Three Jewish students filed a lawsuit yesterday against their university, New York University (NYU) in the US, accusing it of creating a hostile environment in which Jewish students are subjected to pervasive anti-Semitic hatred and subjected to discrimination, harassment and intimidation.

Bella Ingber, Sabrina Maslavy and Saul Towill say in their lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court that NYU has refused to enforce its own anti-intolerance policy by allowing, for example, the use of slogans such as “Put Jews in ovens’ and ‘Hitler was right’.

The plaintiffs argue that anti-Semitism has become a “growing systemic problem” at the university even before the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last month, and the situation has worsened since then.

They also allege that the university’s administration — including the foundation’s new president Linda Mills — “ignores, delays or treats with suspicion” complaints by Jewish students, while dismissing claims of anti-Semitism at the university as exaggerated.

By allowing “the same anti-Jewish vitriol that the Nazis spread 80 years ago,” NYU has violated federal civil rights law and its obligations to provide the plaintiffs with the education they expected when they enrolled, the lawsuit states their.

NYU did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mills became president of the foundation in July.

The lawsuit seeks to compel NYU to fire employees, including administrative staff and faculty, and expel or expel students who engage in such behavior, while also paying damages to the plaintiffs.

“NYU’s willful indifference to the plight of its Jewish students, who are under siege from unheard-of anti-Semitism, is scandalous,” plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Kasowitz said in a statement.