Yoav G. Stearns v. Harvard University

Boston, Massachusetts civil rights lawyers represented the the Plaintiff who accused university of acting with indifference to his complaints about campus protesters who he said had harassed him because he is Jewish.

Yoav G. Stearns v. Harvard University refers to a significant antisemitism lawsuit filed by former Harvard Business School student Yoav Segev, alleging Harvard's "deliberate indifference" to anti-Jewish harassment and a violent 2023 campus protest where he was assaulted; while a judge initially denied Harvard's dismissal attempt, allowing parts of the case to proceed, a later ruling in December 2025 by Judge Richard Stearns dismissed Segev's specific claims against Harvard regarding the assault investigation, concluding it wasn't motivated by race-based antisemitism, though other antisemitism claims against Harvard were still pending as of late 2024/early 2025.
Key Details of the Case

Plaintiff: Yoav Segev, an Israeli-American Jewish student.
Allegations: Segev claimed Harvard created a hostile environment, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and failed to properly investigate his antisemitic assault by pro-Palestinian protesters on October 18, 2023.
Initial Ruling (August 2024): U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns allowed the broader antisemitism lawsuit (filed by the Brandeis Center and others) to proceed, finding plausible claims that Harvard was "deliberately indifferent" to Jewish students' safety, according to The Crimson and Reuters.
Later Ruling (December 2025): Judge Stearns dismissed Segev's individual case, stating that while assault is wrong, there was insufficient evidence that the assailants' actions were motivated by race-based antisemitism, as alleged, impacting the scope of the ongoing litigation against Harvard.
Broader Context: This case is part of larger legal challenges against universities, including Harvard, concerning their handling of antisemitism following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

In essence, the case highlights the complex legal battle over campus antisemitism, with different rulings indicating partial setbacks and continued legal challenges for both students and the university.

Dismissed.