Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

Jewish graduate students at Harvard University have filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging discrimination and a hostile environment for Jewish students. The students claim that the university has failed to adequately address anti-Semitism on campus and has created a climate where Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome.

Jewish graduate students at Harvard University have filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging discrimination and a hostile environment for Jewish students. The students claim that the university has failed to adequately address anti-Semitism on campus and has created a climate where Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, alleges that Harvard has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. The students argue that Harvard's failure to address anti-Semitism on campus has created a hostile environment for Jewish students, making it difficult for them to participate in campus life and succeed academically.

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

The lawsuit cites several examples of anti-Semitic incidents on campus, including a 2021 event where a swastika was drawn on a Jewish student's door. The lawsuit also alleges that Harvard has failed to adequately respond to complaints of anti-Semitism, and that the university's policies and procedures for addressing discrimination are inadequate.

The students who filed the lawsuit say that they have tried to work with Harvard to address these issues, but that the university has not been responsive. They say that the lawsuit is their "last course of action" to protect Jewish students at Harvard.

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

Harvard University has not yet commented on the lawsuit.

Critics are blasting task forces created by Harvard University in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war following a series of recommendations released in late June.

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

In the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war, the Ivy League university announced the establishment of task forces focused on "combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism" on campus. Those task forces released their preliminary recommendations in a report to Harvard's interim president, Alan M. Garber. Their final report is expected in the fall.

Experts ripped the preliminary findings of Harvard's task forces, saying they created a "smoke and mirrors" and "DEI-obsessed" approach to combat continued rising antisemitism plaguing colleges across the nation.

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

Liora Rez, the founder and executive director of StopAntisemitism, blasted the recommendations in an interview with Fox News Digital.

"They actually make things worse," Rez said. "First, they are unbalanced. There is a task force on combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias while the other focuses only on combating antisemitism. What about anti-Israeli bias?"

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

Rez said the groups should have focused on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, arguing that antisemitism on campuses far surpasses anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias.

"The task forces were formed in the wake of the tsunami of antisemitic and anti-Israeli activity on Harvard’s campus," she said. "No honest observer of events can say that any other bias compares to what Jewish and Israeli students experienced at Harvard, including physical assaults, verbal and physical harassment, ridicule and public shaming by fellow students, staff, and faculty, social media and online abuse, and interference with their very efforts to obtain the education they paid for."

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

"No honest observer of events can say that any other bias compares to what Jewish and Israeli students experienced at Harvard…" — Liora Rez

Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, blasted Harvard's task force recommendations on "combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism" on campus. (Fox News Digital)

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

Rez blasted one of the task force recommendations to fund a visiting professorship in Palestinian studies, calling it "laughable."

"If this was the Babylon Bee headline it could not be more laughable," she said. "Harvard has acknowledged that faculty has discriminated against Jewish and Israeli students."

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

The StopAntisemitism founder said the recommendations to combat antisemitism paled in comparison to the anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim recommendations.

Rather than combating on-campus antisemitism, she added, the task force instead fueled it.

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

"Meanwhile, to protect Jews and Israelis, the recommendations are general, including to ‘take action,’ and increase ‘anti-harassment’ training. What does that even mean?" Rez said. "The task force recommendations do nothing more than continue Harvard’s shameful record of not only not combating antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, but actually feeding it."

William Jacobson, the founder of the Equal Protection Project and Cornell University law professor, told Fox News Digital this is further proof that Harvard is trying – and failing – to tow "both sides" in the Israel-Hamas war.

Jewish Students Sue Harvard University for Discrimination: 'Our 'Last Course of Action'

"Harvard tries to 'both sides' the campus problems, but in reality the anti-Israel and antisemitic students were the aggressors," he said. "Jewish and pro-Israel students were not holding rallies calling for the destruction of Palestinians and using anti-Muslim rhetoric. It was almost all in one direction, but you wouldn't know that from the report."

Jacobson argued that the Ivy League institution is "sanitizing antisemitism under the guise of fighting 'Islamophobia'."

"We have seen a similar 'both sides' approach at Cornell, where I teach law, and at many other schools. It's time for university administrations to be honest as to the source of the problem," he said. "It's not 'Islamophobic' to acknowledge that the Jew-hatred that inspires and motivates Islamist groups like Hamas has made its way onto campuses under the cover of 'pro-Palestinian' activism."

"The DEI obsession that has captured particularly elite campuses is the mother's milk of antisemitism and anti-Israel activism, by pigeonholing Jews as supposedly White oppressors and fomenting racial animus under the banner of decolonization," Jacobson said.

Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson blasted Harvard for establishing an unbalanced task force. (Fox News)

"Rather than issuing meaningless task force reports, universities should start dismantling the DEI bureaucracies and programming, and refocus on respecting each student as an individual rather than as a proxy for racial, ethnic, and religious identity groups," he added.