Haverford College confirmed on Friday that it had settled a lawsuit with the Deborah Project that accused the prestigious liberal arts school in Pennsylvania of fomenting a hostile environment for Jews on campus.
The Deborah Project filed the suit on behalf of five Jewish students and the group Jews for Haverford in May 2024, with the latter including professors, parents, alumni and students.
Wendy Raymond, outgoing college president, stated in an email to the university community on Friday that, as part of the settlement, the college is making clear that all students, including Jews, Israelis and Zionists, are “welcome” on campus and can “enjoy equal access to the college and all of its educational programmes and activities”.
She added in the email, which was seen by JNS, that the college agreed to clarify that “harassing, excluding or seeking to silence Jewish community members on the basis of their beliefs, their commitment to Jewish observance or any other element of their Jewish identity, including Zionism, is anathema to the college’s core principles of trust, concern and respect”.
“This extends to our classrooms, offices and student-led organisations and activities, and it includes all employees – faculty, staff and administrators – and students,” Raymond stated.
Lori Lowenthal Marcus, legal director of the Deborah Project, told JNS that for Raymond to state in writing that Zionists are welcome on campus is an “amazing change” that she is “thrilled” will be part of the college’s policies.
“We’re really happy that the president of the college is now committed to this position and the entire college, the leadership, is behind it,” she said.
Jewish students and professors “have been suffering terribly at the hostility directed toward them” and have had to hide their Jewish identities for fear of being “shunned and labelled and attacked on campus,” according to Lowenthal Marcus.
Under the settlement, this “is no longer going to be something that’s hanging over their heads,” she told JNS.
In the email, the college president wrote that “no Haverford professor may discriminate against any student, or any other member of the Haverford community, on the basis of that person’s commitment to Judaism, Israel or Zionism”.
Lowenthal Marcus told JNS: “Jewish students have experienced that in the past….That’s just a cover for hating Jews.
“This is meant to correct that. It’s part of how Jews have been treated as second-class citizens on campus.”
She added that the student plaintiffs are “very, very happy” with the settlement.
“These students really suffered and persevered, which is not easy to do, in a small college particularly.
“Now they know that future Jewish students on campus, Zionists on campus, are going to have a much more pleasant experience and be able to concentrate on their education and other opportunities rather than trying to figure out what’s going to happen to them next.”
More details of the settlement will be released Saturday evening, she said.
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