New York's Barnard College settles antisemitism lawsuit filed by Jewish students

Source: Times of Israel

NEW YORK — Barnard College in New York City, an affiliate of Columbia University, agreed to take measures to combat antisemitism in a lawsuit settlement with Jewish students, a law firm representing the students said on Monday. The US lawsuit was filed last year against the trustees of Columbia and Barnard in the federal Southern District court of New York. It argued that Columbia and Barnard failed to protect Israeli and Jewish students and enforce university policies against protesters as anti-Israel activists riled the campuses after the October 2023 Hamas invasion and onslaught.

The plaintiffs claimed that the harassment of Jews violated the federal Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination at federally funded institutions. The law is widely used by pro-Israel advocates against universities that receive federal funding, like Columbia and Barnard.

Barnard is a women’s liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia. The two schools operate separately, but are deeply intertwined and located next to each other in Manhattan. The anti-Israel student activist group leading the protests, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, is active on both campuses. Most of the student plaintiffs were students at Columbia.

The lawsuit said students had been harassed with language like “Fuck the Jews” and were laughed at by professors while counter-protesting on campus. Some of the students suffered “immense stress” due to their treatment that interfered with their studies. Some dropped classes or attended remotely, and others avoided classes taught by professors active in anti-Israel protests.



Read more: https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-yorks-barnard-college-settles-antisemitism-lawsuit-filed-by-jewish-students/