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Civil Rights Complaint Alleges NYU's Negligence Allows Anti-Semitism to Grow on Campus

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A pro-Israel group on the campus of New York University says no "tangible efforts have been made" to quell the overall rise in anti-Semitism at the school by a pro-Palestinian group.

The College Fix reported NYU Senior Adela Cojab filed a complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights last month, accusing the university of failing to take action against SJP and its members for their "anti-Semitic vandalism, verbal attacks, and outright violence."

The complaint followed the university's decision to give a president's service award to its chapter of  Students for Justice in Palestine. (SJP)  Among the critics of the administration's decision to give the award to the group was UCLA Professor Judea Pearl, the father of Daniel Pearl, the reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped and beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.

"In the past five years, SJP has resorted to intimidation tactics that have made me, my colleagues and my students unwelcome and unsafe on our own campus," Pearl wrote.

According to the news website The Algemeiner,  the SJP chapter is known for "blacklisting" other campus clubs who disagree with its anti-Israel views.

Realize Israel, the campus Jewish group that Cojab led last year, told The Fix it agrees with "all aspects" of the complaint.

"Other than statements released by the university and by President Andrew Hamilton, no tangible efforts have been made" by NYU since Cojab filed her complaint April 22, the group said.

Cojab's complaint was posted online by the Jewish Journal.

The complaint notes there have been "two years of extreme anti-Semitism on the NYU campus" due to NYU SJP's actions, and the administration's inability to properly handle them constitutes a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which "prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin."

The Fix reached the Office for Civil Rights national office last week, but the media relations department has not responded to their inquiry. 

According to The Daily Wire, the SJP has extensive financial ties with Hamas, the Sunni Sharia supremacist death cult that serves as the Palestinian-Arab branch of the international Muslim Brotherhood. More generally, SJP is a prominent association at the heart of the broader anti-Semitic "Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions" movement (BDS) against Israel – a movement that has stunningly close ties with many internationally recognized terrorist organizations.

Cojab told The Daily Wire the NYU administration has failed to act to protect Jewish students from constant harassment and discrimination.  "Attempts to directly discuss the underlying incidents with the NYU administration have generally been rebuffed or ignored," she said. 

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About The Author

Steve Warren is a senior multimedia producer for CBN News. Warren has worked in the news departments of television stations and cable networks across the country. In addition, he also worked as a producer-director in television production and on-air promotion. A Civil War historian, he authored the book The Second Battle of Cabin Creek: Brilliant Victory. It was the companion book to the television documentary titled Last Raid at Cabin Creek currently streaming on Amazon Prime. He holds an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma and a B.A. in Communication from the University of