Cases to Link - Campus Discrimination

In December 2023, The Lawfare Project — together with co-counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP — filed a lawsuit against Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the Western District of Pennsylvania on behalf of a courageous Jewish student. The student, who was subjected to pervasive anti-Jewish discrimination during her tenure at the university, filed numerous complaints with the school’s administration, all of which went unresolved.

The Lawfare Project was retained as counsel of record for a 17-year-old Jewish student who was the victim of an alleged antisemitic attack at Las Vegas’s Clark High School. The student — who is autistic and nonverbal, and attended the school with a service dog — was pulled from classes after his mother discovered a swastika carved into his back and realized he was not safe in his school environment.

The Lawfare Project is proud to support a lawsuit filed by five Jewish students in the Australian State of Victoria against the Brighton Secondary College in Melbourne. The students assert that they were subjected to a significant number of violations of Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act 1975 between 2013 and 2020.

A Jewish student had to withdraw from the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University (SOAS) due to anti-Semitic bullying and intimidation. He was targeted relentlessly: peers verbally attacked him for expressing his Zionist views in class, he was accused of being a “white supremacist Nazi,” a classmate accosted him for supporting the Jewish right to self-determination, and more.

Dr. Channa Newman—a distinguished professor at Point Park University, Israeli citizen, and Holocaust survivor—was targeted by fellow faculty, staff, and students in response to her advocacy for non-biased education regarding Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Lawfare Project has been examining the nature and extent of Qatar’s involvement in the American education system. Qatar’s involvement through its agent, Qatar Foundation International (QFI), is substantial and significant. Students are learning about the Middle East in a biased way that emphasizes only the positive aspects of Islam while omitting a balanced discussion of other religions or belief systems, most notably Judaism.

In November 2019, Herut Zionism ("Herut")—a pro-Israel student group at York University (Canada) dedicated to educating, students on Judaism, Zionism, and the State of Israel—organized an event featuring organization Reservists on Duty to educate the York community on Zionism and the Arab-Israeli conflict from the perspective of Israeli reservists. In the lead up to the event, Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York University ("SAIA") mobilized its protestors to appear on York's campus and protest the event.

On December 18, 2019, The Lawfare Project filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights against Columbia University on behalf of Jonathan Karten, a Jewish Israeli-American undergraduate student who has been a victim of anti-Semitic discrimination over the past year. Sadly, Jonathan is not the only Jewish or Israeli student at Columbia who has been the victim of discrimination based on his national origin and religion. For several years, Jewish students have endured systematic discrimination from tenured professors and anti-Israel groups like Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP) and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD).

San Francisco State University (SFSU) has earned a reputation as the most anti-Semitic college campus in the country after more than three decades of discrimination and abuse of Jewish students by their peers, their professors, and their administrators alike. 

A pro-Israel Jewish student at Boston University, Raphael Fils, was targeted by a professor for his outspoken pro-Israel views. The professor harassed Fils in class and denied him pre-approved testing accommodations on the day of the final exam, resulting in a lower grade.

A pro-Israel Jewish student at Temple University, was physically assaulted by a supporter of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) when the student approached SJP’s table at a campus club fair and inquired about some of its positions. The Lawfare Project secured a team of three attorneys to provide pro bono assistance to the student in filing criminal charges.

The Columbia University chapter of Students Supporting Israel (SSI) became aware that anti-Israel students and student groups intended to attend and disrupt an event. The Lawfare Project advised SSI and assisted in drafting a contract, to be signed by all event attendees, by which attendees would commit to peaceful and respectful behavior during the event and acknowledge that disruptive behavior would be met with disciplinary actions. The event proceeded without disruption.

An extremist student group at Rutgers University hosted a fundraising event for the flotilla movement in Turkey, the goal of which is to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and provide support to the designated foreign terrorist organization Hamas. Several thousand dollars were raised and held in a school account prior to their intended release to flotilla participants.