New plaintiffs joined an amended complaint filed by two Penn students against the University alleging an insufficient response to antisemitism on campus.
The expanded lawsuit includes two new plaintiffs — Wharton and Engineering junior Noah Rubin and Students Against Antisemitism, Inc. The complaint, which was initially filed in December of last year by College senior Eyal Yakoby and College first year Jordan Davis, was amended on March 4. The complaint alleges that Penn “subjects them to a pervasively hostile educational environment,” according to the preliminary statement.
A University spokesperson declined to comment. Rubin and Davis did not respond to requests for comment.
“Bring Hersh, and the other 133 hostages home,” Yakoby said in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
According to the amended complaint, Rubin served as co-president of the Penn Israel Public Affairs Committee from August 2022 to January 2024 and is also a member of Students Against Antisemitism. Rubin joined the lawsuit just days after criticizing the University's response to antisemitism during a bipartisan roundtable hosted by the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Students Against Antisemitism, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation based in Delaware, focuses on defending the right to equal protection and freedom from antisemitism in higher education, according to the amended complaint. Its members include current and former Jewish and Israeli students at Penn who support SAA's mission and have been directly affected by antisemitism and discrimination.
As a result of the amended complaint, the University’s motion to dismiss was denied on March 5, according to a court document.
The amended complaint — which now includes allegations dating after then-Penn President Liz Magill's resignation and as recently as this month — describes nearly 200 incidents of antisemitism and Penn’s alleged indifference on campus since 2015. These include new incidents derived from the experiences of Rubin and two anonymous SAA members. There are approximately 50 additional incidents since the original complaint.
In the amended complaint, Rubin describes multiple experiences of antisemitism on campus, including feeling that the Provost’s Antisemitism Student Advisory Group — of which he was a member — was “powerless and ineffective.”
The complaint also alleges that Yakoby and other Jewish students received death threats, including the phrase “die Zionists pig.” It also states that Davis has lost friends, been accused of racism, and faces continuous harassment since the complaint was filed.
The amended complaint refers to Annenberg School for Communication lecturer Dwayne Booth’s political cartoons and Interim Penn President Larry Jameson’s statement regarding the cartoons, which the complaint contends did “nothing to deter or discourage Booth’s antisemitism."
The updated lawsuit included amendments asking for further action, including the dismissal of Penn faculty, employees, and students responsible for continuing “antisemitic abuse.” It also calls on the University to return and deny donations "conditioned on the hiring or promotion of professors who espouse antisemitism or the inclusion of antisemitic coursework or curricula."
The additional plaintiffs are represented by legal teams at the Law Offices of Eric A. Shore and Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP.
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