Judge dismisses antisemitism lawsuit against MIT, says Jewish students were kept safe
Plaintiffs say they will continue to ‘hold bad actors responsible’ on US campuses after judge finds MIT took steps against protests that posed a threat to Jewish students
BOSTON, Massachusetts — A US federal lawsuit accusing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of tolerating antisemitism after the October 7 Hamas terror assault in Israel has been dismissed according to information released Thursday, two days after a similar one against Harvard University was approved.
The MIT lawsuit accused the university of approving antisemitic activities on campus and tolerating discrimination and harassment against Jewish students and faculty. In dismissing the lawsuit on July 30, US District Judge Richard Stearns noted that MIT took steps to address on-campus protests that posed a potential threat to Jewish students.
“Plaintiffs frame MIT’s response to the conflict largely as one of inaction. But the facts alleged tell a different story,” Stearns wrote. “Far from sitting on its hands, MIT took steps to contain the escalating on-campus protests that, in some instances, posed a genuine threat to the welfare and safety of Jewish and Israeli students, who were at times personally victimized by the hostile demonstrators.”
The judge drew a sharply different conclusion about Harvard, moving toward a trial on the university’s claim that it had done its best to balance its responsibilities of protecting free speech and preventing discrimination among its students.
Ruling on August 6 that parts of that lawsuit can move forward, Stearns wrote that Harvard’s response to antisemitic incidents “was, at best, indecisive, vacillating, and at times internally contradictory.”
Fallout from the Israel-Hamas war roiled campuses across the United States during the last school year and reignited a debate over free speech.
College leaders have struggled to define the line where political speech crosses into harassment and discrimination, and both Arab and Jewish students have raised concerns that schools are doing too little to protect them.
Some have complained that universities have gone too far in cracking down on pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters by arresting and suspending students, while others said they’ve been too tolerant of encampments that sprung up on campuses.
The massive anti-Israel protests erupted at universities across the US following the October 7 attack, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. Demonstrators chanted pro-Palestinian slogans like “Free Palestine,” but protesters at some universities also called for an intifada — a word used to describe two periods of unrest in Israel which were characterized by constant terror attacks — or called for another “1,000 October 7ths.”
MIT said Thursday that the ruling in its case speaks for itself.
“We appreciate that the Court carefully assessed the allegations and dismissed plaintiffs’ claims,” MIT said in a statement. “Our leaders have and will continue to support our students and focus on making it possible for all of us to share the campus successfully while pursuing MIT’s vital mission.”
The StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice filed the lawsuit against MIT along with two students. Its director, Carly Gammill, expressed her disappointment on Thursday, saying they had sought to “hold MIT accountable for failing to protect Jewish and Zionist students from antisemitic hate on its campus.”
“We are immensely grateful to the courageous students and attorneys who made this case possible,” Gammill said. “The SCLJ will continue its efforts to hold bad actors responsible — whether for perpetuating or showing deliberate indifference to antisemitism — on behalf of students at MIT and campuses across the country.”
Students Against Antisemitism, Inc., accuses Harvard of violating Jewish students’ civil rights by tolerating them being harassed, assaulted and intimidated — behavior that has intensified since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught and subsequent war in Gaza.
The judge, Stearns, on Tuesday, dismissed the plaintiffs’ allegations that they were directly discriminated against by Harvard University. He said former president Claudine Gay and interim president Alan Garber repeatedly recognized “an eruption of antisemitism on the Harvard campus.”
But Stearns said there were many instances where the university “didn’t respond at all” and ”failed its Jewish students.”
“We are gratified that the Court has upheld our clients’ civil rights claims against Harvard,” Marc Kasowitz, a partner at the law firm that brought the suit, said in a statement. “We intend to continue to take all necessary and appropriate steps to protect Harvard’s Jewish students, the first step being discovery of Harvard’s internal files and communications to prove the full nature and extent of Harvard’s failures.”
In a statement, Harvard said it “will continue to take concrete steps to address the root causes of antisemitism on campus and protect our Jewish and Israeli students, ensuring they may pursue their education free from harassment and discrimination.
“We appreciate that the Court dismissed the claim that Harvard directly discriminated against members of our community, and we understand that the court considers it too early to make determinations on other claims,” the statement continued. “Harvard is confident that once the facts in this case are made clear, it will be evident that Harvard has acted fairly and with deep concern for supporting our Jewish and Israeli students.”
In addition to MIT and Harvard, many major US universities were the subject of lawsuits while accused the schools of allowing and encouraging antisemitism, including in on-campus anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests.
Brown University and New York University settled similar lawsuits last month.
Columbia University, meanwhile, agreed in June to provide safety escorts and take other steps to settle a lawsuit claiming its campus had become unsafe.
The US Department of Education has repeatedly warned colleges that they are required to fight antisemitism and Islamophobia on their campuses or risk losing federal money. The agency has opened dozens of investigations at colleges and universities in response to complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia since the October 7 assault, including at Harvard, Stanford and MIT.
