The students said it is no defense for Harvard to sit idly and allow escalating "Jew-bashing" because of the purported need to let people express themselves freely.
They also said Harvard's bias extends to admissions, including an alleged 60% decline in the number of Jewish students, mirroring quotas the school had a century ago.
More than 30 student groups at Harvard signed a petition the day after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, blaming Israel.
According to the complaint, the school took a day to respond, offering "platitudes" but neither condemnation of the petition nor support for Jewish students.studen
"Harvard, America’s leading university, has become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment," the complaint said.
Gay resigned after being slow to condemn Hamas' attack, and botching her Dec. 5 Congressional testimony by failing to definitively say that calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard's code of conduct.
The complaint filed in Boston federal court demands the suspension or expulsion of students who engage in antisemitism, and return of donations conditioned on hiring antisemitic professors or promoting an antisemitic curriculum.
The students are also seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.