35 Summer 2025 you're seeing against every university after October 7.” Today, Cojab is an attorney at the National Jewish Advocacy Center, where she works to combat antisemitism through legal solutions. After October 7, she felt a “put me in coach” moment, Cojab described, and today often receives phone calls requesting legal advice from parents of Jewish college students or those claiming their companies are antisemitic. She said that now she is approaching cases similar to her own, but with the mindset of an attorney, thinking through what legal action can be taken. She gave the example of when employees at a company felt uncomfortable with watermelon emojis – symbolizing support of Palestine – being sent in Slack messages. Cojab directed them to the company’s HR policies but said that there was not enough for a legal case. After October 7, other Jewish students have followed in Cojab’s footsteps, and have taken similar steps in suing their universities, claiming that the universities have violated Title VI. Eyal Yakoby, an Israeli-American alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit against his school an hour before Penn President Liz McGill testified before Congress and failed to say that calling for the genocide of Jews violates Penn’s code of conduct.5 “My vindication happens within an hour of me filing a lawsuit,” Yakoby said. During the fall semester of 2023, Yakoby and others experienced several antisemitic incidents. At the beginning of Yakoby’s senior year, in September 2023, Penn hosted the “Palestine Writes Literature Festival,” which featured several anti-Israel and antisemitic speakers. Yakoby sent a letter, which was signed by over 200 Penn community members, to Penn administrators about the festival and the university’s support for it. In the letter, the signers condemn seven speakers for the antisemitic words they have respectively spoken or written and claim that the presence of those speakers leads to a “hostile” experience for Jewish students. At around the same time as the festival, on the morning of September 21, an individual broke into the Penn Hillel. He knocked over furniture and yelled, “Fuck the Jews” and “[The Jews] killed JC [Jesus Christ].” Four days later, the Penn Chabad house was vandalized with graffiti, yet the university did not issue a statement condemning the incident, according to Yakoby’s complaint. For Yakoby, the final straw that led to his filing a complaint was the difference in the university’s response to antisemitism compared to how the university handled hate crimes against other minority groups. On November 6, a month after the Israel-Hamas war began, Yakoby was sitting in Hillel eating lunch when he noticed police and bomb-sniffing dogs enter the building. He later discovered that Penn had received emails threatening the university with violence against the Jewish community, specifically naming Penn Hillel and Lauder College House. While there is an emergency notification system to alert Penn community members during potentially dangerous times, the university did not use the system to alert students of the threats against the Jewish students. “Penn’s egregious failure to take meaningful action delivered a clear and welcome message to Penn’s antisemitic students and faculty members: the open season on Penn’s Jews would continue,” Yakoby’s complaint reads. He said that he considered several factors before choosing to sue, including his future career. Hoping to go into finance, he worried that his career would suffer if future employers found the lawsuit; yet Yakoby filed the lawsuit anyway. “I am suing because I love Penn, because what Penn is morphed into is not the Penn that actually exists,” he said. Despite the fact that three generations of his family had attended Penn, Yakoby said he would not send his children there until the university became a welcoming space for Jewish students. As soon as Yakoby’s lawyers filed the complaint, he watched as Congresswoman Elise Stefanik asked, “Ms. Magill, at Penn, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct? Yes or no.”6 “If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment, yes,” she responded. After Stefanik continued to repeat the question, Magill explained, “It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.” Four days later, Magill resigned from her position.7 After seeing the 5. Eyal Yakoby and Jordan Davis v. University of Pennsylvania, Case 2:23-cv-04789-KNS, Docket No. 1, at 80-81 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 5, 2023) (complaint) available at https://www.kasowitz.com/media/focjlca0/universityof-pennsylvania-complaint.pdf 6. “'Does Calling For The Genocide Of Jews Violate Penn's Code of Conduct?': Stefanik Grills UPenn Pres,” FORBES BREAKING NEWS (Dec 5, 2023), available at https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvz0Yrtet_s&ab_ channel=ForbesBreakingNews 7. Stephanie Saul, “Penn’s Leadership Resigns Amid Controversies Over Antisemitism,” THE NEW YORK TIMES (Dec. 9, 2023), available at https://www.nytimes. com/2023/12/09/us/university-of-pennsylvania-presidentresigns.html
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