April 29, 2025 Students and faculty demand Columbia University stand up to federal government (NBC) Published by NBC on 4/28/2025 Columbia University students, faculty, staff and alumni launched a “speak out” Monday to criticize school leaders for bowing to the Trump administration’s demands after it pulled $400 million in federal funding from the campus. Hundreds of students, faculty, staff and alumni were taking part in the 25-hour event that organizers […] Media Coverage
April 29, 2025 Columbia janitors sue pro-Palestinian protesters who ‘held them hostage’ – report (Jerusalem Post) Published by The Jerusalem Post on 4/27/2025 Two Columbia University janitors claiming to have been held hostage during campus protests last year are suing their alleged captors for battery, assault, and conspiracy to violate their civil rights, the Free Press reported on Saturday. The lawsuit, filed by Torridon Law and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human […] Media Coverage
April 29, 2025 ‘Reminiscent of the KKK’: Columbia Janitors Sue Protesters Who Took Over Hamilton Hall (Free Press) Published by The Free Press on 4/26/2025 The Columbia University janitors who were held hostage during the violent takeover of a campus building last spring are suing their alleged captors for battery, assault, and conspiracy to violate their civil rights, according to a copy of the suit reviewed exclusively by The Free Press. The lawsuit was […] Media Coverage
April 28, 2025 Failure to grasp antisemitism is crippling Pennsylvania’s response to the world’s oldest hate (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Published by The Philadelphia Inquirer by Kenneth Marcus on 4/28/2025 Every state in the U.S. must adopt the same, universal definition of antisemitism. Until we do, authorities and courts will not be able to hold perpetrators accountable. Despite the evidence, Pennsylvania authorities are still unsure as to whether to charge Cody Balmer, the man who police […] Media Coverage
April 24, 2025 Campus protests fizzle out in 2025 (Jewish Insider) Published by Jewish Insider on 4/24/2025 or a brief moment, it looked like 2024 all over again: Tents were erected at Yale University’s central plaza on Tuesday night, with anti-Israel activists hoping to loudly protest the visit of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to campus. Videos of students in keffiyehs, shouting protest slogans, […] Media Coverage
April 23, 2025 Harvard sues the Trump administration in escalating confrontation (Washington Post) Published by The Washington Post on 4/22/2025 Harvard University sued the Trump administration in federal court Monday, the latest move in the escalating feud between the nation’s wealthiest school and the White House. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against multiple federal agencies, seeks to block the Trump administration from withholding federal […] Media Coverage
April 23, 2025 Harvard Plans to Use Trump’s Haste Against Him as It Fights Funding Cut (NYT) Published by The New York Times on 4/22/2025 In the three months since President Trump returned to power, his administration has prized speed and shock value. Harvard University is wagering that White House strategy could be used against it. The 51-page lawsuit the university filed on Monday, intended to fight the administration’s freeze of billions in federal […] Media Coverage
April 17, 2025 Can Harvard, Up Against an Antagonistic President, Go It Alone and Set a Precedent for Other Ivies To Follow? (The NY Sun) Published by The New York Sun on 4/16/2025 The fiscal and political quandary facing Harvard is about as dire as it comes. Some $2.2 billion in federal funds have been frozen, and another $7 billion more is on the line. An adversarial president is threatening its non-profit status, calling it “a Political Entity.” The very […] Media Coverage
April 17, 2025 Harvard finds Trump’s funding freeze is real and immediate as extraordinary confrontation continues (Boston Globe) Published by The Boston Globe on 4/15/2025 As Harvard University prepares for a titanic showdown with the Trump administration over its academic independence, the president on Tuesday threatened the school’s tax exempt status while the first effects of a $2 billion freeze in federal funding began to be felt on campus. Others also argued that […] Media Coverage
April 17, 2025 Why Harvard Decided to Fight Trump (NYT) Published by The New York Times on 4/15/2025 Late last week, officials at Harvard University were trying to decipher what the Trump administration wanted the school to do to combat antisemitism. The government had made some straightforward demands, like requiring the school to ban masks, which are often favored by protesters. But other demands seemed […] Media Coverage
April 15, 2025 Is Your California College Among 17 Under Federal Antisemitism Investigation?(KQED) Published by KQED on 4/14/2025 Swastika graffiti in a campus bathroom, chants of “death to Jews,” Hamas Hello Kitty stickers and the physical assault of Jewish students. These are among the incidents detailed in discrimination complaints against California universities since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. Now, at least 17 colleges in the state are in […] Media Coverage
