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Yoav Segev, a recent Harvard Business School graduate, filed a federal lawsuit against Harvard and the Harvard University Police Department on Thursday, accusing the University of failing to protect him from an antisemitic assault on campus and obstructing the investigation that followed.
The 124-page complaint centered on an Oct. 18, 2023, protest in Harvard Yard, during which Segev alleged that he was physically attacked by pro-Palestine demonstrators while filming a student-led “die-in.” According to the filing, and a publicized video of the incident, protestors — some of whom were University employees — surrounded him, shoved him, blocked his view with keffiyehs, and chanted “Shame!” inches from his face.
Two students — Harvard Law School graduate Ibrahim I. Bharmal and Harvard Divinity School graduate Elom K. Tettey-Tamaklo — were charged with assault and battery in connection with the incident, but Segev argued that Harvard took no meaningful disciplinary action.
Instead, he argued that Harvard celebrated the two student-employees: Tettey-Tamaklo, who was a residential proctor in a freshman dorm at the time of the confrontation, graduated from HDS in May as a class marshal, while Bharmal, then a teaching fellow at HLS, was awarded a $65,000 fellowship from the Harvard Law Review in April. (Class marshals are voted in by the graduating class, and the HLR is independent of the University).
The two were ordered by a Boston judge in April to attend anger management training, a course on negotiation, and perform community service. But Segev argued on Thursday that Harvard still had an obligation to investigate and discipline the students under its own policies.
He contended that when he attempted to pursue disciplinary action through Harvard’s internal process, administrators stonewalled the process, “inventing a facially absurd” policy that prevented Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal from being disciplined while there was an ongoing criminal investigation.
According to the Thursday filing, Harvard told Segev he could not file a complaint unless he did so “publicly and non-anonymously” — which he opted not to do so shortly after the event, a choice he said he made for safety reasons. When he then attempted to file a non-anonymous complaint more than a year later, the University rejected it as “untimely,” claiming the investigation had already been completed.
Tettey-Tamaklo was removed from his proctor position within weeks of the October 2023 protest.
The Thursday suit marks the fourth major case brought against Harvard under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on shared ancestry, over its handling of antisemitism allegations. In January, the University settled two Title VI complaints filed by Students Against Antisemitism, a coalition of six Harvard graduates, and the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Law. Segev, though not a named plaintiff, was included as a declarant in the Brandeis suit.
In May, Harvard reached a confidential settlement with HDS graduate Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum, who had not joined the earlier agreement, concluding a 16-month suit.
A separate lawsuit by Harvard alumni was dismissed in February.
All three previous cases alleged that Harvard failed to adequately protect Jewish students — including in relation to the October 2023 altercation involving Segev.
The altercation took place as much of Harvard’s campus mourned the death of more than 1,000 Israelis in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack — and as many students were increasingly outraged by the mounting death toll in Gaza. It also happened at a moment when pro-Palestine students feared doxxing, harassment, and blacklisting over their activism.
Videos of the incident show Segev, wearing a mask and a black hoodie, recording protesters’ faces while they lie on the ground. He was approached by several protesters, who held up keffiyehs to block his phone camera. They told him repeatedly to “exit” and “turn around.”
As the protesters surrounded Segev to force him away from the crowd, some made physical contact with him, and one man pushed Segev away. Segev pushed back. He said “don’t grab me,” and the protesters said “we’re not grabbing you.”
Eventually, the larger crowd started shouting “shame.”
That incident has become a flashpoint in broader accusations of antisemitism on campus. When the Trump administration stripped $450 million in federal funding from Harvard in May, they singled out Bharmal’s $65,000 fellowship, though did not identify him by name.
In his Thursday suit, Segev alleged that Harvard misled both a federal judge and Congress by promising that it would address the conduct of Bharmal and Tettey-Tamaklo once the criminal process had run its course. During a now-notorious December 2023 hearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, then-Harvard President Claudine Gay testified the University would “complete” its disciplinary process after the conclusion of the criminal investigation.
