For First Time, Brandeis Center Reveals Dept of Ed Investigation After FIT Students Told “Punch a Zionist,” and Jewish Leader Blocked Washington, D.C. (November 6, 2025) – The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the national organization that uses the law to fight for Jewish victims and whistleblowers of anti-Semitism, has urged the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to allow a Jewish plaintiff to proceed anonymously in her lawsuit against the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). The Brandeis Center argues that the district court’s decision denying anonymity should be reversed. The Brandeis Center also announced for the first time that the Department of Education has opened an investigation into a separate federal complaint filed by the Brandeis Center and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) against FIT for cultivating a campus that became a hotbed of anti-Semitism. The complaint, filed in September 2024 with the Office for Civil Rights, alleges that Jewish students were subjected to severe and pervasive anti-Semitic harassment, discrimination and disparate treatment. Instead of intervening to stop the mistreatment of Jewish students, FIT made things worse by allowing pro-Hamas students to hijack the bias complaint process and file baseless complaints intended to harass Jews, and by turning a blind eye when anti-Israel protestors violated university rules and policies. The complaint describes one of the most alarming anti-Semitic environments on a campus, where Jewish and Israeli students were derided on social media as “zionist pigs” by their peers, who also stated “we don’t do enough to bully the Zionists at FIT” and encouraged physical violence against Jewish students. Peers invoked classic anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish power and greed, claiming Jewish students “have all types of support and money” and “literally control our school.” A Jewish student’s offer to be president of a club was rescinded solely because she is Jewish. FIT’s campus was plagued with anti-Semitic graffiti and stickers justifying Hamas’ October 7 massacre, labeling Zionism as terrorism and urging others to “Punch A Zionist!!!” Rather than protect its Jewish students, the administration enabled pro-Hamas protestors by advancing false complaints that weaponized FIT’s internal grievance process and were clearly intended to harass Jewish students. Anti-Semitic violence and threats are surging across the U.S., especially on university campuses, where Jewish students and faculty face unprecedented hostility and retaliation when they identify as Jewish, report anti-Semitic incidents, or pursue justice in court. According to the Brandeis Center’s amicus brief, protecting the ability of victims to safely report discrimination and pursue justice without fear is central to the Brandeis Center’s mission to defend Jewish students, faculty, and professionals from anti-Semitism in all its forms. Victims like Jane Doe should not have to choose between their safety and their civil rights. “We routinely hear from Jewish students and professionals who are too afraid to come forward publicly,” said Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education who ran OCR during two administrations. “They fear being doxxed, stalked, defamed, or ostracized – and without anonymity, many will simply remain silent. Courts must not allow anti-Semitism to chill Jewish voices seeking justice. By preventing victims from filing complaints anonymously, more Jewish individuals will be forced to abandon their civil rights rather than face potential consequences from their abusers. Our nation’s legal system was created to protect the most vulnerable populations.” The Brandeis Center’s brief also provides a rare, data-driven meta-analysis of how anti-Semitism is both rising and severely underreported nationwide, especially on college campuses.The Brandeis Center also recently filed a motion to proceed under a pseudonym on behalf of a John Doe researcher in a civil rights lawsuit against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to FIT and MIT, the Brandeis Center has filed federal lawsuits in response to anti-Semitic incidents at UC Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia, UCLA, and Harvard, as well as federal complaints with the Department of Education for anti-Semitism at Cal Poly Humboldt and University of Washington. The U.S. Department of Education is also investigating numerous Brandeis Center complaints, including against Yale University, UMass Amherst, Scripps College, and American University.