The New School’s Parsons School of Design is facing a bombshell federal civil rights lawsuit, accused of turning a blind eye to escalating antisemitic harassment on its campus following the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.
Filed by the Dhillon Law Group on behalf of Parsons graduate Brandon White, the lawsuit claims that university officials failed to protect him from repeated verbal and physical abuse at the hands of anti-Israel student activists—despite knowing he wasn’t Jewish.
White alleges that in December 2023, demonstrators affiliated with the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) physically blocked him from entering a university building, hurled antisemitic and anti-Israel slurs, shoved him, slammed a door on his hand, and accused him of being a “Zionist” based solely on appearance. He says the university not only ignored his pleas for help, but actually launched an investigation against him, not his attackers.
“When someone blocks you from going to class and shoves you out of the only entrance because they assume what you believe, and the university just shrugs — it’s clear something is broken,” White said. “This lawsuit is about standing up to that kind of hate and holding the school accountable.”
White became the target of a campus-wide smear campaign, according to the suit, with activists circulating his photo online and branding him a “violent bigot.” Despite his efforts to report the harassment, the university ultimately dismissed his complaint and declined to take disciplinary action against any of the students or faculty involved.
Legal advocates say the case exemplifies a broader national crisis on college campuses, where antisemitism is often misclassified or ignored altogether. Yael Lerman, legal director at StandWithUs, a Jewish legal advocacy organization assisting with the case, stated: “The kangaroo court process didn’t just fail Brandon White—it sent a message that Jewish students, and those perceived to be Jewish, are not safe or supported on campus.”
Matthew Sarelson, partner at Dhillon Law Group, was blunt: “This is about a university that allowed students and staff to use physical force and public smear campaigns against those they deemed ‘Zionists,’ real or perceived, and then punished the victims instead of the perpetrators. What happened to Brandon was disgraceful. His story is not an outlier—it’s a warning.”
The New School declined to comment directly on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation. In a statement to Fox News Digital, the university maintained that it upholds principles of respect, inclusivity, and civil discourse:
“The New School is a place of shared learning… We do not tolerate discriminatory acts of any kind directed at any individual based upon their race, religion, national origin or other protected categories.”
But for many Jewish students and their allies, those words ring hollow.
This case follows growing national scrutiny of elite universities accused of failing to combat rising antisemitism on campus. Federal investigations and civil rights complaints have been launched at schools including Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania.
If successful, this lawsuit could set a legal precedent—and a warning to institutions nationwide: silence in the face of antisemitism will come with consequences.