Several Jewish students and organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Columbia University and Barnard College alleging civil rights violations due to an antisemitic hostile education environment, according to a release from Kasowitz Benson Torres, the law firm representing the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit is filed on behalf of Students Against Antisemitism, Inc., StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice and several individual Jewish students, the release said. The complaint asserts claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as New York Human Rights laws.
"In their complaint, plaintiffs allege that Columbia and Barnard’s Jewish and Israeli students have been physically assaulted, spat at, threatened, and subjected to relentless intimidation and vilification," according to the release.
"The complaint further alleges that Columbia and Barnard practice a double standard by which Jewish students are deemed unworthy of the protections afforded to non-Jewish students; hire and promote professors who support anti-Jewish violence and spread antisemitic propaganda; and repeatedly ignore Jewish and Israeli students’ safety concerns, even in the face of intolerable abuse," the release said.
Columbia University is currently under investigation for Title VI violations by the US Department of Education.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce also launched an investigation into Columbia University over allegations of antisemitism on campus.
Kasowtiz Benson Torres is also representing Jewish plaintiffs suing Harvard for civil rights violations.