Barnard College leaders agreed to settle a scorching lawsuit by Jewish students claiming the Columbia University-affiliated school failed to address rising antisemitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict, court papers filed Monday show.
The all-women’s school will prohibit masks, not engage with the anti-Israel Columbia University Apartheid Divest student protest group and establish a dedicated Title VI coordinator to oversee compliance with anti-discrimination laws, officials said.
“Antisemitism, discrimination, and harassment in any form are antithetical to the values Barnard College champions,” Barnard President Ann Rosenbury said in a statement.
“Today’s settlement reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining a campus that is safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all members of our community.”
The settlement will drop Barnard College from a lawsuit filed by Jewish students and two nonprofits that accused the school and Columbia University of turning a blind eye to antisemitism.
The agreement, however, appears not to extend to Columbia, meaning the lawsuit against the storied Manhattan Ivy League institution remains active.
The bulk of the lawsuit was largely focused on alleged anti-Jewish incidents on the Columbia campus it was roiled by protests after the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks.
Pro-Palestinian students and faculty protested Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas in Gaza, contending it led to thousands of innocent deaths.
But many Jewish and Israeli students argued the sprawling protests — with their chants condemning “genocide” in Gaza and other anti-Israel slogans, such as “from the river to the sea” — stoked ugly antisemitism that left them feeling unsafe, according to the lawsuit.
The furor — and other incidents at Harvard University and New York University — helped fuel calls to ban masks out of fear that anti-Israel protesters could commit crimes or acts of hate with impunity.
Columbia University agreed to institute a mask ban, among other changes, in March after President Trump’s administration yanked $400 million from the Morningside Heights university over how it handled antisemitism.
The lawsuit settlement with Barnard includes, and goes further, than a mask ban.
The school will create a “Title VI coordinator” to review accusations made by students — including Jewish and Israeli — that they’re facing discrimination based on their race, color or national origin, officials said.
Title VI is the part of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits racial discrimination in programs or activities that receive federal assistance.
The settlement also cements that Barnard College will not recognize or engage with Columbia University Apartheid Divest — a group that calls for the school to “divest from the zionist (sic) occupation and genocide of Palestine.”
Marc Kasowitz, an attorney for the Jewish groups and students, said the settlement provides a groundwork for other universities.
“Barnard’s commitment to take meaningful actions to combat antisemitism demonstrates its leadership in the fight against antisemitism and upholding the rights of Jewish and Israeli students,” he said in a statement. “These commitments are not only the right thing to do, but are essential to creating a welcome and inclusive campus for all members of the Barnard community.”
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
Read the full article here