Counsel for Harvard repeated that commitment during a November 2024 hearing in Kestenbaum’s case.
But according to the complaint, that promise was never fulfilled. After a judge sent Bharmal and Tettey-Tamaklo into a pretrial diversion program, putting the misdemeanor assault and battery charges against them on ice, Harvard took no further disciplinary action.
“The entire ordeal suggests that one may attack Jews at Harvard with impunity and face no meaningful discipline,” the lawsuit read.
The judge dismissed hate crime charges against Bharmal and Tettey-Tamaklo in February.
Segev also alleged that Harvard deliberately outed him in court filings by opposing his request to join Kestenbaum’s lawsuit under a pseudonym, citing concerns of continued harassment following the October incident.
Harvard countered that Segev, and the other plaintiff, who was requesting anonymity did not meet “their burden to demonstrate that pseudonymity is warranted in this case.” In its April filing, the University cited several news articles that had previously named Segev. Because the court had temporarily granted him anonymity, Harvard redacted his name from the versions of the articles it attached.
The Thursday complaint suggested that this amounted to a clear attempt to signal Segev’s identity to the press and public. Following the April filing, The Crimson published an article that named Segev as one of two plaintiffs seeking to join Kestenbaum’s suit.
The complaint added that The Crimson had not previously named him in its coverage, but reached out to his lawyers only after the University submitted its brief. The article naming him was published before a judge could rule, which Segev’s lawyers argued “made clear that Harvard had achieved its goal of outing Mr. Segev’s identity.”
One of the same Globe articles that Harvard referred to had previously been cited and linked in the filing requesting anonymity for Segev. That article included Segev’s name in its first sentence.
The complaint also took aim at HUPD, alleging that the department was effectively neutralized by University administrators seeking to protect Bharmal and Tettey-Tamaklo. According to the filing, a HUPD officer initially assigned to Segev’s case expressed an “intent” to pursue a full investigation.
But shortly after, Harvard allegedly removed him from the investigation without explanation and instructed HUPD officers to “halt their investigation and not to cooperate with local authorities.”
The lawsuit characterized the reassignment as retaliatory and cited a statement from the Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney that Harvard “refused” to investigate the incident even after directly requesting critical footage from the University.
A HUPD spokesperson directed a Crimson reporter to the University. A spokesperson for Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rather than treating the October protest as an isolated incident, the filing positioned it as part of a broader, century-long pattern of antisemitism on campus. Using Segev’s altercation as a case in point, the complaint argued that while the University maintains anti-discrimination policies, it applies them unevenly — vigorously protecting groups, such as pro-Palestine protesters, while neglecting or inconsistently supporting Jewish students.
As an example, Segev argued that Harvard chose to protect pro-Palestine students doxxed after signing a controversial statement in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 2023 attack, while remaining mum in his case after the die-in.
Pro-Palestine activists and student groups have repeatedly faced penalties from Harvard’s administration over building occupations, the Harvard Yard encampment, and silent protests in libraries. The Crimson could not identify public reports of pro-Israel demonstrators facing similar punishments. Pro-Israel activism on Harvard’s campus has not involved widespread protests.
Segev’s complaint cited Harvard’s April finding from its antisemitism task force report, which revealed that 25 percent of Jewish students reported feeling “physically unsafe” on campus and 39 percent said they felt “not at home” at the University.
It also referenced the Trump administration’s finding earlier this month that Harvard had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. (Harvard has pushed back against the finding, saying that the White House failed to conduct a thorough investigation before making its claim).
Segev’s lawyers contended that the findings, together, demonstrated a systemic pattern of unequal treatment — one in which Harvard has created the appearance of accountability, while consistently failing to meaningfully protect its Jewish students.
Segev is seeking a jury trial and monetary compensation for both punitive and compensatory damages. Since he is no longer an enrolled student at Harvard, he can only seek monetary relief.
—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at sebastian.connolly@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @SebastianC4784.
—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.
—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.
