“Anti-Semitism has gone from a problem to a crisis, and now it's to the point where it's no longer business as usual. If you're a Jew who goes to one of these schools, you have to do something. No,” Eyal Jacoby, a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student, told the Post.
Jacoby is among a growing number of students currently suing universities alleging anti-Semitism.
The University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and New York University are all being sued for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act after the October 7 attack on Israel, alleging that the schools failed to protect Jewish students from harassment.
“Even before this semester, there have always been incidents of anti-Semitism. But this semester, I think most students have realized that it's not an isolated incident, but a systemic issue.” Jacoby said.
He and Jordan Davis, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit in December, alleging that the Ivy League school “has been transformed into a breeding laboratory for vicious anti-Semitic hatred, harassment, and discrimination.”
Jacoby said the “tipping point” that inspired her to take action came in November when the Penn State Jewish Student Center was established. targeted by a bomb threat And the students inside were not informed.
“Students like me were in the Hillel cafeteria during the bomb threat,” the Princeton, N.J., resident recalled. “We just sat there as bomb-sniffing dogs walked around the building.
“I can only explain [the school’s response] as ignorance or indifference to a very serious threat on campus. ”
A similar lawsuit was filed against Harvard University last week, alleging that Harvard “selectively enforced policies to avoid protecting Jewish students from harassment and ignored Jewish students' pleas for protection.” “There is,” he claims.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, 25, a master's degree student at Harvard Divinity School, is one of the six plaintiff students.
The Riverdale, New York, resident was excited when he was accepted to study the interaction between public policy and religious communities, but then learned that his dream school was actually a hub of anti-Semitism. I was shocked.
“I was so happy when I got accepted two years ago. I can't tell you how happy I was. And when you contrast that with how terribly disappointed and abandoned I feel right now…well, I can’t even describe it accurately,” Kestenbaum told the Post.
He said his two years at Harvard were marred by swastikas on campus, online student forums filled with anti-Semitic metaphors, and incendiary student protests.
Kestenbaum said he had to move his study area to avoid the school's Widener Library when hundreds of pro-Palestinian student demonstrators occupied it in December.
“I couldn't enter the Widener Library because I'm obviously Jewish. I wear a kippah and ceremonial fringe every day, but I didn't want any confrontations to arise,” he said. I remembered.
Kestenbaum and his classmates are calling for the expulsion of students and the firing of faculty members who engage in anti-Semitism. They are also seeking damages for “reduced educational opportunities.”
“Words cannot describe the feeling of betrayal, disappointment and anger. This feeling of abandonment is really palpable and it is not only negatively impacting my mental health but also my academics.” Kestenbaum said.
Kestenbaum said the lawsuit was a “last resort,” but he hopes it will make a difference for future Jewish students.
“I think this will create real change,” he said. “This will put Harvard in an uncomfortable spotlight, but one that they deserve, so we can investigate the root causes of this anti-Semitism and… We can bring about real reform.”
To Mr. Jacoby, who is studying with the goal of becoming involved in political science and contemporary Middle East studies. Congressional testimony in December from the presidents of Penn University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University was shocking in the process of peace negotiations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Throughout the hearings, the gross apathy and lack of moral clarity on the part of all three presidents was evident,” he said.
What particularly annoyed him was that former Penn State president Liz McGill claimed to support students' free speech rights.
“What's interesting to me is that Penn cited free speech as a basis for calling for the genocide of Jews not to violate the Code of Conduct. But if you look at Penn's track record, they've always supported free speech. It restricts freedom,” Jacoby said.
“At this point, you've made your bed and you have to lie in it. You can't choose when you're restricting speech and when you're not restricting speech. You've made a precedent. I created it. It's your responsibility.”
Jacoby is a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, and his family currently resides in Israel. After Oct. 7, he says his family contacted him more than he contacted them to check on his safety at school.
Jacoby said the recent outbursts of anti-Semitism are representative of a pervasive and corrupt ideology on campus.
“I think a lot of elite institutions have had an ideology of double standards, an indifference to certain types of hate, and not forcing students to think critically, forcing them to think like a mafia of professors.” he said.
As spring semester approaches, both students will cautiously return to campus.
Kestenbaum's mother advised him not to return, fearing for his safety, but Kestenbaum is determined to do so.
“I'm not looking forward to going back to Harvard, but I plan on going back,” he said. “I have a right to be there. The problem is not me. The problem is the anti-Semites, but why should I be punished for their bigotry?”
