Israeli Cornell Student Who Prevailed On Discrimination Complaint Against Anti-Zionist Prof. Eric Cheyfitz Doxxed

Israeli Cornell Student Who Prevailed On Discrimination Complaint Against Anti-Zionist Prof. Eric Cheyfitz Doxxed

On September 27, 2025, we covered how anti-Zionist activist Cornell Professor Eric Cheyfitz had been relieved of teaching by the university after an investigation concluded Cheyfitz discriminated against an Israeli student.

We covered the details revealed by the administration and clear finding of a civil rights violation.

A Cornell spokesperson told JI that “a complaint was filed” against Eric Cheyfitz, a professor of American studies and humane letters, “who admitted to actions that violated federal civil rights laws and fell short of the university’s expectations for student interactions.”

“Based on the findings of this investigation, the faculty member is not teaching this semester and significant disciplinary action is being recommended,” the spokesperson said. A source familiar with the course told JI that Cheyfitz informed the Israeli student that he was not welcome in the class.

(via Jewish Insider, emphasis added)

A separate faculty committee — as opposed to the university’s official investigation — absolved Cheyfitz, but the university is standing by its own findings.

We called for a federal investigation, Alleged Discrimination Against Israeli Student By Anti-Zionist Cornell Prof. Eric Cheyfitz Warrants Federal Investigation.

Here is the Cornell Provost’s explanation of the finding of discrimination by the university official inquiry (excerpt from full video – starting at 18:26 publicly available on Cornell website):

(Transcript auto-generated, may contain transcription errors)

So I want to thank all of you who reached out to ask, understand the facts before reaching judgment. Just to give a little more information.

There were two serious charges of alleged discriminatory conduct by the faculty member towards the student based on the student’s nationality and presumed viewpoint, the faculty member continued teaching his course in spring to completion. He was never on suspension, and he’s not teaching until we resolve this issue. Just to clarify the sequence of events when the complaint was filed, an investigation was first conducted by COCR Cornell’s Office of Civil Rights with faculty representation from the A-F-P-S-F committee. The investigation concluded that the faculty member had violated federal anti-discrimination law. This investigation used the legal standard that is aligned with federal law, an independent committee then with membership also from the A-F-P-S-F, followed their procedures and decided there was no discrimination based on a different threshold, by their own internal rules [inaudible].

As Ken was referring to, there are different rules on the books. This committee did not use the mandated federal standard for discrimination. So where does that leave us? Essentially we had an internal university committee that decided based on its threshold that there’s insufficient evidence of discrimination. But as a university, we would be violating federal anti-discrimination law if he accepted their finding based on that threshold.

So this situation led to the actions that the dean and I took, and the dean got the AFPSF report. The dean took the action, and then I took the action to uphold our obligations under law to prevent discrimination against students.

I also would say, and also our moral duty to prevent discrimination at Cornell. We are any person, any study, and as a faculty, we take our commitment to our students very seriously and to provide them with a discrimination free environment.

I believe deeply in academic freedom, but that freedom does not extend to denying a student access to an educational opportunity based on their nationality or their viewpoint. I’m happy to come back. I think the dean of faculty potentially could invite me back in the future. This process is still ongoing. I’m happy to come at the end to further comment on it.

[Note: Over a day after the NY Post published the above article, it add quotes from a Cornell Professor criticizing me. The article as quoted above is as it existed at the time this post was published.]

Since then there have been several developments showing a clear attempt to doxx, harass, and intimidate the student, in violation of Cornell’s rules and federal law.

The student’s name was leaked to The Nation magazine, and then onto social media and The Cornell Daily Sun, and misleading portrayals have been spread asserting the student brought it upon himself. There even is a Faculty Senate resolution and letters to the Editor of the Daily Sun reflecting that substantial information purportedly from the investigation has been leaked as well, in an attempt to portray the student negatively.

It was revealed today that in exchange for Cheyfitz retiring (with benefits and pay), the investigation of Cheyfitz and related proceedings will be halted. There is no indication so far that the University will be investigating the doxxing.

