Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jewish Students At San Francisco State Sue Over ‘Hostile Environment’

Jewish students at San Francisco State University, along with local Jewish community members, have filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging that the administration has “cultivated a hostile environment in which Jewish students are “often afraid to wear Stars of David or yarmulkes on campus, and regularly text their friends to describe potential safety issues,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

The lawsuit stems from a 2016 incident wherein Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat was invited to speak at the school, only to be drowned out by student activists chanting, “Intifada,” “Get the [expletive] off our campus,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

However, the lawsuit argues that the incident with Barkat was just one of the latest in a long line of similar behavior from students on campus.

“SFSU has not merely fostered and embraced anti-Jewish hostility—it has systematically supported these departments and student groups,” the lawsuit said.

Daniel Ojeda, the university’s counsel, said in a statement that the school, “was not aware of the complaint and has not had an opportunity to review or respond to it.”

Contact Jesse Bernstein at [email protected] or on Twitter @__jbernstein

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.