Students file antisemitism complaint against AU with Dept. of Education

Several Jewish students filed a civil rights complaint against American University accusing the school of creating a hostile environment of antisemitism on campus.

Junior Tomer Ben-Ezer said two FBI agents were in the audience to ensure his safety at a recent piano recital. People on campus had been harassing him and spitting on him due to his Israeli heritage, he said. Someone defaced one of his recital posters with the words “death to the Zionists, Hitler was right.”

“I took it really hard, like really hard,” Ben-Ezer said. “I had night terrors; I barely sleep. It was just a horrible few months. I wouldn’t do it on my worst enemy.”

He and several Jewish classmates — with help from Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the group Jewish on Campus — filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Wednesday accusing American University of “ignoring discrimination and harassment” and creating a “hostile environment.”

“AU has a substantial Jewish population, and they should feel safe on campus,” Brandeis Center lawyer Deena Margolies said.

Freshman Ethan Kassar is a witness in the complaint.

“Swastikas were drawn on the doors of Jewish students,” he said.

Over the past three years, American University has confirmed three investigations into swastikas found on campus.  

“I never thought in 2024 on a liberal campus I would ever have to hide my Jewish identity, but that’s where we are,” Kassar said. “We’re at a place where everyone on campus seems to be hostile.”

“I just want people to acknowledge that it’s been rough and they’re going to do something, but I don’t hear anything,” Ben-Ezer said.

American University said it’s engaging with Jewish student groups and incorporating antisemitism into the curriculum.

“American University supports the safety, well-being, and sense of belonging for our Jewish students, a community which has been and remains an important part of the fabric of our university,” the school said in a statement.
“While we have made progress in combatting antisemitism, we know we have more work to do,” the statement said.

A Palestinian employee said he experience hatred in October, when he found a death threat in his office at AU.

The school says it plans to cooperate with any inquiries it receives.

Margolies said Brandeis Center has been swamped with call from Jewish and Israeli students across college campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. She hopes the Department of Education opens an investigation into AU “to see and explore the systemic antisemitism that is on its campus, and that they can affect some changes on campus to better address what is going on.”

Several other schools in the region also have experienced a spike in hate. The Department of Education announced last month it was investigating George Mason University for allegations of discrimination but wouldn’t go into more detail. George Washington University recently announced it kicked a student off campus for allegedly tearing down posters of Israeli hostages. At the University of Maryland, antisemitic messages were written in chalk on the sidewalk during a protest calling for a cease fire in Gaza.