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California colleges settle antisemitism complaints with Jewish groups and individuals

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two California colleges have reached settlements with Jewish organizations and individuals who filed complaints alleging antisemitism arising from pro-Palestinian campus protests, including a $60,000 payment to an Israeli sociologist and dance researcher who says she was not rehired by the University of California, Berkeley despite the popularity of her class.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons on Wednesday issued an apology to Yael Nativ, a visiting 2022 professor who was found in a campus investigation to have been the victim of discrimination, the Los Angeles Times reported. She is also invited to teach her class in a semester of her choosing.

Nativ sued in state court this year after asking the university to follow up on the campus report by rehiring her and taking actions to prevent similar future incidents. She said she received what she described as an inadequate response.

At Pomona College, officials said they will hire a federal Title VI civil rights coordinator and create a “task force, committee or advisory council” on Jewish life and antisemitism after a federal complaint filed last year with the Education Department alleged civil rights law violations during the school’s response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Some Jewish students said the protests created a “hostile environment” for them and said college leaders did little to enforce free speech and nondiscrimination rules.

The cases are part of broader allegations of bias against Jews and Muslims at colleges nationwide in the two years since the deadly October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel sparked fighting that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in Gaza and the Middle East region. Israel’s government says it is ready to move into the next phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire agreement.

On Tuesday, UC Berkeley announced a six-month suspension without pay of a computer science lecturer, Peyrin Kao, for alleged pro-Palestinian political advocacy in the classroom, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Ohio State trustees OK $100M settlement with hundreds of former students abused by doctor

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State University agreed Wednesday to pay approximately $100 million to settle legal claims from hundreds of former student athletes who said they were sexually abused decades ago by a doctor at the university. The school has fought lawsuits in federal court since 2018 brought by former student athletes against the university over its failure to stop abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss. Strauss worked at the school from 1978 to 1998 and also ran an off-campus clinic. He died in 2005. During a meeting Wednesday, the school's Board of Trustees approved a preliminary agreement with all but one of the 280 survivors with claims still involved in pending litigation. Once finalized, the settlement could mark the end of a lengthy legal battle and close a painful chapter in the school's history. “The survivors of the Strauss abuse are all Buckeyes, will always be a part of our family and our community, and I firmly believe that,” the school's president, Ravi Bellamkonda, said during the meeting. “We continue to be very grateful to them for their courage in coming forward, and reaching a final resolution is very important to us and is an important step forward.”
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