Federal court backs Harvard anti-Semitism lawsuit

District Judge Richard Stearns ruled Tuesday that Harvard University must face civil allegations from Jewish students who accuse the school of fostering anti-Semitism. Stearns backed the standing of a lawsuit from students who say the school showed indifference to the safety of Israeli and Jewish students during violent anti-Israeli protests. The facts presented show that Harvard failed its Jewish students, Stearns penned. The ruling cleared the way for the case to go to trial.

What kind of indifference? Six students filed a lawsuit against the Ivy League school in January, alleging that the university had become a bastion of anti-Semitism. The complaint accused administrators of selectively enforcing the school’s anti-discrimination policies. Administrators also ignored petitions from Jewish students concerned for their safety, according to the lawsuit.

Two Jewish groups filed a federal lawsuit against the University of California, Berkeley, in November, for administrators allegedly failing to combat anti-Semitism on campus. Weeks earlier, three Jewish students at New York University also sued that school for allegedly allowing anti-Semitic hate speech on campus.

Schools faced additional backlash outside the courtroom as donors began pulling their support. Patriots football team owner Robert Kraft pulled financial backing from Columbia University in April, citing what he characterized as the school’s failure to quell growing anti-Semitism on campus. University leaders need to stand up to hate by ending the protests immediately, Kraft said in a statement released by his nonprofit, Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Muncy’s report on the harassment of Jewish students in New York City.