Haverford Admits Its Antisemitism Problem

A bunch of Jewish lawyers carrying burning torches and pitchforks into battle. Damn right they settled!

Haverford Admits Its Antisemitism Problem

The college settles a lawsuit by Jewish students amid ugly facts.

By The Editorial Board, WSJ

Aug. 9, 2026 5:21 pm ET

Universities that typically hunt for discrimination under every stone couldn’t muster the will to defend Jewish students after the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023. Protesters were allowed to break rules to bully Jews who declined to vilify Israel.

Take Haverford, which on Friday announced a settlement to a lawsuit by Jewish students. The Philadelphia-area college said for the first time that discrimination against “Zionists,” or against Jews on the basis of their commitment to Israel’s existence, is a civil-rights violation that will incur discipline if proved.

After fighting the Jewish students for more than two years, Haverford now corrects its appalling honor code and sets out new policies for disruptive and masked protesters. The college also admits a “failure on our part” since Oct. 7 and commits to “doing better.”

For several years Haverford told Jewish students to take their problems to the anti-Israel student activists staffing the Honor Council. The council administered an honor code that subordinated the speech rights of what it called the “privileged” to the sentiments of the “marginalized.” If in conflict, it said, the privileged can’t expect to be treated with “respect.” Guess where the activists placed Jews in this schema?

In the days after the Oct. 7 massacre, Haverford activists shared graphics of Hamas paragliders with the text: “Stand with Palestinian resistance.” Prof. Tarik Aougab called for “unequivocal and firm support for the Palestinian resistance” and reposted a social-media message celebrating the attack. Haverford gave him an award for embodying the college’s values.

Activists were allowed to aggressively disrupt an event on antisemitism and occupy parts of Haverford’s campus, forcing Jewish students to run a gantlet to get to the library or dining hall. Posters for Jewish events were torn down. Haverford blamed the wind.

Students conspired to block Zionists from leading campus tours and frequently called for all Zionists to be excluded from campus. A Jewish basketball player was pressured by administrators into dropping a long-approved “antisemitism awareness” designation for a home game lest that provoke students to disrupt the game and cause her team to forfeit.

When Philadelphia Jewish leaders raised the hostile environment with Haverford, they say they were told to get used to it. In the past blacks and gays didn’t feel safe on campus to express their views, and now it is the Jews’ turn, Haverford’s diversity chief explained. Per the leaders in the room, the DEI chief said Jewish students need to disavow “genocide” and “stop filing complaints about antisemitism.”

That attitude didn’t change easily. It helped that Haverford President Wendy Raymond was embarrassed at a Congressional hearing that exposed the facts of the case. But the Jewish students had to persist. Represented pro bono by the Deborah Project, which defends Jews who are under assault in education, they could afford to keep fighting.

Ms. Raymond’s contract won’t be renewed, Haverford announced early in her term. The DEI chief resigned, and the college now adopts a definition of antisemitism that includes some forms of anti-Israel extremism. Discriminatory conduct will no longer pass muster because the perpetrators say they’re targeting “not Jews, only Zionists.” It’s a shame it took a lawsuit for Haverford to admit its antisemitism problem.