On the third anniversary of Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, a Jewish former student at The New School filed a federal lawsuit against the university, accusing the school of failing to protect her from anti-Semitic harassment, physical attacks, vandalism and exclusion from campus spaces.
The Lawfare Project, a legal organization dedicated to protecting the civil and human rights of Jews around the world, along with co-counsel Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of Sophie Shabot, a Jewish American and Israeli citizen who attends The New School’s Parsons School of Design.
The document was submitted on the third anniversary of the act. October 7 terrorist attackof which more than 1,200 people were murdered and another 251 were kidnapped.
The complaint describes a series of incidents following the attack in which Chabert said she was subjected to anti-Semitic harassment on campus.
In December 2023, protesters blocked Shabot from entering the university center while allowing non-Jewish students through, the lawsuit said. She was pushed out of the building, spat on and screamed through a loudspeaker, the complaint said.
Another conflict ensued in March 2024 after protesters vandalized and occupied space reserved for a Hillel event, which featured an Israeli speaker, and blocked Jewish students from entering, the lawsuit said.
According to The Lawfare Project, the event was moved to the unsecured dean’s office, where Chabot and other Jewish students were trapped for about 20 minutes while protesters knocked on the door and demanded they hand over the Israeli speaker.
The group said a New School professor then physically pushed the student guarding the gate, and the school shut down the event out of safety concerns rather than ensuring the safety of the gathering.
As the Jewish students left, protesters chased Chabot for several blocks and called her a “baby killer,” a “genocidal freak,” a “Zio cunt” and a “Zio bitch,” according to the indictment. The Lawfare Project said no students were disciplined for being disruptive.
The complaint describes another incident in April 2024 in which a group of people allegedly surrounded Chabert and her friends after hearing them speaking Hebrew, forming a tight circle around them and chasing them out of the university center while a security guard remained silent. Chabert’s desk and work space were also damaged, documents state.
In the fall of 2024, a protester threw a bottle at Shabot’s head, inches from her, as she sat outside a campus building, the lawsuit states.
According to The Lawfare Project, Chabot repeatedly reported harassment, confrontation, obstruction and disruptive behavior to professors, campus security, the Office of Student Conduct, senior administrators and the chancellor’s office, often identifying those she said were responsible and providing photos and videos.
The organization said Shabot sent emails to more than 20 administrators after one incident. Only two people responded, both recommending she seek treatment.
The complaint also accuses the new school of housing some protesters. The university’s then-president offered unauthorized camp attendees $300 to buy dinner, publicly praised them and posed for a photo, including the student accused of spitting at Shabot, The Lawfare Project reported.
The lawsuit alleges that when protesters blocked Jewish students from entering the University Center, the university provided Jewish students with another entrance instead of removing those that blocked them.
The Lawfare Project said the experience caused Shabot severe anxiety, panic attacks and insomnia, and impaired her academic performance and ability to use studios and equipment needed for her education.
“On the third anniversary of October 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, pro-Hamas rallies were organized across the country, including at universities, to celebrate the Holocaust,” said Brooke Goldstein, founder and executive director of the Lawfare Project.
“The hatred unleashed that day hit hardest Jewish college students, including Sophie, who are often forced to suffer in hostile environments,” Goldstein continued. “This lawsuit is our response to the wave of Jewish hatred on college campuses and New School’s shameful abdication of its responsibility to protect Jewish students.”
Goldstein said the organization will “continue to advocate for the rights of Jewish students and ensure these protections are enforced.”
Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at The Lawfare Project and the attorney who filed the lawsuit, said the university has a legal obligation to provide Shabot with an educational environment free of discrimination and harassment.
“Instead, it appears the opposite is true, as she has been subjected to shocking verbal and physical assaults, ostracism, vandalism and other forms of abuse simply for being Jewish,” Reich said.
“Instead of protecting Sophie, the government accommodated those who targeted her and allowed her to suffer the consequences,” she continued. “The burden of discrimination should never be placed on targeted students. By filing this lawsuit, we intend to hold New Schools accountable.”
Chabot said she filed the lawsuit because she wants the university to be held accountable and change its treatment of Jewish students.
“I am filing this lawsuit because what happened to me should not happen without accountability,” Chabot said. “I hope that by speaking out, New School will be forced to confront the problem, change the way Jewish students respond when they are targeted, and ensure that no other student has to endure what I did.”
The lawsuit asserts claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York Civil Rights Law, the New York City Human Rights Law, and the New York General Business Law. It also includes breach of contract and negligent infliction of emotional distress claims.
Chabot is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, statutory penalties, attorney’s fees and costs, and other relief, as well as a jury trial.
The Lawfare Project said the case follows other cases it says it has won or settled that have led to changes on U.S. college campuses.
The lawsuit is before the Department of Education declare X Wednesday:
“Recently released 2023-24 CRDC data shows that Jewish students are most frequently targeted by religious bullying. On the third anniversary of the tragedy on October 7, we encourage teachers, administrators and state leaders to uphold civil rights protections and ensure every student has a safe learning environment.”
The New School has previously been criticized for anti-Semitism on campus and its response to it.
Breitbart News report In November 2016, swastikas were found on the doors of four dormitories at Kerrey Hall, a new school in Manhattan. Sam Lichtenstein, a student who lives with three Jewish roommates, said she burst into tears when she saw one drawn in black marker on a whiteboard on her door. “It’s just heartbreaking,” she said, adding, “We’re just overwhelmed and sad.” Lichtenstein said it was “crazy” that such an incident would happen “in such a progressive city and at such a progressive university,” while one of her roommates said she was “completely shocked” by the graffiti.
In November 2017, Morton A. Klein, National Chairman of the Zionist Organization of America condemn The New School hosted an event titled “Anti-Semitism and the Struggle for Justice,” with guests including Linda Sarsour and Rebecca Wilcomerson, then director of Jewish Voice for Peace. In an op-ed for Breitbart Jerusalem, Klein criticized both women’s anti-Israel activism, noting that Jewish Voice for Peace promotes an anti-Israel boycott while Sarsour supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
He also cited Sarsour’s statement that “nothing is more creepy than Zionism,” her praise of convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmiya Odeh, her ties to Islamic State leader Louis Farrakhan and Imam Siraj Wahhaj , citing rhetoric about “holy war” against the Trump administration, past comments about Saddam Hussein, her argument that feminists cannot also be Zionists, and several other statements and associations that Klein said made her an inappropriate choice for the anti-Semitic panel.
Breitbart News alone Report The next day, Susan Shapiro, a self-described liberal professor at the New School, spoke at length, saying that the school’s Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism program sponsored the group and that she felt “betrayed” and describing Sarsour as a “hate instigator.” Shapiro contrasted the treatment of anti-Israel rhetoric with similar comments she believes she receives against other groups, writing, “Yet trash-talking Jewish Israelis is not only allowed in progressive circles, but rewarded.” She also wrote that “anti-Israel boycotts and rhetoric clearly mask vitriolic Jewish hatred,” noting what she sees as a double standard in progressive circles.