A Stanford University employee allegedly attempted to alienate and sabotage an Israeli researcher to get him removed from the university because he is Jewish, a federal lawsuit filed Thursday alleges.
The lawsuit filed by the Brandeis Center claims the researcher, Dr. Shay Laps, experienced “insidious, malicious conduct intended to permanently tarnish his reputation and career” at the university despite being an exceptional chemist, according to the press release. The employee targeting him allegedly has involvements with pro-Palestinian activists.
A lab staffer at Stanford allegedly instructed other researchers “to shun” Dr. Laps and told him not to speak to her, even when essential for work, according to the lawsuit. The staffer even allegedly sabotaged the Israelis’ research to produce “fraudulent” results.
“The incidents that took place on the Stanford University campus are exposing deep, dangerous biases against Jewish and Israeli students and faculty,” Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, said in the press release. “Rather than stepping up to protect vulnerable students, the Stanford administration shrunk in the face of responsibility, took action only when needed to protect itself, and ignored the vehement instances of anti-Semitism plaguing their campus.”
“Stanford takes any allegation of antisemitism very seriously,” a university spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “In this instance and based on all the allegations that Dr. Laps reported directly to the institution, a thorough internal investigation found that they were unsubstantiated.”
“Their failure to address this behavior, blindly ignoring horrific anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination, is gross negligence and utterly unacceptable,” Marcus continued.
When Dr. Laps brought his concerns to the lab leader, he was advised to leave the school and was told he was under investigation due to sexual harassment allegation and that his “career and immigration status were on the line,” according to the lawsuit. The investigation and complaint turned out to be entirely fabricated.
Stanford’s School of Medicine dismissed the Jewish researcher’s formal complaint of the harassment, the lawsuit stated, and with the staffer locking Dr. Laps out of the lab, he was forced to resign.
“[W]hen Dr. Laps suffered discrimination and retaliation at Stanford based on his religion, national origin, and ethnicity, the university preferred not to look,” Talia Nissimyan, a legal representative for the plaintiff, said in the press release. “Instead, they attempted to bury Dr. Laps’ career, and when that didn’t work, to bully him into rescinding his complaints. Instead of upholding the values upon which it was founded, Stanford succumbed to the rising tide of campus anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli bias, costing Dr. Laps critical years of his career, and costing the world the potential fruits of his talents.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
