Orthodox Jewish student sues Columbia over 'virulently hostile' environment in the wake of Oct. 7 attack

A Jewish student at Columbia University is suing the school over what she claims was an "explosion" of antisemitism since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, according to reports. 

Mackenzie Forrest, a 23-year-old graduate student, filed the lawsuit against the Ivy League institution claiming she faced discrimination because she’s an Orthodox Jew and Sabbath observer, Bloomberg News reported. Forrest said protests calling for the genocide of Jews and antisemitic manifestos in the School of Social Work where she studied created a "virulently hostile" environment after the Hamas attack against the Jewish state. 

Forrest said her rights under Title VI of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964 were compromised, alleging the school "violated federal and state anti-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination and retaliation against Jewish persons" and failed to enforce its own rules of conduct to prevent "anti-Jewish harassment, threats, intimidation and hostile environments," the Columbia Spectator reported.