(DailyVantage.com) – A class action lawsuit was filed against three members of the Democrat Squad for allegedly “inciting and encouraging” the pro-Hamas protests on the Columbia University campus in New York in the spring.
The unnamed plaintiffs named New York Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar in a lawsuit that also names at least a dozen other groups involved in the pro-Hamas encampment protests on Columbia’s campus in April.
The lawsuit accuses the three anti-Israel lawmakers of trespassing on the Columbia campus and participating in the protests at a time when the campus was closed to non-students.
The plaintiffs accuse the participants in the encampment of violating university rules and harassing and intimidating Jewish students.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Boston on Tuesday cleared the way for a lawsuit against Harvard University that was filed in January by a group of Jewish students who accused Harvard of violating Title VI by permitting rampant antisemitism to flourish on campus during the pro-Hamas protests that erupted following the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel last year.
The university filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in April, arguing that the lawsuit lacked jurisdiction. In its motion, the university cited the steps Harvard took to address antisemitism on campus.
However, in an August 6 ruling, US District Judge Richard Stearns said the accusations that Harvard was consciously indifferent to the fears expressed by Jewish students were plausible.
Judge Stearns also expressed doubt in Harvard’s claim that the anti-Jewish activities on campus were protected under the First Amendment.
Stearns wrote in his decision that accepting the argument that Havard was not deliberately indifferent would reward the school for its “virtuous public declarations” that “proved hollow.”
The plaintiffs accused Harvard of selective enforcement of the school’s anti-discrimination policies as a way to avoid protecting Jewish students who were targeted and harassed by pro-Hamas protesters. They claimed that university officials ignored requests for protection and accused Harvard of hiring faculty who advocated for violence against Jews and spread antisemitic propaganda in class.
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