NEW YORK: A federal judge in Manhattan said the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art must face a lawsuit claiming it did nothing to help Jewish students who locked themselves in a library for protection from pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
US District Judge John Cronan ruled on Wednesday that the private college must face claims it violated federal and New York civil rights laws by subjecting Jewish students to “severe and pervasive” antisemitic abuse that did not qualify as constitutionally protected speech.
Cronan, appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump, also said the 10 plaintiffs can seek punitive damages and an injunction to end what they called an antisemitic, anti-Israel campus environment. The judge dismissed some other claims.
Cooper Union and its lawyers did not immediately respond to request for comment. Lawyers for the students had no immediate comment.
Many US colleges and universities have faced lawsuits claiming they encouraged or permitted antisemitism after Hamas fighters attacked Israel in October, 2023, precipitating an Israeli assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Some have settled, including Harvard University last month and New York University last July.
Cronan ruled one week after Trump issued an executive order to push colleges to report possible antisemitic conduct by foreign students, to help authorities “prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account” any perpetrators.
Jewish students said that at the Oct. 25, 2023 Cooper Union rally, demonstrators stormed past security guards and banged loudly on the library’s doors and nearly floor-to-ceiling windows, making hateful chants and carrying antisemitic signs.
The students said school administrators did nothing during the 20-minute ordeal, and told law enforcement to back off even as the school’s president left the building through a back door.
They said Cooper Union’s fostering of a hostile educational environment violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars federal funds recipients from allowing discrimination based on race, religion and national origin.
Some demonstrators told media at the time of the protest they were not targeting individual students, and were not engaged in antisemitism.
Cooper Union argued that the demonstrators engaged in political speech protected by the First Amendment, and there was no proof it was deliberately indifferent to the harassment.
But the judge said he was “dismayed” by Cooper Union’s suggestion that the students could have hidden elsewhere or left, and that it did enough by locking the library doors.
“These events took place in 2023 — not 1943 — and Title VI places responsibility on colleges and universities to protect their Jewish students from harassment,” Cronan wrote.
“The physically threatening or humiliating conduct that the complaint alleges Jewish students in the library experienced is entirely outside the ambit of the free speech clause,” he added.
Cooper Union in NYC must face Jewish students’ lawsuit over pro-Palestinian rally
https://arab.news/z2rua
Cooper Union in NYC must face Jewish students’ lawsuit over pro-Palestinian rally
- Many US colleges and universities have faced lawsuits claiming they encouraged or permitted antisemitism after Hamas fighters attacked Israel in October, 2023
- Jewish students said that at the Oct. 25, 2023 Cooper Union rally, demonstrators stormed past security guards and banged loudly on the library’s doors and windows
In rare overlap, Chinese Muslims observe Ramadan with Lunar New Year
- Lunar New Year started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks
- Chinese Indonesians make up about 3 percent of the Indonesian population
JAKARTA: Every year, on the first day of Lunar New Year, Febriani visits relatives and gathers for a feast with her Chinese Muslim family, part of a long-standing tradition honoring their ethnic heritage.
But this year, as Thursday marks the beginning of Ramadan, she is celebrating two important occasions within the same week, in a rare overlap that last took place in 1995.
“I’m very happy and grateful that Lunar New Year and Ramadan are celebrated so closely. I observe both every year, so it’s truly special,” she told Arab News.
Widely observed across Asia, the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year festival is believed to date back to the 14th century B.C., to the times of the Shang Dynasty, China’s earliest ruling dynasty, when people celebrated good harvests.
In 2026, it started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks. For many, celebrations typically involve elaborate feasts, giving children pocket money in red envelopes, and watching dragon dance parades.
In Indonesia, Chinese-descent citizens make up an estimated 3 percent of the country’s Muslim-majority population of more than 280 million. While most are either Buddhists or Christians, a small minority professes Islam.
For 25-year-old Febriani, both Lunar New Year and Ramadan are equally meaningful.
“The two celebrations teach us to strengthen bonds, to share with one another, and to become closer to family,” she said.
“They are both important to me because they happen only once every year and they’re always an occasion to gather with the extended family. It is also a chance to self-reflect and strengthen relationships with your loved ones.”
For Naga Kunadi, whose family lives in Central Java’s Cepu district, Chinese New Year is all about embracing his ethnic identity.
Earlier in the week, his family was busy preparing for the new year’s feast, which was a fusion of Chinese and Indonesian dishes, such as claypot tofu, meatball soup and shumai, or steamed dumplings.
“To celebrate Chinese New Year, we prepared halal Chinese food at home. It’s also a way to introduce to my children the traditions from our Chinese side, but there’s a bit of a fusion because my wife is Javanese,” Kunadi told Arab News.
Kunadi, an Islamic teacher at the Lautze Mosque in Jakarta, sees both Chinese New Year and Ramadan as opportunities to teach important life values for his two children.
Upholding Chinese New Year traditions with his family is for him a way of preserving his ethnic heritage.
“We want to preserve cultural values as long as it does not clash with our religion,” he said.
“If we leave our culture behind, we might lose our identity, so this is something I want to teach my children.”
The fasting month of Ramadan, on the other hand, gives him a chance to teach and practice honesty.
“I want to focus on the religious and moral aspects during the holy month of Ramadan, when we practice honesty on a personal level,” Kunadi said.
“There’s always an opportunity to eat or snack in secret without anybody knowing, but we train ourselves not to do that. For me, Ramadan is a time for everyone to put honesty into practice, including myself and my children.”
