Judge Tells SFSU Students To File New Complaint In Anti-Semitism Lawsuit
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — A federal judge said a lawsuit filed in June by former and current Jewish San Francisco State University students did not establish that the university tolerates and encourages anti-Semitic activity, and told the lawyers to try again.
Judge William Orrick of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco said Wednesday that the lawsuit filed in June does not show an intent on the part of the university to discriminate against Jewish students. He gave the group a chance to refile the lawsuit to make it “lean and clear.”
Orrick told the group that the lawsuit must allege a specific intent to discriminate and to describe events that showed not only that Jewish students or Israeli speakers were harassed, but that university officials were responsible for the events and were motivated by religious bias, the San Francisco Gate reported.
The lawsuit, which names the university’s president, Leslie Wong, and other school officials as defendants, claims violations of the U.S. Civil Rights Act and the constitutional guarantees of free speech and equal treatment.
“SFSU and its administrators have knowingly fostered this discrimination and hostile environment, which has been marked by violent threats to the safety of Jewish students on campus,” the lawsuit says.
The suit seeks monetary damages, as well as a court order to force the defendants to cease the behavior outlined there. It delineates several incidents, including an April 2016 speech on campus by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat that was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, making Jewish students feel unsafe.
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