Ivy League school agrees to boost protections for Jewish students Published by The Wall Street Journal on 1/21/2025 Harvard University settled legal claims alleging the Ivy League school didn’t do enough to protect Jewish students against a wave of antisemitism on campus. As part of the settlements announced Tuesday, Harvard agreed to make clear in its harassment policies that targeting Zionists isn’t permitted. A federal judge in a pair of rulings in August and November denied Harvard’s bid to dismiss two lawsuits alleging antisemitic harassment and discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns allowed the plaintiffs to pursue claims that Harvard administrators were “deliberately indifferent” to harassment of Jews. The agreement didn’t resolve damages claims brought by one of the plaintiffs in the case, Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum, a recent Harvard Divinity School graduate who declined to join the settlement and is represented by new counsel. “We are resolute in our efforts to confront antisemitism and will continue to implement robust steps to maintain a welcoming, open, and safe campus environment where every student feels a sense of belonging,” a Harvard spokesperson said. “Today’s settlement reflects our dedication to this mission.” “With this settlement, Harvard is demonstrating leadership in the fight against antisemitism and in upholding the rights of Jewish students,” said Students Against Antisemitism, a group that brought one of the suits against Harvard a year ago. Harvard also settled claims with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education, other plaintiffs in the litigation. As part of the agreements, Harvard said it would incorporate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism into its nondiscrimination and antibullying policies. The definition includes examples linking Jew hatred to anti-Zionism, such as denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination. Harvard agreed to pay an undisclosed amount and didn’t admit to any wrongdoing or liability.Harvard is among around a dozen colleges and universities accused in lawsuits of violating federal or state law by failing to protect its Jewish students. Some cases have settled, such as one against New York University. A suit against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was dismissed. Others, including litigation against Columbia University, are pending in court. The lawsuits stem from an eruption of protests at higher education institutions sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7 , 2023, massacre in southern Israel—the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust—and Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza. Students protesting Israel’s war demanded that their schools cut financial and academic ties with Israel, erected encampments, commandeered administrative buildings, vandalized property and on some campuses brought academic life to a virtual standstill last spring. As president of Harvard, Claudine Gay drew criticism for failing to respond with enough urgency to concerns about campus antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack and the subsequent protests. Gay resigned last January. Over the summer, Harvard task forces set up by the university found that Jewish, Muslim and Arab students were harassed, bullied and discriminated against at the school. The reports recommended changes the school should make, including antibias training for staff and students and providing a clear way for people to report discrimination to the school. Jewish students who brought lawsuits say the administrations at their schools abandoned them when protests took a more menacing turn. In the lawsuits against Harvard, Jewish students alleged that they feared for their personal safety, struggled to complete their studies and felt compelled to conceal their Jewish identity. Jewish students also accused protesters of physical assault. Harvard acknowledged in court filings last year that its initial responses to complaints from Jewish students “left some feeling unheard and unprotected” but said it had taken “concrete steps to protect its Jewish students.” Title VI’s protections against campus anti-Zionism are largely untested in court. Title VI, which prohibits harassment based on race, color or national origin in federally funded programs, has been called the sleeping giant of federal discrimination law. It allows the government to strip away federal funding from violators, a potentially devastating consequence for educational institutions that depend heavily on federal contracts and grants. Schools facing lawsuits and free-speech advocates have cautioned courts against applying Title VI’s protections too broadly in a way that would force schools to censor speech otherwise protected by the First Amendment. The Trump administration in 2019 issued a still-standing executive order that directed federal agencies to enforce Title VI protections against antisemitism more forcefully. Under the agreement, Harvard said it would, among other measures, post online examples of prohibited anti-Zionist conduct. The guidance would clarify that calling for the death of Zionists, banning Zionists from open events and Harvard activities and spreading tropes, stereotypes and conspiracies about Zionists wasn’t permitted. Harvard also agreed to provide “additional resources” to the study of antisemitism, establish an official partnership with a university in Israel and tohost an annual academic symposium on antisemitism. In July, Kestenbaum, the remaining plaintiff, spoke at the Republican National Convention about his lawsuit, describing himself as an Orthodox Jew and “the proud plaintiff suing Harvard University for its failure to combat antisemitism.” He said Tuesday that he planned to gather more evidence against Harvard in discovery and to depose Gay and Harvard’s current president, Alan Garber.