DOAR congratulates Winston & Strawn and The Lawfare Project for reaching a landmark settlement with the California State University public university system, and thanks them for allowing DOAR to be involved in such an important case.

The litigation was brought on behalf of two Jewish students at San Francisco State University who alleged that SFSU and the Board of Trustees of CSU discriminated against them based on their religion  and support of Israel.  The settlement provides that CSU and SFSU recognize that support for Israel as a Jewish homeland is fundamental  to the religious identities of Jewish students on their campuses. These remedies serve as a model that can be adapted by universities across the country to better protect those of all faiths from discrimination. More information can be found here.

DOAR was proud to assist by conducting a survey to understand potential jurors’ views on the important issues at the heart of the lawsuit and by providing guidance to our clients for jury selection in San Francisco Superior Court for trial which was scheduled for this week.

“DOAR’s jury consultants provided advice based on empirical data that supported our view of how strong a case we had and the likelihood that we would prevail at trial”, said Lawrence Hill, a partner at Winston & Strawn.

DOAR’s president, Scott Allen, added “We were honored to have the opportunity to assist with such an important and timely case with many far-reaching implications.   We will always work to defend the basic premise that nobody should be discriminated against on the basis of their religion or their heritage.  This settlement certainly supports this notion.”

The DOAR team included Scott Allen, Dr. Chad Lackey, Dr. Ellen Brickman and Jeffrey Dorfman.