Ten Harvard University alumni filed a lawsuit against the school on Wednesday for devaluing their diplomas due to the antisemitism, support for terrorism, and anti-Israel sentiment that had been fostered and allowed to be fostered.
The civil suit filed to Massachusetts federal court alleged that Harvard breached an implicit contract with the alumni created through policies and handbooks that promised the institution’s continued prestige after their investment in the degree and enrollment. Due to the alleged toxic environment on campus, potential employers and companies no longer respect Harvard diplomas when considering applicants, which could damage their career prospects, the suit argued.
The filing claimed that several prestigious law firms had declined to hold on-campus interviews and rescinded offers to those that signed an October 8 anti-Israel letter. The filing claimed that hedge fund CEOs had expressed a want to blacklist the signatories.
The alumni have demanded monetary restitution for the costs of attending Harvard and damage to their reputation. The suit further requests a court injunction for Harvard to take disciplinary measures against faculty, staff, and students responsible for antisemitic harassment and discrimination on campus in order to rehabilitate the value of its degree.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the president of the Shurat HaDin Civil Rights Center and one of the attorneys representing the alumni, said that the lawsuit reflects the growing outrage by graduates over the antisemitism encouraged in US campuses.
“This dangerous weaponization of higher education by radical faculty and students as well as the impotent administration response, all justified under the guise of academic freedom, has turned the colleges into hate centers which have greatly devalued their reputation and diplomas,” said Darshan-Leitner. “We believe other graduates from other schools will soon be filing their own lawsuits.”
Antisemitism takes hold at Harvard Yard
Harvard's campus has seen an explosion of antisemitism, pro-terrorism, and anti-Israel animus since Hamas’s October 7 pogrom in Israel, the suit contended, but that the university has facilitated such an educational environment for years.
The alumni have several examples of how Harvard had allowed an unwelcoming atmosphere for Israelis and Jews due to its annual “Israel Apartheid Week,” which promulgates “antisemitic rhetoric, blood libels, and conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel.”
The suit cited a 2017 incident in which the dormitory rooms of Jewish students were targeted with faux detention notices for supposed mistreatment of Palestinians. In 2021, it said that a Hillel building was reportedly vandalized twice, and while Harvard conducted an investigation, no one was ever disciplined. In 2023, the alumni claimed a third-party investigation found that a professor allegedly subjected three Israeli students to antisemitic and anti-Israel discrimination. The professor was reportedly not publicly reprimanded and instead applauded for civil rights work in the Harvard Gazette.
“Since October 7, 2023, Harvard has permitted daily antisemitic protests calling for the destruction of Israel during which students are verbally and physically harassed if they appear to be Jewish or supportive of Israel in any way,” alleged the suit.
The alumni said that an October 8 letter signed by over thirty student organizations signed an open letter claiming Israel was responsible for the Hamas attack, which they said that then-Harvard president Claudine Gay failed to address. An October 18 protest allegedly saw an Israeli student assaulted by demonstrators including staff and no disciplinary action was taken, according to the suit. One of the staff members allegedly went on to join another assault on Jewish students on October 30.
The filing also details the pro-terrorism expressed by students, such are organized rallies on campus in which protesters chanted “Glory to the martyrs,” and “Globalize the intifada.” Other protests regularly called for the establishment of a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea – which would ostensibly mean the destruction of Israel.
The suit highlighted Gay’s December 5 testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce as an example of the school’s tolerance of antisemitism. Gay said that calls for genocide against Jews violated bullying and harassment policies only “depending on the context.”
The alumni said that the initiatives against anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish discrimination initiated by the school were not sufficient. Gay launched a list of steps to combat antisemitism on November 9, but the alumni said it was only vague plans. In January a Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism was launched, but the alumni said that it was co-chaired by someone who had reportedly dismissed Harvard antisemitism complaints as exaggerated.
Six current Harvard students sued the university on January 10 claiming that the university.