Santa Barbara College Staffer Accused Of Stirring Antisemitic Mob Against Jewish Student Leader, Lawsuit Says

A masked University of California, Santa Barbara staffer allegedly helped turn a crowd of anti-Israel demonstrators against a Jewish student leader — while the university repeatedly brushed aside her requests for protection, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Tessa Veksler, 23, a Manhattan resident who studied political science and communications, says she endured a sustained, hostile antisemitic campaign after she condemned the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, the complaint states.

According to the suit, tensions reached their peak in February 2024 when Veksler, then the student body president, approached a group of masked anti-Israel protesters in an effort to find common ground.

Veksler says she was routinely targeted by anti-Israel demonstrators at UC Santa Barbara after speaking out against the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.

Signs and flyers posted throughout the UCSB Multicultural Center targeted Veksler, some with threatening language.

“And she believed she was making progress until a UCSB representative, defendant Doe 1, and also wearing a mask, joined the meeting and began harassing Tessa and purposefully inciting the crowd’s antisemitic animus toward Tessa,” the lawsuit says.

The complaint alleges the staffer repeatedly cut Veksler off and encouraged the crowd to become more hostile toward her.

The confrontation was only one example of the antisemitism Veksler claims to have faced throughout the 2023–24 academic year, with administrators allegedly doing almost nothing to shield her from ongoing abuse.

UCSB officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Veksler, now living in New York City, has since become an outspoken advocate against antisemitism.

She says the harassment began soon after she condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault — which also saw 251 people kidnapped and triggered the war in Gaza.

After posting her condemnation online, Veksler found herself labeled as “supporting genocide,” and campus posters began circulating that branded her a “Zionist” and demanded she step down from her role, according to the lawsuit.

The campaign was centered around the university’s Multicultural Center, which sits along the route to her office, effectively pushing her — and other Jewish students — away from a space intended to be welcoming.

A poster listing the 2023–24 Executive Officers, including Veksler, was vandalized.

Some signs read, “AS president is racist Zionist,” and “Get these Zionists out of office.” Another warned, “You can run but you can’t hide Tessa Veksler.” Her phone number appeared on one poster, and students even called her a “Zionist dog,” according to the filing.

The complaint says the official MCC Instagram account also shared an image of one of the posters.

“All of these threats and this harassment took place under the watchful eye of the University and its administrators. But the UCSB did nothing, despite its elaborate anti-discrimination Policy and Tessa’s repeated pleas for help,” the lawsuit states.

Veksler says the university repeatedly failed to intervene or act promptly as the harassment escalated.

“The university, in short, abandoned Tessa to the antisemitic mob, discarded its own written Policy intended to prevent that harassment, and allowed and facilitated an insidious injustice to continue unabated,” the suit claims.

The university issued a statement on Feb. 26, 2024, denouncing attacks on students over the Middle East conflict, though it did not mention Veksler by name.

Veksler, who later sought treatment after experiencing panic attacks and PTSD linked to the harassment, avoided campus entirely during her final exams, according to the lawsuit.

She is seeking unspecified damages from UCSB and 20 staff members and representatives for allegedly violating her civil rights and failing to safeguard her freedom of speech and personal safety