Former University of California, Santa Barbara student leader Tessa Veksler has sued the university over the antisemitic harassment and abuse she experienced on campus, the New York Post reported.
Veksler, who is Jewish, said that she was doxxed and subjected to antisemitic abuse for several months, including being called a "Zionist dog." The lawsuit accuses the university of failing to act to stop the antisemitism or the abuse.
Photographs included with the lawsuit show messages directed at Veksler specifically, including a sign posted on a wall in the college that read: "You can run, but you can't hide Tessa Veksler."
The abuse began within days of the October 7 massacre committed by the Hamas terrorist organization, after Veksler posted a condemnation of the massacre.
The lawsuit states: "Tessa faced this harassment on a daily basis, and it wasn't merely the attacks on social media or the mounting threats to her safety. Indeed, in her determination to fulfil her secular duty as student body president, she routinely went to her office in order to be accessible to her fellow students. But that office was immediately adjacent to the MCC, and she was forced to walk past the myriad signs expressing hatred of her as she was laboring to do her job."
Despite pleas, “UCSB refused to assist Tessa in protecting herself from these ongoing attacks and harassment, choosing instead to leave her to face the anti-Semitic mob alone - and increasingly vulnerable - for months on end."
“Tessa suffered this nightmare despite having repeatedly pleaded for help from UCSB administrators and representatives," the suit stated. “But her pleas fell on deaf ears. And the assaults and abuse intensified, all with the full knowledge, consent, and even the active participation of one of the University’s representatives."
UC Santa Barbara was one of 60 universities and colleges that were warned by the US Department of Education last year that they could lose federal funding over their handling of antisemitic incidents on campus.