Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for George W. Bush and Donald Trump issued the following statement in response to U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns’ decision to begin proceedings in the Brandeis Center’s lawsuit alleging Harvard University failed to address antisemitism:
“This is a huge win for Jewish students, both at Harvard and across the country. Just as the House of Representatives report recently concluded, Judge Stearns recognized that Harvard failed to address antisemitism, and he flat-out rejected Harvard’s disgraceful and continued attempts to gaslight Jewish students. Harvard has repeatedly turned a blind eye to the egregious antisemitism gaining ground by the day on its campus. Students have been discriminated against, threatened, and assaulted – both by students and professors. And many avoid campus out of fear for their safety. Enough is enough. This lawsuit aims to hold Harvard accountable and force it to take the rights and safety of Jewish students seriously. And Judge Stearns’ ruling now clears the way for us to begin the important discovery process. Far too many universities have not responded effectively to the dangerous and rising antisemitism on their campuses, and we hope this important lawsuit sends a message to Harvard and all institutions that those days are over.”
Harvard is sending students to a school with deep terrorist ties this summer.
When I asked them to comment on partnering Birzeit University, which has barred Jews from campus and has a student government run by Hamas, Harvard defended the upcoming program.
THREAD: pic.twitter.com/tgKPJa1Ux3
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) January 12, 2024
Judge Stearns recognized the Brandeis Center’s main and most important claim that Harvard left “cruel anti-Semitic bullying, harassment, and discrimination” unaddressed for years, pre-and post-10/7. The Brandeis Center attorneys argued, “When Harvard is presented with incontrovertible evidence of anti-Semitic conduct, it ignores and tolerates it.” Harvard attorneys urged the judge to dismiss the Brandeis Center’s complaint, however, Judge Stearns concluded Harvard took no reasonable action in response to the hostile environment and antisemitic incidents it knew about, and the Brandeis Center’s complaint warrants a hearing. While the court did not recognize all the Brandeis Center claims, recognizing the primary claim paves the way for Brandeis to obtain full discovery and move forward.
According to the complaint, filed six months ago in the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, since 10/7, Harvard students and faculty have called for violence against Jews and celebrated Hamas’ terrorism. Student protestors have occupied and vandalized buildings, interrupted classes, and exams, and made the campus unbearable for their Jewish and Israeli classmates. Professors, too, have explicitly supported anti-Jewish and anti-Israel terrorism and spread antisemitic propaganda in their classes. Jewish students are bullied and spat on, intimidated, and threatened, and subject to verbal and physical harassment.
Judge Stearns’ ruling comes days after the U.S. House of Representatives Education Committee issued a more than 100-page report on its year-long investigation into antisemitism on U.S. college campuses that found that many elite schools, including Harvard, have become rife with antisemitism and university leaders “turned their backs” on Jewish students.
