Jewish students who sheltered in library during Gaza protest sue Cooper Union over antisemitsm

NEW YORK - A group of students who sheltered inside the library at Cooper Union in Manhattan as pro-Palestinian protesters marched outside are suing the school, saying it didn't do enough to protect them from antisemitism. 

"I felt petrified," says Taylor Roslyn Lent, one of the students who was inside the library during a tense pro-Palestinian demonstration on campus.

Some of the demonstrators were seen in a video posted on social media banging on the windows and locked doors at the library and yelling.

"The pro-Hamas demonstrators essentially broke through the security barrier, descended upon the library in such a mad and mob-like fashion that it was necessary to lock the doors to keep the protesters out," said Ziporah Reich, Director of Litigation at The Lawfare Project.

The Lawfare Project is a nonprofit that protects the civil rights of the Jewish people. Reich says the college failed and is continuing to fail to protect Jewish students from antisemitism and is hoping their lawsuit will hold the college accountable.

"The school is not enforcing anti-discrimination laws," Reich said. "We want to ensure that the school provides a safe environment for all Jewish students and for all students."

The Cooper Union is not commenting on the pending lawsuit but did refer FOX 5 NY to NYPD statements in October that there was no direct threat to students and police were present throughout the protest, but at least ten Jewish students in the library that day say they feel differently.

"I didn't know what was going to come next.  The fellow Jewish students around me were crying and looked petrified," said Lent.