Private college Cooper Union failed to adequately address the surge in antisemitism on campus following October 7, claim 10 Jewish students in a lawsuit filed on their behalf Thursday by the Lawfare Project and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.
According to a release, this failure led to a terrifying incident for Jewish students on October 25 when an anti-Israel demonstration ended with Jewish students locked in the school library as a demonstrators shouted antisemitic slogans while pounding on the glass walls and trying to force the doors open.
Police were called to the scene, however lawyers said the president of Cooper Union directed them to stand down, leaving the students frightened and trapped inside.
According to the lawsuit, the president’s failure to intervene on behalf of the students is one of many examples in which the school has ignored the safety and security of its Jewish student community.
Lawsuit addresses campus failures to protect Jewish students
“Cooper Union has failed to adequately protect not just our clients but other Jewish students on campus in the face of pro-Hamas hate,” Brooke Goldstein, founder and executive director of The Lawfare Project said in the release. “No student should be subjected to intimidation, fear, or hatred when pursuing an education.”
The Lawfare Project has filed several lawsuits against other universities, including Carnegie Mellon and Columbia, for their failure to protect Jewish students on campus, the release said.
“Despite the alarming rise in antisemitism, colleges across the United States are turning their backs on Jewish students,” Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at The Lawfare Project, said in the release. “We will do everything we can to fight for our clients as they courageously assert their rights under the law.”
The release said this lawsuit seeks significant institutional policy changes and monetary compensation for the plaintiffs.