Judge Denies Students’ Request To Join Kestenbaum in Antisemitism Suit

Efforts by two Harvard graduate students to join Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum’s ongoing Title VI lawsuit against Harvard were cut short on Friday after U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled to deny an amended complaint that added them as plaintiffs.

The order follows a Wednesday ruling to compel Kestenbaum to produce an extensive list of documents requested by Harvard.

Kestenbaum first sued Harvard in January 2024 alongside the group Students Against Antisemitism. That case — along with a second Title VI suit from the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education — was settled in January.

But Kestenbaum chose to continue pursuing litigation under different counsel instead of accepting the settlement. The two students who attempted to join him — Harvard Business School student Yoav Segev and Harvard Law School student Moshe Y. Dembitzer — had initially sued Harvard as members of the SAA and JAFE but remained unsatisfied with the settlement terms.

Lawyers for Dembitzer and Segev wrote in the proposed amended complaint that neither student believed at the time of the settlement or believe now that “the settlement specifically addresses his injuries,” and that both were continuing to experience discrimination at Harvard.

But in the Friday order, filed electronically, Stearns contended that the amended complaint had come too late after the initial settlement agreement for the court to consider it.

“Two months had passed from the finalization of that agreement before plaintiff filed this motion,” Stearns wrote.

As part of the same order, the judge declined Kestenbaum’s requests to extend the pretrial schedule.

“Although plaintiff complains of a lack of time to complete discovery, nothing compelled him to wait until now to engage in the discovery process; the pretrial schedule was set in November 2024,” Stearns wrote.

As a result of Wednesday’s order, Kestenbaum will be required to hand over extensive communications related to his allegations that Harvard permitted antisemitism — including communications with politicians and any University affiliates — before the close of discovery on May 23.

The judge also declined Harvard’s request to reveal the identities of Segev and Dembitzer, both of whom had asked to join the suit anonymously. Because they would not be added to Kestenbaum’s complaint, Stearns wrote, the point was moot.

—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at sebastian.connolly@thecrimson.com and on X @SebastianC4784.

—Staff writer Julia A. Karabolli can be reached at julia.karabolli@thecrimson.com.