Lawsuit Against Carnegie Mellon for Pervasive Anti-Jewish Discrimination and Foreign Funding Scrutiny

In December 2023, The Lawfare Project filed a lawsuit against Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the Western District of Pennsylvania on behalf of a courageous Jewish student who endured pervasive antisemitic discrimination during her time at the university. The student, who had repeatedly filed complaints with the school’s administration, saw no resolution to the harassment.

Her experience began in her freshman year when she was denied an excused absence to attend a memorial service for victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre. This discrimination culminated in her final year, when an instructor told her that she should have researched “what Jewish people do to make themselves so hated” after she created a model illustrating how an Orthodox Jewish community transformed a public space for religious purposes. Her complaints to the DEI and Title IX offices yielded no action, and her appeals for help from professors resulted in retaliation, including exclusion and an unfair near-failing grade.

Beyond seeking justice for the student, this lawsuit also aims to shed light on the alarming lack of transparency and accountability at universities receiving substantial foreign funding. CMU, which had received over half a billion dollars from Qatar as of 2021, has been under scrutiny for its foreign ties. In a major victory, a federal court rejected CMU’s attempt to dismiss the case, allowing it to proceed and bringing attention to the broader issues of foreign influence and antisemitism on campus.