April 15, 2025 The Little-Known Bureaucrats Tearing Through American Universities (WSJ) Published by The Wall Street Journal on 4/14/2025 Columbia University’s president had already been hounded out of office, but her ordeal wasn’t over. Four days after she stepped down under government pressure during fraught federal funding negotiations, Katrina Armstrong spent three hours being deposed by a government attorney in Washington, D.C. The lawyer grilled Armstrong over whether she had […] Media Coverage
April 10, 2025 Doug Emhoff’s law firm joins suit targeting UC Berkeley over alleged antisemitism (JWeekly) Published by JWeekly on 4/4/2025 The legal team suing UC Berkeley over antisemitism claims in federal court marked two intermediate wins over the past week, according to one of its top attorneys. Willkie Farr & Gallagher, a prestigious law firm with offices worldwide that counts former second gentleman Doug Emhoff among its partners, joined the team representing […] Media Coverage
April 10, 2025 Judge allows UC Berkeley antisemitism lawsuit to proceed (The Hill) Published by The Hill on 4/2/2025 A district judge ruled Monday that an antisemitism lawsuit accusing the University of California, Berkeley of inaction regarding harassment of Jewish students can proceed. District Judge James Donato in a 5-page ruling said the suit alleging the university violated the civil rights and equal protection rights of Jewish students could move forward. “Taken […] Media Coverage
April 10, 2025 UC Berkeley Sheds Some Antisemitism Claims by Jewish Groups (Bloomberg Law) Published by Bloomberg Law on 4/2/2025 Jewish groups’ allegations that the University of California, Berkeley, its law school, and other defendants discriminated against Jewish students and professors were trimmed by a federal court. The institutions must defend against claims that they violated the groups’ equal protection and free exercise rights, as well as Title VI […] Media Coverage
April 3, 2025 UC Berkeley Antisemitism Lawsuit Can Proceed, Judge Rules (Reuters) Published by Reuters on 4/2/2025 April 2 (Reuters) – A federal judge said Jewish groups may pursue a lawsuit accusing the University of California, Berkeley, of tolerating an “unrelenting” stream of antisemitic harassment toward Jewish students and faculty. In a decision made public on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge James Donato said two Jewish groups may […] Media Coverage
March 27, 2025 After nixing of Education Department, legal experts divided about efforts to combat campus antisemitism (Jewish Insider) Published by Jewish Insider on 03/21/2025 Just hours before President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to start dismantling the Department of Education, the department’s Office for Civil Rights opened its latest batch of antisemitism investigations into several universities. Jewish legal and education experts were left divided over how the […] Media Coverage
March 27, 2025 Trump signs executive order to eliminate Education Department (JNS) Published by JNS on 03/20/2025 (March 20, 2025 / JNS) U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin eliminating the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday in the administration’s latest effort to slash the size of government. Trump announced that half of the employees of the 4,200-person department had accepted buyouts to leave their […] Media Coverage
March 27, 2025 Renewed push to reshape ethnic studies with oversight and new standards (EdSource) Published by EdSource on 03/11/2025 Thirty-one legislators, led by the Legislative Jewish Caucus, are calling for a do-over on teaching ethnic studies after a half-dozen years of strife. The authors are convinced that flaws in a voluntary model curriculum have led to complaints and lawsuits alleging that some districts are using biased and antisemitic course […] Media Coverage
March 27, 2025 ‘We just didn’t matter,’ Jewish students say of alleged antisemitism at California schools (JNS) Published by JNS on 03/10/2025 The Anti-Defamation League, Jewish on Campus, StandWithUs and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed complaints earlier this month with the U.S. Department of Education alleging that three California schools—Scripps College, Etiwanda Intermediate School and California State Polytechnic, Humboldt—violated the civil rights of Jews and Israelis. Students at […] Media Coverage
March 19, 2025 ‘Erasive’ antisemitism: What America’s founding father Benjamin Rush can teach about challenging the denial of Jewish identity and history and strengthening Jewish identity (JNS) Published by JNS on 3/19/2025 This column has been adapted from a March 3 speech by Alyza D. Lewin at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. Four years after Dr. Benjamin Rush founded Dickinson College, he attended a Jewish wedding. It was the wedding of Rachel Phillips to Michael Levy, held in Philadelphia in June 1787. […] Media Coverage