News of the Jews

Feds open Title VI probes at two Cal State campuses. The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights is investigating San José State and San Francisco State over complaints that Jewish students were threatened, shunned, and excluded from classrooms, that anti-Israel protests disrupted classes, and that neither school meaningfully responded. The SJSU complaint cites an email from a university vice president distinguishing "good Jews" from "bad Jews." Announced Aug. 6. ¹

39% of young Jews have pulled back. A Jim Joseph Foundation study of 2,071 Jewish adults aged 22–40 found that share has engaged less, more selectively, or not at all with Jewish spaces since recent events. Of those, 48% said the conversations felt "hostile, toxic, or unproductive." Three quarters still do something Jewish regularly. ²

Forward editor out after seven months. Alyssa Katz, who took over the Forward in January, is no longer editor-in-chief as of Friday. No reason given; her author page was quietly switched to past tense. ³

Mamdani meets the rabbis. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani sat down with a group of rabbis behind closed doors on Monday, a week after meeting Satmar leaders including Rabbi Moishe Indig. He called it "candid and productive" and said his door "will always be open to every Jewish New Yorker." What was discussed, nobody's saying. ⁴

Judge dismisses Trump's Harvard antisemitism suit. Richard Stearns, a federal judge in Boston, threw out the administration's Title VI case against Harvard on Wednesday. The government's evidence, he wrote, was "too isolated and episodic" to show the university is still out of compliance. The suit, filed in March, followed the freezing of more than $2 billion in federal funds last year. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the government is "assessing next steps." ¹

Kushner and Iger buy the Lakers for $12.5 billion. Joshua Kushner, 41, and Bob Iger, 75, are buying the team from Mark Walter, who paid a then-record $10 billion for it a year ago. Kushner, raised Orthodox in New Jersey and a grandson of Holocaust survivors, has to sell his minority stake in the Miami Heat to close. Twelve and a half billion dollars, and it comes with a hostage. ²

Tel Aviv makes "Hostages Square" official. The plaza outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art has carried the name informally for nearly three years. Mayor Ron Huldai unveiled the signage Wednesday. The square's clock stopped at 844 days; the last hostage, Ran Gvili, came home January 26. "History cannot be erased," Huldai said, "and we must not allow it to be forgotten." ³