Ivy League school New York University was hit with a groundbreaking lawsuit, the first of what is expected to be a series against elite universities, for allegedly allowing antisemitism to fester on its campus and also "deliberately" seeking to "make the campus environment even more… frightening for Jewish students," according to court documents.
"NYU is among the worst campuses for Jewish students, and NYU has long been aware of the festering Jewish hatred permeating the school," the suit filed by Kasowitz Benson Torres, an influential firm based in New York City, said. It alleged that NYU was aware of "ongoing and disgraceful acts of anti-Jewish bigotry," and refused to act in violation of Jewish students' Title VI civil rights and sought remedial measures and financial penalties.
The suit made startling allegations, including that NYU's administration's actions, or lack thereof throughout the years, added fuel to antisemitism on campus.
"NYU has not ‘addressed and ameliorated’ campus antisemitism, as the university committed to do three years ago. In fact, shockingly, NYU has done the opposite—it has deliberately sought to burnish its antisemitic credentials and make the campus environment even more hostile and frightening for Jewish students," the lawsuit stated.
Jewish students at NYU are "regularly confronted with such genocidal chants," the lawsuit said. Examples included, "Hitler was right," "gas the Jews," "death to k----s," and "from the river to the sea."
The lawsuit compared the antisemitism problem at NYU to Nazi propaganda campaigns on college campus in pre-war Germany.
"In enabling this campus antisemitism—which spews the same anti-Jewish vitriol the Nazis propagated eighty years ago—NYU has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," the lawsuit said.
Following Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks when terrorists invaded Israel and murdered, tortured, and raped civilians, "numerous students and faculty members at NYU have openly and enthusiastically endorsed Hamas’… massacre and applauded Hamas—which the U.S. State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit raised the example of professor Eve Tuck, who just "four days after the Hamas massacre… called the ‘Palestinian resistance’ 'life and future affirming." and two weeks later, signed a viciously antisemitic open letter defaming Israel. NYU did not censure or terminate Professor Tuck—as it has done for far less egregious conduct where antisemitism was not involved—but remained silent for a month, when it belatedly issued a statement on her behalf purporting to condemn Hamas’s terrorism—which, given her previous statements, could not have been more disingenuous."
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"The horrific October 7 attack… lit a match to an already combustible antisemitic campus environment that NYU had created by tolerating and greenlighting antisemitic activity for years," the lawsuit said.
Despite the fact that Jewish NYU students shared with the administration they were "fearing for their safety and unable to escape relentless harassment, NYU has continued to do nothing."
The lawsuit stated further, "Mobs of students, often accompanied and encouraged by professors, have been given carte blanche to harass and intimidate NYU’s Jewish population. As a result of NYU’s actions and inactions, antisemitism at NYU now thrives like never before, endangering the safety, well-being, and indeed lives of NYU’s Jewish students."
"Nearly every day since the attack, plaintiffs and other Jewish students have been forced to run a campus gauntlet of verbal and physical harassment, threats, and intimidation. Moreover, Jewish students’ complaints are ignored, slow-walked, or met with gaslighting by NYU administrators," the lawsuit added.
NYU did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
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