Anti-Semitism at New York University (NYU), the large private institution in the city that is home to the nation’s largest Jewish population, is unfortunately hardly new. As far back as 2014, The Times of Israel noted how the egregiously misnamed anti-Semitic hate group “Students for Justice in Palestine” was harassing Jewish students at NYU by means of “distribut[ing] mock eviction notices to students in [a] dorm [that] is known across campus as one with a high concentration of Jewish residents, and is the only NYU dorm with a Shabbat elevator, listing distorted facts, and with the stated purpose of ‘draw[ing] attention to the reality that Palestinians confront on a regular basis.'”
But the problems at NYU for Jewish students and pro-Israel activists have continued unabated. Aaron Bandler reported last month for the Jewish Journal:
A group of pro-Israel students has filed a complaint against New York University (NYU) with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
The complaint was filed following an April 17 ceremony where the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), received the NYU’s President’s Service Award.
The April 22 complaint obtained by the Journal was filed on behalf of NYU students who are members of student organizations supporting Israel or Jewish issues, and senior Adela Cojab, who was the 2018 president of the student group Realize Israel.
The complaint argues there have been “two years of extreme anti-Semitism on the NYU campus” due to NYU SJP’s actions, and the administration’s inability to properly handle them constitutes a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin.”
SJP has extensive financial ties with Hamas, the Sunni sharia supremacist death cult that serves as the Palestinian-Arab branch of the international Muslim Brotherhood. More generally, SJP is a prominent association at the heart of the broader anti-Semitic “Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions” movement (BDS) against Israel — a movement that has stunningly close ties with many internationally recognized terrorist organizations.
As senior Adela Cojab explained to The Daily Wire, her formal Title VI complaint against NYU filed with OCR accuses the NYU administration of generally failing to act to protect Jewish students from constant harassment and discrimination — let alone to create a campus environment anchored in mutual respect, communal values, or student safety. Attempts to directly discuss the underlying incidents with the NYU administration have generally been rebuffed or ignored.
Susan Shapiro elaborated in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month:
Jewish students were assaulted at an Israeli Independence Day celebration last year in Washington Square Park, where two anti-Israel student agitators were arrested after desecrating Israeli flags. The NYU Jewish Center received threats; swastikas were found in a residence hall. The student government passed an anti-Israel BDS — boycott, divestment and sanctions — resolution. NYU activists confronted a pregnant Chelsea Clinton and insanely blamed her for the massacre at a New Zealand mosque because she criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic slurs.
The president of NYU responded to Ms. Shapiro in a subsequent letter to the Journal.
Alas, the saga continues. Ms. Cojab, who filed the Title VI complaint, told The Daily Wire via email: “According to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, schools are required to take immediate and effective action against student-on-student harassment, eliminate its occurrence, and address its effect on the affected community. NYU has done none of those things — instead, they decided to award the very organization that promotes discrimination and supports physical harassment. Jewish students are increasingly hesitant to openly display their identity, and as a graduating senior, I could not be more ashamed of my university.”