The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has thrown its weight behind a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by The Lawfare Project against Hunter College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, for allegedly permitting a hostile environment for Jews in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In a decisive Statement of Interest, the DOJ rejected CUNY’s argument that the First Amendment shields it from liability, emphasizing that public universities are not immune from Title VII obligations. The DOJ clarified that targeted antisemitic harassment, threats, and material disruptions go beyond protected speech and that CUNY failed to use available tools to regulate such conduct through content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions.
“This is a critical moment in the fight against institutional antisemitism,” said Brooke Goldstein, Founder and Executive Director of The Lawfare Project. “The DOJ has made clear that public universities cannot look the other way while Jews are harassed, threatened, and silenced. This marks a turning point, federal civil rights laws apply to Jews, and schools that fail to uphold those protections will be held to account.”
The lawsuit, filed in December 2024, alleges that CUNY Hunter failed to take meaningful action after Dr. Leah Garrett, Chair in Jewish Studies, endured months of antisemitic harassment. Following the October 7th terrorist attacks against Israel, the campus saw repeated protests glorifying violence against Jews, hostile chants, and vandalism-including swastikas defacing images of kidnapped Israeli hostages. Despite numerous complaints and clear policy violations, the college allegedly allowed the hostile environment to persist.
Ziporah Reich, Director of Litigation at The Lawfare Project, underscored the significance of the DOJ’s stance: “When speech devolves into targeted, threatening, and disruptive conduct, as it did here, it loses constitutional protection. The government’s position sends a clear message that Title VII protects Jewish faculty from being subjected to a hostile environment, and that public universities are not above the law.”
The DOJ’s intervention signals a new era of accountability for public universities, affirming that federal civil rights protections extend to Jewish faculty and students. The Lawfare Project has vowed to continue its efforts until CUNY is held fully accountable for the unchecked rise of antisemitism on its campus.