Judge dismisses anti-Israel group’s discrimination lawsuit against Haverford College, criticizing “disingenuous” complaint

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U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh dismissed a discrimination lawsuit filed by Jews at Haverford against Haverford College, which sought to use Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to suppress criticism of Israel on college campuses.

The lawsuit alleged that the college was a "bastion of antisemitism," but McHugh dismissed these claims, stating that the evidence was "buried as needles within a haystack of distraction."

McHugh criticized the plaintiffs' complaint for being "more opinion editorial than legal complaint," noting that it was disorganized and failed to present serious allegations of actionable discrimination.

Similar lawsuits against Harvard University, Columbia University and Barnard College, also using Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, aim to prevent protests condemning Israel's actions in Gaza.

U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns consolidated two lawsuits against Harvard University, aiming to streamline the discovery process and set a joint deadline for May 23, 2025, while partially denying Harvard's motion to dismiss both suits.

U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh has dismissed a discrimination lawsuit filed by the Jewish lawfare group Jews at Haverford against Haverford College.

The lawsuit, represented by the Deborah Project, sought to exploit Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to silence criticism of Israel on college campuses. The lawsuit, brought by Jews at Haverford, Alumni Ally Landau and two anonymous students, alleged that the college had become a "bastion of antisemitism" and that Jewish students and faculty had faced harassment and missed out on key experiences due to the hostile environment. (Related: Israel lashes out at Vatican after Pope Francis condemns killing of children.)

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs complained that Haverford did not celebrate "American Jewish History Month" and instead celebrated "Asian American/Pacific Islander Month." They also included comments made by a professor who does not even attend Haverford as part of their complaint.

However, McHugh, a former President Barack Obama appointee, highlighted that these instances, along with others, were "buried as needles within a haystack of distraction." McHugh pointed out that many of the grievances presented by the plaintiffs were "not the same thing as a legally cognizable complaint," and that some instances were "no reasonable person could construe as intentional discrimination."

In his ruling on Monday, he wrote that the plaintiffs' allegations were "more opinion editorial than legal complaint," and that the sprawling and disorganized character of the Amended Complaint made it difficult to isolate any serious allegations of actionable discrimination.

"It spills pages of ink on lengthy frolics about events on other college campuses and about ideological debates. Rather than isolating instances of harassment and logically relating them to the elements of a hostile environment claim, Plaintiffs set forth a running list of grievances that reads more as an opinion editorial than it does a legal complaint," McHugh wrote in his ruling on Jan. 6.

Harvard University and two others face similar lawsuits

Similar legal actions were taken against Harvard University and other institutions to prevent protests condemning Israel's actions as a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza."

In November, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns consolidated two lawsuits that accuse Harvard of failing to adequately address campus antisemitism. The consolidation is aimed at streamlining the discovery process, setting a joint deadline of May 23, 2025.

The first lawsuit, filed in January 2024, was brought by six Jewish Harvard students who claim the university has become a "bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment" since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The second lawsuit, filed by the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans in May, focuses on an incident at the Harvard Kennedy School involving allegations of ethnic discrimination.

Both lawsuits allege that Harvard violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits institutions that receive federal funding from engaging in discrimination based on race, color or national origin. The plaintiffs argue that the university has failed to take adequate steps to address antisemitism on campus.

In his ruling, Stearns partially denied Harvard's motion to dismiss both suits, indicating that the plaintiffs' claims were sufficient to proceed with a breach of contract claim. However, he dismissed the claim that Harvard directly discriminated against Jewish students.

Columbia University and Barnard College also faced similar lawsuits last year.

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