A group of Jewish students filed a lawsuit against Harvard University Wednesday, alleging that the Ivy League school is violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to protect Jewish students amid rampant antisemitism on campus.
Filed in Boston federal court, the suit accuses Harvard of failing to enforce anti-harassment policies, hiring antisemitic professors, and ignoring Jewish students' requests for help.
"Based on its track record, it is inconceivable that Harvard would allow any group other than Jews to be targeted for similar abuse or that it would permit, without response, students and professors to call for the annihilation of any country other than Israel," the complaint states, according to Boston.com.
The lawsuit claims that the antisemitism problem at Harvard began long before Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
"In fact, Harvard has been aware of its antisemitism problem for years, but its response has been, to say the least, clearly unreasonable and totally unacceptable in not just tolerating, but enabling antisemitism," the complaint reads.
Boston.com reported that the plaintiffs include Harvard Divinity School student Alexander Kestenbaum, five other unidentified Jewish Harvard students, and the nonprofit group Students Against Antisemitism, Inc.
Title VI was also recently cited in similar lawsuits that were reportedly filed by Jewish students against New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.
The plaintiffs in the Harvard case are asking the court to order the university to discipline administrators, faculty and students who engage in or permit antisemitism on campus. They are also seeking financial damages and the development of mandatory antisemitism training for members of the university community.
The students also claim that Harvard's alleged bias is present in its admissions policies, which have allegedly reduced the number of Jewish students at the Ivy League school by as much as 60% over the past 10 years. Such "an enormous decline" shows "an intentional effort," the students claim, "much like Harvard's quotas 100 years ago to exclude Jews."
Citing the pending nature of the litigation, Harvard declined comment on Thursday.
The lawsuit comes at a turbulent time for the elite East Coast university, which has been rocked by the Jan. 2 resignation of university President Claudine Gay in the wake of a plagiarism scandal.
Gay caused an uproar last month when she gave an ambiguous response when asked by congressional lawmakers if calling for Jewish genocide would violate Harvard's bullying and harassment policies.