Latest News from Campus

More than 150 Jewish faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania filed an amicus brief supporting the university’s response to a federal lawsuit involving the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Faculty members expressed concern over the scope of the EEOC’s subpoena requesting information about Jewish students, faculty, and groups, citing risks to safety, and the historical implications of collecting information about Jewish individuals.

Tessa Veksler, former student government president at the University of California, Santa Barbara, filed a federal lawsuit alleging the university failed to protect her from months of antisemitic harassment that began after she condemned the October 7, 2023 attacks. The complaint asserts that UCSB administrators did not intervene as harassment from other students — including hostile signage and threats — escalated, and that the university’s response worsened her situation.

The FBI charged 19-year-old Stephen Spencer Pittman with arson for setting fire to Beth Israel Congregation, Mississippi’s largest and most historic synagogue, early Saturday. The blaze severely damaged the building’s library, offices, and sacred texts. Authorities say Pittman admitted to targeting the synagogue because of its “Jewish ties” and called it the “synagogue of Satan.”

Vandals broke into a private residence where Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity brothers at the University of California, Santa Barbara live,  and smeared a swastika on a bathroom mirror – an act critics say is part of a broader surge in antisemitism at the university. The incident drew immediate reaction from Jewish groups, including AEPi, which called on university leaders “to take concrete, visible action to ensure the safety and well-being of all students, including Jewish students who are being explicitly targeted.”

The Cooper Union agreed to settle a Title VI antisemitism lawsuit brought by 10 Jewish students who said they felt unsafe when barricaded inside a campus library during anti-Israel protests that followed Oct. 7, 2023. Under the settlement, the college will compensate the students, hire a Title VI coordinator, and ban masks at protests.

Following a nearly two-year investigation, University of California, Davis assistant professor Jemma DeCristo will remain on the job. Three days after the October 7 terrorist attacks, DeCristo posted on X, threatening “Zionist journalists” and their children, and including a knife and blood-drop emojis. She later claimed the post was satire, not a literal call for violence.