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University leaders ‘failed to adequately address’ discrimination, lawyer says
Two recent Chapman University graduates allege that they were discriminated against due to their “Jewish religion, race, and national origin,” including one event in which they appeared to have been excluded for having “Jewish sounding” last names, according to their lawsuit.
Former students Eli Schechter and Talya Malka filed their federal case on Oct. 28 against the Southern California university, alleging campus administrators failed to address the on-going antisemitism.
Matthew Mainen, attorney for the plaintiffs, told The College Fix, “The lawsuit will demonstrate that shortly after October 7 and lasting throughout the 2023-2024 school year, Jewish student leader and lead Plaintiff Eli Schechter was in constant contact with the administration, meticulously documenting discrimination and harassment against Jewish students at the hands of Students for Justice in Palestine.”
“The university not only failed to adequately address this conduct … but at times actively participated in it by serving as SJP’s enforcer in denying Jewish students access to campus spaces,” Mainen said in a recent email.
The lawsuit, which The Fix reviewed, highlights the connections between being Jewish and Zionism, support for the nation of Israel, stating that “one could make the argument that Zionism is the most ubiquitous trait in American Jewry.”
The discrimination allegedly faced by both Schechter and Malka was directly correlated to their pro-Israel activism, the lawsuit argues.
One example of discrimination cited in the case occurred when Chapman’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter allegedly desecrated a memorial on campus for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The lawsuit also cites numerous other incidents throughout the 2023-2024 school year.
In another example, on Oct. 9, 2023, a Chapman SJP member yelled, “F— Jews” to a group of Jewish students mourning the Oct. 7 attack, according to the case.
Another event mentioned in the suit relates to a campus SJP event on Oct. 30, 2023. Schechter and a few Jewish and non-Jewish peers signed up to attend to “observe and learn more about their perspective without any attempt to debate them.”
However, Schechter and several of his peers, including “a non-Jewish student with a Jewish sounding last name,” were not extended invitations to the event, the case alleges.
The only student from the group who received an invitation to the event was a non-Jewish student named Kate Gough, according to the lawsuit.
In another noted incident Nov. 12, 2024, an SJP member sent a death threat to Malka through a direct message on Instagram, the case alleges.
“’May allah bring death to all Israelis who follow Zionism,’” the student wrote, according to the lawsuit. When Malka sent a direct message asking the student, “so you want me dead?”, the student responded, “… F— yeah I want you and all you zionist trash bags dead the f— kinda question is that.”
The student also called Malka a “terrorist,” the lawsuit alleges.
The Fix contacted the SJP chapter twice for comment on the lawsuit, but it did not respond.
The case argues that Schechter was in constant contact with Dean of Students Jerry Price about these incidents, and was not given the necessary help. Price never intervened in the matter, which Schechter believed was necessary, considering the on-going discrimination that he and others were facing on campus, the case alleges.
When asked about the lawsuit and allegations of antisemitism being rampant at the university, Chapman’s spokesperson Bob Hitchcock told The College Fix that they are “aware of the matter and are reviewing the filing.”
Hitchcock said the university will continue to “stand by our strong record of supporting Jewish students and continuing to do so is a priority and commitment for us, consistent with our mission and founding.”
The Fix also contacted Chapman’s attorney of record on the case for comment, but did not receive a response.
This is not the first time Chapman University has been accused of antisemitism.
The U.S. Department of Education included Chapman in a March 10 press release in which it listed 60 universities that were under investigation for “antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”
Meanwhile, Mainen believes the students’ lawsuit could have serious effects on the presence of antisemitism on campuses around the country.
“Because we have taken a different approach in terms of which laws to file suit under, we believe this lawsuit will enhance on-campus protection of Jewish students from discrimination and harassment in ways that other post-October 7 antisemitism suits have sometimes fell short,” he told The Fix.
MORE: Faculty group demands protections for non-citizens who ‘express support’ for Hamas
