BUZZ
Cooper Union agrees to pay compensation, train staff on discrimination in lawsuit settlement
Jewish students reached a settlement Thursday with Cooper Union after alleging the New York City college failed to protect them in 2023 when they took shelter behind locked library doors during a pro-Palestinian protest.
In the settlement, the private Manhattan institution did not admit to any wrong-doing, but it did agree to pay an undisclosed amount to the 10 students who filed the lawsuit, Reuters reports.
Additionally, Cooper Union agreed to add a new Title VI position “to oversee its handling of discrimination and harassment, train employees and students about its policies, and prohibit the wearing of masks to conceal identities at demonstrations,” according to the report.
The students alleged that campus leaders allowed “a hostile educational environment” in violation of Title VI, a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination.
Attorney Ziporah Reich, who represented the students through the Lawfare Project, said Cooper Union has a “legal duty” to protect all its students.
“Jewish students deserve to learn without being targeted, harassed, or excluded because of who they are or what they believe,” Reich said in a statement about the settlement.
Meanwhile, the college’s president, Steven McLaughlin, responded by emphasizing its commitment to stop antisemitism on campus.
The “settlement reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining a campus where every student in our community feels respected, safe and included,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “We are dedicated to continuing our efforts to confront discrimination of any kind, including antisemitism.”
On Oct. 25, 2023, several Jewish students took shelter behind locked doors in Cooper Union’s library as pro-Palestinian protesters banged on the doors and yelled anti-Israel slogans, The College Fix reported at the time.
Soon afterward, Jake Novak, former media director at the Israeli Consulate in New York, posted a detailed account of the incident and its aftermath on X. A video of the protest that he posted went viral.
“A couple of key highlights from my interview with a major eyewitness/student at this incident,” Novak wrote.
“1) Cooper U. dean said before the protest that he [could] not stop it because it was not slated to enter school property (which it obviously did) 2) NYPD was called as soon as the protesters stormed the main Cooper Union building, but did nothing. 3) Librarians bolted the doors and approached the identifiable Jewish students and told them they could hide in the attic if they wanted to,” he wrote.
Afterward, the Jewish students involved alleged that Cooper Union’s leaders failed to protect them and “told police who offered help to back off,” according to Reuters.
However, police told the New York Times at the time that they did not believe the protesters posed any direct threat to the Jewish students.
MORE: Aggressive pro-Palestinian activists barricade Jewish students in library