In light of these recent developments, the Equal Protection Project and I will be preparing a civil rights complaint seeking a federal investigation of the doxxing and related matters, as reported by The NY Post, Cornell law professor preps civil rights complaint after Israeli student whistleblower outed. (Note: I was hesitant to quote the use of the students name in the NY Post article, but since he’s already been doxxed twice in The Nation and multiple times in the Cornell Daily Sun and throughout social media, I’ll quote the NY Post article as written.)

A prominent Cornell law professor plans to file a federal civil rights complaint against the Ivy League university after the outing of an Israeli student whistleblower who claimed he was excluded from a controversial course on the Gaza Strip because of his nationality.

Following the initial complaint by Oren Renard, his full name and status as a former member of an elite military surveillance agency within the Israel Defense Forces was leaked to the press and was published by outlets including the left-wing magazine the Nation.

“There has been a campaign to dox the student, to reveal his name, even though he is in fear of his safety,” William Jacobson told The Post.

“The attacks on him serve as a deterrent to other students who may want to come forward, particularly Israeli or Jewish students who may be afraid that if they do complain about discrimination, their name is going to appear in public and they will be subject to potential threats,” added Jacobson, who runs the Equal Protection Project, a legal watchdog that targets colleges and universities for discrimination.

After Renard came forward, the Cornell Office of Civil Rights issued a “finding of discrimination” in the case, and the professor who ran the course opted to retire, according to a university spokesperson.

Jacobson believes the leak of Renard’s name could be a violation of federal civil rights laws or possibly the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

“The Equal Protection Project and myself intend on filing a civil rights complaint with the Departments of Justice and Education, calling for an investigation of the harassment, intimidation and doxing of a student complainant in a Cornell University disciplinary matter,” he said.

Jacobson previously demanded a civil rights probe into Renard’s accusations about being kicked out of the “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance” course due to his Israeli nationality and described the university’s investigation as “thorough.”

Renard’s accusations were directed at Eric Cheyfitz, a former professor of American studies and humane letters, and a well-known anti-Israel activist on campus.

Cornell confirmed last month that it had suspended Cheyfitz, claiming that he “admitted to actions that violated federal civil rights laws and fell short of the university’s expectations for student interactions.”

“Professor Cheyfitz has chosen to retire and leave university employment, thus ending Cornell’s disciplinary process. The finding that Professor Cheyfitz violated Cornell policy and federal law remains in place,” a Cornell spokesperson told The Post Monday.

Cheyfitz told the Cornell Daily Sun student newspaper in an interview that while he initially welcomed Renard, the prof now believes the Israeli was surveilling and recording other students in violation of the school’s code of conduct.

“The university investigated this and found that the request for the student to leave the class was, in fact, a civil rights violation,” Jacobson retorted. “If a professor believes a student is improperly recording a class, there would be procedures for that professor to complain to the university administration.

“What the professor does not have the right to do is to ask a student to leave a class based on nationality or based on viewpoint, and that’s what the university found was done here.”

Cheyfitz also claimed to the Daily Sun that he asked Renard to leave the course because he was “upsetting my students, and appeared to be not doing the readings,” “making contradictory comments,” and “not participating in the discussion.”

An attorney for Cheyfitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After the Cornell Office of Civil Rights found Cheyfitz had discriminated against Renard, a Faculty Senate committee rejected the finding.

The school’s provost later explained that the civil rights panel used the “preponderance of evidence standard” to reach its conclusion, as required by federal law, while the Faculty Senate panel used a higher standard of “clear and convincing.”

The provost reopened the case, which had been pending until Cheyfitz’s retirement. Several of Cheyfitz’s colleagues have since circulated a resolution to condemn Cornell’s handling of the case.

“Nothing that happened subsequently, by a different committee, a faculty committee, can change that” finding of discrimination by Cornell’s civil rights panel, Jacobson said.

“They were extremely firm and extremely clear as to what happened here,” he added. “So to that extent, I think the university appears to have done its job, but it’s shopping short” by allowing Cheyfitz to retire.

It’s important that there be a serious investigation as to possible witness and complainant intimidation and related violation of federal civil rights law. The Departments of Justice and Education have the power, including through use of subpoenas, to find out who doxxed the student and who has been behind the intimidation campaign. Particularly in light of all the anti-Israel antisemitic intimidation and harassment that have taken place (including a Cornell student now in prison for threats of violence), it is systemically vital that students feel free to pursue discrimination claims through the university system without fear of retribution.

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