![\"Sophie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791436937_502_.webp\")
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Sophie Shabot. Credit: Courtesy.<\/p>\n
When Shabot asked the school for help, \u201cnot only did they not call the police,\u201d Reich told JNS. \u201cAt one point, the school assured the students that were violating the school\u2019s time, place and manner restrictions that they would not be bringing in the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents have a hard time reporting stuff to law enforcement,\u201d Reich said. \u201cThey expect the school to deal with it. This is happening on school grounds, and they have an expectation that if they report it to the appropriate people at school, the behavior will be dealt with.\u201d<\/p>\n
The New School should have done something about the spitting, pushing, shoving, name-calling and students blocking Shabot from entering a building, even without the anti-Israel messaging or targeting based on ethnicity and religion, according to Reich.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school is under a tremendous amount of pressure, based on the societal message that Israel is the demon and that Jews are supporting a genocide and it\u2019s a human rights issue,\u201d she told JNS. \u201cThey\u2019re willing to sacrifice the rights of Jewish students to allow for that message to be proliferated. Most schools, including the New School, would never take that approach if it was related to another minority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reich said if her client reaches a settlement with the New School, \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t be settling for anything less than compensation and significant policy change.\u201d If it goes to trial, \u201cpolicy change is not on the table, because you can\u2019t get policy change in a trial,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Predictable\u2019 result<\/p>\n
There are \u201csimilarities\u201d between this lawsuit and the one that Shabbos Kestenbaum brought against Harvard University, which reached a settlement in 2025, according to Reich. And that\u2019s not just because of the similarities between the Jewish student names.<\/p>\n
Their campus experiences were similar because groups like Students for Justice in Palestine recruited students across different campuses, the lawyer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re giving them the same messages, the same materials, the same tents and other paraphernalia and tools to carry out their harassment,\u201d she told JNS. \u201cThey\u2019re engaging in similar types of harassment. The result is predictable.\u201d<\/p>\n