New School Lawsuit Timed for October 7 Anniversary

In a press release today, the Lawfare Project and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP announced they had filed suit in the US District Court of the Southern District of New York on behalf of Sophie Shabot, an American Jew who is also a citizen of Israel, against The New School, where she alleges she was subjected to relentless antisemitic harassment, intimidations, and physical assault while studying in its Parsons School of Design.
The filing was timed for the third anniversary of the October 7th, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas and other groups, who murdered over 1,200 people and abducted 251. The attacks unleashed a wave of anti-Israel protests and antisemitism, especially as criticism grew over Israel’s conduct in the ensuing war, which some accused of being genocidal. This is only the latest of The Lawfare Project’s cases on behalf of Jewish students against what it calls the pro-Hamas mob that took over American college campuses.
“On the third anniversary of October 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, pro-Hamas rallies have been organized across the country, including at universities, to celebrate the massacre,” said Brooke Goldstein, Founder and Executive Director of The Lawfare Project. “The hatred unleashed on that day has fallen hardest on Jewish college students, including Sophie, and all too often they have been left to suffer in a hostile environment. This lawsuit is our response to the tidal wave of Jew-hatred on college campuses as well as The New School’s shameful abdication of its responsibility to protect its Jewish students. The Lawfare Project will continue to advocate for the rights of Jewish students and ensure that those protections are enforced.”
The press release alleged her harassment had included:

• Students hurled epithets at her as she walked through campus, including “Zio cunt,” “Zio bitch,” “baby-killer,” and “genocidal maniac.”
• In December 2023, protesters physically blocked Shabot from entering the University Center — while allowing non-Jewish students to pass — shoved her out of the building, spat on her, and screamed through a bullhorn, “Fuck Israel, fuck you, bitch.”
• In March 2024, protesters vandalized and seized the space reserved for a Hillel event featuring an Israeli speaker and blocked Jewish students from entering. Relocated to a dean’s office with no security, Shabot and other Jewish students were trapped for roughly twenty minutes as a mob pounded on the door and demanded they turn over the speaker. After a TNS professor physically shoved the student guarding the door the University shut down the event citing safety issues, instead of securing it. As the Jewish students left, protesters pursued Shabot for blocks screaming “baby killer,” “genocidal freak,” “Zio cunt,” and “Zio bitch.” No student was disciplined for the violent disruption of the event.
• In April 2024, a crowd surrounded Shabot and her friends after hearing them speak Hebrew, formed a tight circle, and drove them from the University Center while a security guard looked on in silence. Her desk and workspace were vandalized.
• In fall 2024, a protester hurled a bottle at Shabot’s head, missing her by inches, as she sat outside a campus building.

The release said that Shabot repeatedly reported her treatment to professors, security personnel, the Office of Student Conduct, senior administrators, and the Office of the President, providing photographs, videos, and names, all to no avail. The release accused the school of at times rewarding her tormentors, saying that its then-president once gave participants in an unauthorized encampment, which included a student who had allegedly spat on Shabot, $300 to buy dinner, praised them, and posed for a photograph.
The press release said that as a result of her treatment, Shabot suffered severe anxiety, panic attacks, and insomnia, and her academic performance and ability to use the studios and equipment central to her education were impaired.
“The New School had a legal obligation to provide Sophie with an educational environment free from discrimination and harassment. Instead, it looked the other way as she was subjected to appalling verbal and physical assault, exclusion, vandalism, and other forms of abuse simply because she is Jewish,” said Ziporah Reich, Director of Litigation at The Lawfare Project and the attorney who filed the lawsuit. “Rather than protect Sophie, the administration accommodated those targeting her and left her to endure the consequences. The burden of discrimination should never be placed on the student being targeted. By filing this lawsuit, we intend to hold The New School accountable.”
“I am bringing this lawsuit because what happened to me should not be allowed to happen without accountability,” said Sophie Shabot, the plaintiff in this lawsuit. “I hope that by speaking out, The New School will be forced to confront what went wrong, change the way it responds when Jewish students are targeted, and make sure that no other student has to endure what I did.”
The release concluded with the more specific legal claim, asserting claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York Civil Rights Law, the New York City Human Rights Law, and the New York General Business Law, as well as claims for breach of contract and negligent infliction of emotional distress. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, statutory penalties, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other relief, and demands a jury trial.