Harvard University is pursuing aggressive discovery requests against Shabbos Kestenbaum, the former divinity student who is suing it over antisemitism on campus, demanding he turn over any communication with politicians.
Kestenbaum sued Harvard last year, together with five other students who have since settled with the university.
He has also been a speaker at many public events, including onstage at the Republican national Convention.
The Harvard Crimson reports that the university is trying to use the discovery phase of the trial to force Kestenbaum to release communications he may have had with political leaders or the members of a pro-Israel group on campus:
Harvard filed a motion on Friday to compel Harvard Divinity School graduate Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum, the lead plaintiff in an ongoing Title VI lawsuit, to turn over extensive documentation of his campaign against Harvard — including communication with politicians and messages from the “Harvard Pro-Israel WhatsApp group.”
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The list of materials requested by Harvard — which, according to the filings, the University initially asked for on Dec. 27 — has not been previously reported. It illustrates an apparent strategy by Harvard to investigate how Kestenbaum, who has emerged as a leading public voice accusing Harvard of antisemitism, has amplified his allegations.
The materials, if handed over, would give the University’s lawyers a window into Kestenbaum’s relationship with politicians who have hounded Harvard with investigations and threats — putting administrators on the defensive as they try to salvage the school’s public image and federal funding.
The discovery demands would appear to have nothing to do with Harvard’s own behavior toward Jewish students on campus, who were harassed and intimidated by encampments and protests that the university tolerated last year.
Instead, the discovery issue appears to be an attempt to intimidate Kestenbaum into dropping the lawsuit by implicating others, including students, whom the university apparently wishes to accuse of colluding with him.
Harvard’s former president, Claudine Gay, resigned last year over her failure to rein in the anti-Israel protests and antisemitic rhetoric of some of the most radical students on campus. The fallout from that crisis continues.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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