Harvard settles antisemitism suits as Trump defunding threats loom
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Suits include Harvard agreeing to use hotly debated definition of antisemitism. The settlement, for an undisclosed sum, closes two lawsuits citing Title VI, which bars discrimination at federally funded educational institutions on the basis of race, color, or national origin.
One filed in January 2024, from a coalition of students, alleged an atmosphere of “severe and pervasive antisemitism on campus,” citing a student groups who wrote in a much-viewed statement that Israel was “entirely responsible” for the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that started the present conflict.
It also pointed to what it called “mobs of pro-Hamas students and faculty” staging protests and occupying campus buildings after the war broke out. One of the plaintiffs from that suit did not accept the settlement and plans to continue litigation.
Another suit, from the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, filed in May 2024, made similar claims, arguing Harvard didn’t do enough to quickly respond to the Hamas attack, and pointed to allegations of antisemitism in a Harvard Kennedy School classroom and a viral confrontation between an Israel Harvard Business School Student and pro-Palestinian demonstrators the previous October.
Under the terms of the settlement, Harvard will adopt a widely used but controversial definition of antisemitism from the International Holocuast Remembrance Association, which labels some criticisms of Zionism and Israel as inherently antisemitic, including arguments which claim “the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” and apply “double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation”.
