A private university in New York City that nurtures "progressive minds" turned a blind eye to "relentless antisemitic harassment, intimidation, and physical assault" of a student, even after she gave officials hard evidence, according to an explosive federal lawsuit filed on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.

American-Israeli dual citizen Sophie Shabot accused New School for Social Research officials of tolerating and rewarding the aggressors, including when then-President Donna Shalala – President Clinton's Health secretary – gave unauthorized encampment participants "$300 to buy dinner, publicly praised them, and posed for a photograph."

The claims recall the alleged "Jew Exclusion Zone" at UCLA and Oberlin College's facilitation of a student-led campaign to destroy a local bakery for tackling a black shoplifter, whose litigation ended with a $6.3 million settlement and $36 million defamation judgment, respectively.

Shabot asserts claims under Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act for national-origin discrimination, under New York human rights, civil rights and "general business" laws and New York City human rights law, as well as breach of contract and negligent infliction of emotional distress. She seeks penalties including punitive damages and a jury trial.

"What made these violent encounters particularly traumatizing for Shabot, was the campus environment in which they occurred," the lawsuit says. 

"TNS was saturated with antisemitic and anti-Israel protests, graffiti, leaflets, and signs in violation of the University’s time, place, and manner restrictions," from classrooms to cafeterias, which "denounced the existence of a Jewish homeland as a racist endeavor and demanded that all Israelis be expelled from TNS," it says.

"They accused Jews collectively of being racist and responsible for genocide, mocked and denigrated the suffering of Jewish hostages and their families, and celebrated Hamas’s violence against Jewish civilians," yet the school repeatedly refused to enforce its rules when Shabot reported violations, the lawsuit says.

"This lawsuit is our response to the tidal wave of Jew-hatred on college campuses" since "the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust," and to "The New School’s shameful abdication of its responsibility to protect its Jewish students," said Brooke Goldstein, founder and executive director of The Lawfare Project, which is representing Shabot.

The case shows the Jewish community "standing up against a campus that allowed a pro-Hamas mob to take over an American college campus," according to the legal action group, which said it has filed, "won or settled" many cases "forcing meaningful change" on campus and holding institutions accountable for not protecting Jewish students.

“I hope that by speaking out, The New School will be forced to confront what went wrong, change the way it responds when Jewish students are targeted, and make sure that no other student has to endure what I did," Shabot said.

Professor arrested, charged for online-only antisemitic harassment

As in-person threats, harassment and even physical violence, Shabot's allegations look worse than those against Haverford College religion professor Guangtian Ha, who was arrested and criminally charged Tuesday with antisemitic "online harassment and intimidation," with the FBI involved, President Wendy Raymond told the community. 

Raymond emphasized that Ha was already on sabbatical this academic year and is banned from campus indefinitely.

Known for its liberal arts like the New School, Philadelphia-area Haverford settled class-action litigation by Jewish students represented by The Deborah Project, which repeatedly referenced Ha's social media posts, this summer.

"All students including those who identify as Jewish, and/or Israeli, and those who support Zionism [...] are welcome and enjoy equal access to the College and all of its educational programs and activities," Raymond said this summer, one of the conditions of the settlement.

Among other conditions: Haverford removed "all reference and distinctions between 'privileged' and 'marginalized' students" from its honor code, agreed to punish masked students who threaten others and refuse to identify themselves, and promised events by "Jewish Zionists and/or Israelis" will get "effective security to the same extent" as other campus events. 

Asked about any criminal investigation into Shabot's claims, given Ha's arrest and charges for purely online conduct, Lawfare Project director of litigation Ziporah Reich cited "instances in which law enforcement was contacted in connection with conduct occurring at or around The New School" but told Just the News she can't discuss particulars during active litigation.

The lawsuit alleges The New School "affirmatively advised students that it had not contacted" the New York Police Department to deal with the unauthorized encampment, promising police "would not enter University buildings without the University’s consent, even as reports of harassment, intimidation, obstruction, and physical aggression were escalating."

It only called police "after the situation had significantly deteriorated," raising concerns about The New School's limitation on "outside law-enforcement involvement while failing to take adequate measures of its own to protect Jewish and Israeli students," Reich said.

Shalala's belated call to the NYPD to clear the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" earned her a 94% vote of no confidence by faculty and staff, not for waiting but for calling police at all, the New School Free Press reported at the time.

'A security guard looked on in silence'

The New School let "pro-Hamas activity" on campus "run rampant" after the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack in Israel, "including violence against Jewish students," the Lawfare Project says, focusing specific allegations on plaintiff Shabot. Several reference misogynistic slurs hurled at her, citing her Zionism and Israel affiliation.

While letting non-Jewish students pass through in December 2023, protesters blocked Shabot from going into the University Center, "shoved her out of the building, spat on her, and screamed through a bullhorn" both personal and anti-Israel messages, the group says.

Months later, protesters "vandalized and seized the space reserved for a Hillel event featuring an Israeli speaker and blocked Jewish students from entering," trapping Shabot and other Jewish students for 20 minutes in a dean's office "as a mob pounded on the door" demanding the speaker.

Instead of punishing disruptive students or securing the event, the university shut it down for "safety issues" after a professor "physically shoved the student guarding the door" from the mob, which then followed Shabot "for blocks" streaming slurs and accusations such as "genocidal freak," according to the plaintiff's lawyers.

After hearing Shabot and her friends speak Hebrew in April 2024, a crowd "formed a tight Circle" around them, vandalized her desk and workspace and drove them out of University Center "while a security guard looked on in silence," the group says. 

The university's response to "harassers" blocking Jewish students from entering University Center was allegedly to offer the latter a different entrance.

As if the shoving and spitting weren't enough, a protester threw a bottle at Shabot's head outside a campus building, "missing her by inches," in fall 2024, she alleges.

She "repeatedly" reported these incidents to "professors, security personnel, the Office of Student Conduct, senior administrators, and the Office of the President, often identifying the responsible individuals by name and providing photographs and video," to no avail, Shabot claims.

Two admins responded to her email to more than 20 after an assault, allegedly suggesting "she seek therapy" but offering no help. Then-President Shalala posed for a photo with the student who had spat on Shabot when visiting the encampment, the Lawfare Project claims.

She has "suffered severe anxiety, panic attacks, and insomnia, and her academic performance and ability to use the studios and equipment central to her education were impaired," her lawyers said.

"“Rather than protect Sophie, the administration accommodated those targeting her and left her to endure the consequences," Reich said. "The burden of discrimination should never be placed on the student being targeted."