Two former Jewish students have filed a federal lawsuit accusing Chapman University of allowing anti-Semitism bullying on campus by pro-Palestinian activists.
Backed by the National Jewish Advocacy Center in Atlanta, the students allege the Orange university did not adequately discipline pro-Palestinian activists for uprooting Israeli flags from a memorial, shouting profanity at Jewish students, flashing a Nazi salute to a student and calling for Jews to be lynched.
“Chapman so utterly failed to address the antisemitic hostile education environment it allowed to fester in the 2023-2024 school year, and indeed, on multiple occasions actively participated in it,” said the suit, filed Oct. 28 on behalf of Eli Schechter and Talya Malka.
Schechter is a 2024 graduate and former president of the school’s chapter of Students Supporting Israel. Malka, also a 2024 graduate, is an Israeli-American.
Chapman responded that it supports all of its Jewish students.
“We are aware of the matter and are reviewing the filing. We stand by our strong record of supporting Jewish students and continuing to do so is a priority and commitment for us, consistent with our mission and founding,” Chapman spokesperson Robert Hitchcock said.
After the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, Schechter began notifying Chapman Dean of Students Jerry Price and then-President Daniele Struppa that Jewish students were being threatened and harassed, according to the lawsuit.
The suit accused the group, Students for Justice in Palestine, of hanging a large Palestinian flag over a makeshift memorial for the slain Israelis and pulling out small Israeli flags that had been planted at the site.
In emails and other correspondence, Shechter informed Price of other assaults by pro-Palestinian activists, who allegedly removed pro-Israel flyers on campus, replacing them with flyers in support of the Palestinians. One SJP board member posted videos of herself taking down the pro-Israel flyers on her social media, the suit said.
“As would become clear over the school year, SJP was engaged in an organized campaign of ripping down Jewish students’ flyers, and only their flyers, and colonizing the space they once filled with their own anti-Israel flyers, a systemic pattern of ethnic and racial intimidation,” the suit alleges.
Schechter attempted to attend an event sponsored by the pro-Palestinian group, but was denied access by Chapman administration. The suit also accuses an SJP member of messaging Malka: I want you and all you zionist trash bags dead.”
Malka took the message as a death threat, which she reported to university administrators, saying, “I really don’t feel safe on campus. The Jewish community does not feel safe on campus.”
Adding to their discomfort were the activists on bullhorns calling for an “intifada,” which the lawsuit interpreted as a call to lynch Jews.
“The university was aware and they’re saying it’s just free speech,” said attorney Matthew Mainen, from the national Jewish advocacy group. “It doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Mainen said the offenders may have been disciplined, but not at the same level that others would have for discriminating against Blacks or other protected classes.
Traditionally, discrimination lawsuits against educational facilities have been based on statutes banning harassment in facilities that receive federal funding. In a novel move, Mainen also is employing a workplace discrimination law that evolved from an 1866 civil rights/anti-slavery act. That law bars discrimination in contracts — and Mainen argues that students have a contract with educational facilities to receive a harassment-free education.
“This is squarely the type of harassment this statute was meant for,” he said. “We’re talking about lynching, that’s as close to slavery as you can get.”