SF State Settles Antisemitism Lawsuits

A recently announced settlement resolves two lawsuits alleging that San Francisco State University has fostered antisemitism. One of them had been dismissed by a district court but was under appeal. The other, a more recent state case that was about to go to trial, was filed after Jewish students who wanted to highlight antisemitism were excluded from a “Know Your Rights” fair on the campus. Plaintiffs in both cases were represented by Winston & Strawn and The Lawfare Project, a group that according to its website defends “the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and pro-Israel community.” Under the terms of the settlement, the university agreed to, among other things, allocate money to support “viewpoint diversity” on campus and hire a consultant to review the university’s enforcement of anti-discrimination policies. The settlement also includes a declaration from the university acknowledging that Zionism is, for “many Jews,” an important part of the their identity. “I’ve never seen a statement like this from a university,” said Ross Kramer, Winston & Strawn’s lead plaintiff attorney on the case, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle. He called it groundbreaking. It could , however, also be the most controversial element of the settlement, given that a significant number of Jews, including some extremely Orthodox religious as well as many toward the left-secular end of the spectrum, either disagree on what Zionism means politically or flat-out reject it. According to Kramer, the statement means that if Jewish students are excluded from events, the university “cannot use the excuse that it was not based on religious discrimination but on political views.”