Student sues Temple University in Philadelphia for allegedly taking no action over her complaints about her roommate’s antisemitism

It has been reported that a student at Temple University in Philadelphia is suing the University after she claimed that administrators did not do enough after she made her complaint about her roommate’s antisemitism.

Sasha Westrick, 18, alleges that Temple rejected her complaints about her roommate’s alleged repeated antisemitic outbursts. They included abuse over the social media platform Snapchat, in which Ms Westrick was sent an image of herself with the caption “I hate Jews” underneath.

Ms Westrick was given the alleged perpetrator as a roommate during the autumn 2021 semester because they were both on the rowing team. However, their relationship quickly soured, with the roommate allegedly mocking Ms Westrick for the way she was dressed before attending a Shabbat dinner. The roommate then asked Ms Westrick for money on the grounds that all Jews are wealthy. It is also alleged that Westrick’s other roommate participated in the antisemitic bullying.

Though the University acknowledged in a written statement that the roommate did indeed make antisemitic remarks, Ms Westrick claims that the administration did nothing to help her.

Ms Westrick’s lawyer, Robert Mozenter, said in a press release that his client was “being bullied by two of her roommates and crew teammates and Temple University did nothing to help her and eventually used the University’s own policies and procedures to make Sasha’s situation worse.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Temple University said: “Temple University is aware of the lawsuit filed by Sasha Westrick. We disagree with the manner in which much of the information in the complaint is presented and characterised. We will respond at the appropriate time through the legal process. While the University does not ordinarily comment on pending litigation, we can say that Temple fully investigated, reviewed and addressed this matter pursuant to University policies, and appropriate remedies were implemented.”

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