Kasowitz Files Lawsuit against New York University on behalf of Jewish Students Alleging Egregious Civil Rights Violations for its Antisemitic Hostile Educational Environment

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Nov 14, 2023, 15:48 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kasowitz Benson Torres, on behalf of three Jewish students, has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against New York University (NYU), alleging that NYU has egregiously violated the civil rights of the three Jewish students, who have faced pervasive acts of antisemitic hatred, discrimination, harassment, and intimidation while attending NYU.

In their complaint, the students allege that, for years, NYU—in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—has acted with deliberate indifference to its hostile antisemitic educational environment in refusing to enforce its own policies which it readily applies to protect other victims of race, color, or national origin-based prejudice. Further, the students allege that nearly every day since Hamas's horrific terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, plaintiffs and other Jewish students are forced to run a campus gauntlet of verbal and physical harassment, threats, and intimidation, including being taunted with disgusting antisemitic slurs; having their complaints ignored, slow-walked, or met with gaslighting by the NYU administration, including NYU's President, Linda G. Mills; and being subjected to anti-Jewish hate fests led by NYU students and faculty members extolling Hamas's mass murder, rape and kidnapping and calling for the annihilation of Israel.

The students are requesting that the Court order NYU to: implement institutional, far-reaching, and concrete remedial measures, including by terminating NYU personnel and students responsible for such abuse; and require NYU to pay damages to the three Jewish students, among other remedies.

Partner Marc E. Kasowitz said, "NYU's deliberate indifference toward the plight of its Jewish students under siege by egregious antisemitism has been outrageous. We are asking the Court to compel NYU to comply with the Civil Rights Act, its own purported policies, and elementary human decency, which to date the University has failed and refused to do on its own."

Partner Mark P. Ressler said, "Jewish students at NYU are traumatized and living in fear. NYU must be forced to protect them, and held accountable for nurturing and fostering a hostile educational environment."

The Kasowitz Benson Torres team representing the NYU students is led by partners Marc E. Kasowitz, Daniel R. Benson, Mark P. Ressler and Andrew L. Schwartz, and includes associates Joshua E. Roberts, Jillian R. Roffer, Yarden Hodes and William Wolfe Taub.

About Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP is a leading national law firm with a core focus on commercial litigation, complemented by exceptionally strong bankruptcy/restructuring, employment, and real estate transactional practices. Kasowitz is known for its creative, aggressive litigators and willingness to take on tough cases. The firm has extensive trial experience and is always trial-ready, representing both plaintiffs and defendants in every area of litigation. Kasowitz is committed to pursuing aggressive and innovative approaches to its clients' most challenging legal matters. Headquartered in New York City, the firm also has offices in Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. For more information, please visit www.kasowitz.com.