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

News provided by

Dec 05, 2023, 14:07 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kasowitz Benson Torres, on behalf of two Jewish students, has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), alleging that Penn has egregiously violated the civil rights of the two Jewish students, who have faced pervasive acts of antisemitic hatred, discrimination, harassment, and intimidation while attending Penn.

In their complaint, the students allege that Penn has transformed itself into an incubation lab for virulent anti-Jewish hatred, harassment, and discrimination; has enforced Penn's own rules of conduct selectively to avoid protecting Jewish students from hatred and harassment; has hired rabidly antisemitic professors who call for anti-Jewish violence and spread terrorist propaganda; and has ignored Jewish students' pleas for protection.

The complaint also alleges that Penn—in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964— has failed to remedy the hostile environment on its campus, where plaintiffs and their Jewish peers are routinely subjected to vile and threatening antisemitic slurs and chants. Plaintiffs and other Jewish students must traverse classrooms, dormitories, and buildings vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.

The students are requesting that the Court order Penn to: implement institutional, far-reaching, and concrete remedial measures, including by terminating Penn faculty and suspending or expelling students responsible for such abuse, and require Penn to pay damages, including tuition refunds, to the two Jewish plaintiffs, among other remedies.

Partner Marc E. Kasowitz said "Penn's transformation into an incubation lab for virulent antisemitism has created a pervasively hostile educational environment for Jewish students. We are asking the Court to compel Penn to comply with the Civil Rights Act, Penn's own purported policies, and elementary human decency, which the University has failed and refused to do on its own."

Partner Mark P. Ressler said "Jewish students at Penn have been subjected to egregious antisemitism and are living in fear, subjected to vile and threatening slurs, harassment, and discrimination. Penn must be forced to protect its Jewish students and stop applying a double standard when it comes to anti-Jewish bigotry."

The Kasowitz Benson Torres team representing the University of Pennsylvania 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, Andrew C. Bernstein, Scott Christopher, Yarden Hodes and William Wolfe Taub.

Link to the complaint can be found here.

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.