Three Jewish Students Sue NYU, Accuse Administrators, Faculty of Fostering Antisemitism on Campus

Three Jewish students are suing New York University over its alleged failure to enforce its anti-discrimination policies in the face of harassment against Jewish students, in violation of federal law.

“NYU is among the worst campuses for Jewish students, and NYU has long been aware of the festering Jewish hatred permeating the school,” states the lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday in a Manhattan federal court. 

Bella Ingber, Sabrina Maslavi and Saul Tawil — who are all juniors — allege in the lawsuit that NYU committed “egregious civil rights violations” and failed to enforce its policies, therefore creating a “hostile educational environment” in which Jewish students were subject to “pervasive acts of hatred, discrimination, harassment, and intimidation.” The lawsuit argues the university has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“NYU, including its administrators and professors, has not just tolerated, but has fostered and fomented, this hostile environment, with students and faculty repeatedly abusing, demonizing, and threatening Jewish students with impunity,” the lawsuit claims. 

The students state that they are “traumatized” by the “hostile environment created by NYU” and “their schoolwork has suffered” since they’ve been forced to remain in their lodging or visit family rather than “venturing out to face harassment from fellow students in class or the library or rampaging mobs in the streets hurling anti-Jewish epithets.”

The plaintiff Sabrina Maslavi, Vice President of the NYU chapter of Students Supporting Israel, was “too fearful” to attend her scheduled classes and went home to her family after seeing social-media posts from the NYU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine that stated “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE,” “Liberation is on its way,” and “[t]he recent escalation in Palestinian resistance over the past twenty-four hours is a direct and historic response to decades of colonial violence and oppression[.]”

Two of the plaintiffs allegedly witnessed NYU Students for Justice in Palestine and Faculty for Justice in Palestine activists at a rally burn an Israeli flag and “make slit-your-throat gestures” at the Jewish students; the two plaintiffs claim they heard statements like “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Hitler was right, the good Jews are from Germany,” “gas the Jews,” “Fuck the Jews,” and “death to kikes.”

The lawsuit includes reported instances of antisemitism since 2014, including cases of swastikas found on campus and an event during which Norman Finkelstein, an activist described in the lawsuit as a “notorious antisemitic agitator,” repeatedly described Gaza as a “concentration camp.”

The students argue that their complaints to the administrators and the university president have been “ignored, slow-walked, or met with gaslighting” since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. 

“Rather than implementing urgently needed protective and disciplinary measures to restore campus order and safety, these administrators gaslighted the Jewish students, insisting that their fears were exaggerated and that they should just call the Wellness Exchange, a hotline for students coping with emotional challenges,” reads the lawsuit. 

The lawsuit calls for “concrete remedial measures,” including terminating staff “responsible for the antisemitic abuse permeating the school” and suspending or expelling students. The lawsuit also demands compensatory damages for the plaintiffs, who say they have “been robbed of their college experience.” 

The lawsuit insinuates that NYU has received “a massive influx of foreign, concealed donations from authoritarian regimes.”

“From 2014 through 2019, despite statutory disclosure requirements, NYU received over $263 million in undocumented funding,” reads the lawsuit. “During the same period, Qatar—which shelters and protects Hamas leaders and helps fund the terrorist organization—contributed over $2.7 billion in undocumented funding to institutions of higher education in the United States.”

John Beckman, a spokesperson for NYU, described the lawsuit as “replete with false claims and paints a bogus picture of conditions on NYU’s campus” in a statement to ABC News. He further stated that NYU “maintains what is arguably the largest academic presence in Israel of any major U.S. university” and that its NYU Tel Aviv program has rejected all calls to close it.

Beckman told CNN that the lawsuit presents a “one-sided narrative” and neglects to mention the “many steps” the school has taken to combat anti-semitism. 

“We take the issues of antisemitism and any other forms of hate extremely seriously, and we are committed to safeguarding our community and providing an environment in which all students can live and learn in peace. NYU was among the first universities in the US to publicly condemn Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel,” Beckman told CNN.

“NYU has promptly reviewed and opened investigations into reported complaints of antisemitism and related misconduct,” Beckman continued. “NYU looks forward to setting the record straight, to challenging this lawsuit’s one-sided narrative, to making clear the many efforts NYU has made to combat antisemitism and provide a safe environment for Jewish students and non-Jewish students, and to prevailing in court.”