January 17, 2022
VIA EMAIL
Dr. Jason Wingard, President
Temple University
Second Floor, Sullivan Hall
1330 Polett Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Dear President Wingard:
We were horrified to learn about the antisemitic harassment and intimidation that a Jewish student has been enduring since the start of her freshman year at Temple University. Equally horrifying was Temple’s delayed and ineffective response, in violation of the University’s obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
According to the detailed account she gave to the Forward, Amy Westrick was targeted based on her Jewish identity by her roommate from the very start of their freshman year together. Both of them were recruits to Temple’s rowing team.
The roommate made comments about Ms. Westrick’s religious observance. Feeding an offensive antisemitic stereotype, she once asked Ms. Westrick for money because, she said, she thought Jews had a lot of money. After the High Holidays, the roommate sent Ms. Westrick a text that included a photo of herself with the words “I hate Jews” across the bottom.
Instead of promptly responding to the antisemitism and taking steps reasonably calculated to end the harassment and prevent it from recurring, as required by Title VI, Temple did the opposite. Ms. Westrick reported the text to one of her rowing coaches, but the coach reportedly did not seem upset about the text and did not take any steps to protect Ms. Westrick. Instead of supporting Ms. Westrick and distancing themselves from the antisemite and her conduct, Ms. Westrick’s teammates reportedly spurned her and some joined in to harass her.
When Ms. Westrick asked to change her dorm room so that she no longer lived with her harasser, Temple did not respond immediately to that reasonable request. She – not her antisemitic bully – eventually was moved to a different room, but it was not only in the same dorm but also on the same floor as the bully, effectively forcing Ms. Westrick to continue to have contact with her harasser. When Ms. Westrick had to return to her former dorm room to retrieve some of her belongings, her roommates advised her that she should not be there, based on no-contact orders they had filed with the Temple police – orders that were unjustified since Ms. Westrick had done absolutely nothing wrong.
