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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against the University of Pennsylvania alleging the Ivy League school “permitted, tolerated and/or facilitated multiple antisemitic incidents on its campus that have created a hostile educational environment for Jewish students” in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Mitchell Goldberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, wrote in his ruling that the lawsuit — which was filed by Jewish students attending the school – contains a 111-page amended complaint that “sets out a wide variety of general allegations, complaints, historical and current events, and alleged antisemitic incidents that allegedly took place not just on Penn’s campus, but elsewhere in the United States and the world.”
“The amended complaint also includes sweeping allegations of ideological, philosophical, religious, and political concerns and grievances, that have nothing to do with a federal lawsuit,” he declared this week. “After review of Plaintiffs’ amended complaint, I find that it fails to sufficiently allege the facts necessary to plausibly state viable claims under Title VI, the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, and for breach of contract.”
“While Plaintiffs spend an inordinate amount of space expounding on long-past injustices and incidents, some dating as far back as 1993, and complaining that Penn did not take the actions or respond to their reports, letters, or emails in the manner which Plaintiffs wanted, Plaintiffs have failed to plead any facts showing either intentional discrimination or deliberate indifference on the part of Penn,” Goldberg continued.
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“Indeed, I could find no allegations that Penn or its administration has itself taken any actions or positions which — even when read in the most favorable light — could be interpreted as antisemitic with the intention of causing harm to the Plaintiffs,” he also said. “At worst, Plaintiffs accuse Penn of tolerating and permitting the expression of viewpoints which differ from their own.”
Penn students Jordan David and Noah Rubin and alumnus Eyal Yakoby filed the lawsuit on Dec. 5 with the nonprofit Students Against Antisemitism, according to the Jewish News Syndicate.
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“Although it is difficult to parse through the 312 paragraphs of allegations contained in the Amended Complaint, I find Plaintiffs have alleged various incidents where they were personally subjected to derogatory language, verbally harassed, and/or targeted because they were Jewish,” Goldberg said in his ruling.
“Because of these incidents, the numerous protests, and the Palestine Writes Festival, Plaintiffs assert they have been forced to miss classes and other campus activities and experiences, have felt threatened and/or unsafe in their residences, classrooms, and other places on campus, have felt as though they needed to refrain from wearing certain articles of clothing or jewelry or refrain from speaking out on matters of importance to them, and/or have otherwise felt as though they had to hide or obscure their Jewish identities,” he added. “As a result, Plaintiffs aver they have lost educational and extracurricular opportunities and lost the value of the tuition and fees paid to Penn.”
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However, Goldberg also said that Penn has submitted “documentary evidence showing it has long had policies in place opposing antisemitism in all its forms on its campus,” which also “allegedly establish that since October 7, Penn has developed action plans to address and ‘combat’ antisemitism and the expression of religious and racial hatred on its campus, and has increased its security measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its Jewish students.”
“Deliberate indifference is a very high bar and Plaintiffs’ dissatisfaction with Penn’s responses is not enough to establish there was an official decision by Penn to not remedy a Title VI violation and that this deliberate indifference effectively caused racial discrimination,” Goldberg ruled.
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“I will, however, provide Plaintiffs one last opportunity to amend its complaint, but only as to the Title VI and breach of contract claims,” he also said.
The post Federal judge sides against Jewish students who sued UPenn over antisemitism appeared first on Fox News.
