Jewish professor sues university for religious discrimination
Jewish professor sues university for religious discrimination
Publish Date: 2026-03-08 14:45:00
Source Domain: nypost.com
A New Jersey research university which got $70 million in public funding last year allegedly repeatedly derailed a distinguished Israeli-born Jewish professor’s career due to his Orthodox beliefs, he claimed in a blistering lawsuit.
Dr. Tal Ben-Zvi, a tenured, award-winning teacher at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, has been battling the Hoboken school for more than a decade, when he was serving as vice chair of the school’s faculty senate and was accused of gender bias for failing to recommend a female colleague for tenure.
The school’s lawyers bizarrely cited a Jewish prayer it deemed misogynistic as evidence of Ben-Zvi’s bias, though the professor and others on the committee insisted she simply didn’t meet the criteria for tenure, according to the Hudson County Superior Court lawsuit.
Dr. Tal Ben-Zvi, a 20-year veteran lecturer at Stevens Institute of Technology, accused the school of repeatedly discriminating against the distinguished Israeli-born Jewish professor due to his Orthodox beliefs. Courtesy of Dr. Tal Ben-Zvi
After the professor lodged discrimination complaints, the institute allegedly trumped up “baseless charges of gender discrimination” against Ben-Zvi, delaying his pay, denying him a promotion and at one point stopping his health account, the professor, who has a disability, claimed.
The academic claimed the school also retaliated against him for not attending work meetings on Yom Kippur and Passover and for filing a complaint that the school did not provide kosher food at a lunch meeting where other dietary accommodations were made.
A trial is set to begin Monday in Jersey City.
“My dad was able to survive the Holocaust,” Ben-Zvi, 48, told The Post. “Today, 80 years later, I’m sadly in a position where I not only need to stand up for my religious beliefs but also fight for my livelihood.”
Watchdogs are taking notice.
The era of “institutional…
