Professor Joshua Mitts (Columbia Law School) argues that Columbia university violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students by fostering and tolerating a hostile educational environment on campus. Mitts writes:
Since October 7, Jewish students at Columbia have been subject to appalling episodes of antisemitism both on campus and just outside the campus gates, which intensified with the establishment of the encampment. As documented in an open letter signed by hundreds of faculty and thousands of community members, these included chants like “Go back to Europe” and “You have no culture” and the display of signs like “Al Qassam Brigade’s next target” with an arrow pointing to Jewish students. The list is too long to write in its entirety but there are ample video compilations and documented evidence online.
If that is not hostile-environment harassment, I am not sure what is. If the KKK were to set up an encampment and chant that Black students should “go back to Africa,” it seems unlikely that one would “fiercely contest” whether this was “public-spirited advocacy.” Why is the conclusion any different when one substitutes “Europe” for “Africa” and “Jewish” for “Black”? Surely the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no excuse—certainly no more of an excuse than the Rwandan genocide or Darfur would be.
As Columbia’s task force on antisemitism noted in its first report, “speech or conduct that would constitute harassment if directed against one protected class must also be treated as harassment if directed against another protected class.” … [T]he university should be consistent in applying that standard to Jewish and Israeli affiliates as well. In its most recent May 7 letter, the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education (OCR) issued guidance reaffirming the importance of “different treatment analysis. …