graduate Student Sues University, Accuses Ivy League School of Enabling Antisemitism

A Harvard University graduate student is suing the university over its handling of anti-Israel agitators and the rise in antisemitism on campus, which he describes as a "feature" of the Ivy League school.

Harvard Divinity School student Shabbos Kestenbaum has accused Harvard University of dismissing the safety concerns of Jewish students while caving to an anti-Israel mob that has expressed anti-democratic, anti-American, anti-capitalist, and antisemitic views.

In a scathing op-ed, Kestenbaum addressed the university's "out-of-control" antisemitism, accusing the university of failing to meaningfully enforce any policy or hold people accountable for antisemitism. He has repeatedly looked the other way as hundreds of students violated an unprecedented number of school policies in the past several weeks.

"If Harvard wanted to change, if they wanted to combat antisemitism, they would’ve done it already," Kestenbaum said. "There is nothing preventing them today from implementing policies that will combat antisemitism and discipline antisemitic students and professors, but time and time again, they’ve shown they are either unable or unwilling to do anything to help their Jewish students."

Kestenbaum accused the school of having a double standard when it comes to protecting its Jewish students. On Tuesday, Harvard announced that it had agreed to some concessions for anti-Israel agitators in return for dismantling the protest encampment ahead of the upcoming commencement ceremony.

Kestenbaum said he finds it "absurd" that the school is "rewarding bad behavior" while the voices of Jewish students continue to be ignored by school faculty. He previously told Fox News Digital that administrators have not responded to a single one of his several dozen emails and have refused to meet with Jewish students.

"We had these Harvard Hamas homeless shelters on campus for the past three weeks where students violated school policy chanting calls of ethnic genocide against Jewish people, vandalizing school property," he said. "And Alan Garber, the president of Harvard University, just yesterday said that he's going to negotiate with them and he's going to give them a seat at the table so that they can talk about divesting from Israel, they can talk about having a Palestinian study center at Harvard.""

"As a Jewish student, I've been wanting for months to talk with the president, to talk with my dean, Marla Frederick. So I guess the only way that I can be heard, and I can be seen is if I violate school policy… "

"They are rewarding antisemitism," Kestenbaum continued. "It is so unacceptable."

In his op-ed, Kestenbaum wrote how he never expected to be taking legal action against the same Ivy League university he was once eager to attend. "Never would I have imagined that I'd need to fight for my right to exist on campus. Never would I have thought that I'd have to sue Harvard to be treated as an equal," he wrote.

He told Fox News co-anchor John Roberts that his experience and that of Jewish students on campuses across the United States have made him fearful about the future of the country.

"Harvard purports to train the next generation of American leaders: presidents, politicians, thought leaders," Kestenbaum said. "If my classmates, if my professors are those next-generation leaders, we are at a very, very scary point in our country, because it’s not just antisemitism — they're anti-American."

Harvard filed a motion in April to dismiss the suit. Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton told the Harvard Crimson at the time that "Harvard is committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring that our Jewish students, faculty, staff, and alumni know they are safe, valued, and embraced in our community."