Kaitlyn Hughes | editor-in-chief

A Jewish psychology professor is alleging he endured ongoing antsemitic harassment while working at Duquesne University. 

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a federal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Alexander Kranjec, who is an associate professor of psychology at Duquesne.

The complaint urges the agency to look into allegations that Kranjec experienced antisemitic discrimination and a hostile work environment. Kranjec said he believes the university treated anti-Zionist hostility directed at him differently than they treated other forms of discrimination. 

He told The Duke in an email that he is deeply disappointed. 

“What has been most troubling is not simply that these incidents occurred, but that raising concerns about them led to retaliation,” said Kranjec, who has worked at the university since 2011 and has been tenured since 2017.

Graduate students in the psychology department were affected by the failure to address antisemitic conduct, according to the complaint. Students feared reporting antisemitism could result in retaliation affecting their grades, clinical training licensure or future career prospects, the complaint said. 

An emeritus Jewish faculty member who was not named in the complaint described an antisemitic work environment that existed prior to Oct. 7, 2023. 

Gabriel Welsch, vice president of marketing and communications, said in an email to The Duke that the university takes allegations of this nature seriously and follows its established procedures when reviewing these concerns. 

“Grounded in its Catholic and Spiritan mission and values, the university takes proactive measures to prevent antisemitism and other discriminatory behavior and has established a robust process for reviewing and investigating allegations of discrimination raised by members of the university community,” Welsch said.

The university does not comment on specific pending matters, Welsch said. 

In October 2023, Kranjec reported department-wide communications and social media posts that he said invoked anti-Jewish stereotypes, targeted him by name and celebrated or excused violence against Israeli citizens, according to the complaint. 

After a Gaza-related petition was circulated to the psychology department, Kranjec distributed a survey identifying language in the petition that he believed represented discriminatory assumptions about Jews, Israelis and Zionists, according to the complaint.

The complaint said in response to this an unnamed visiting faculty member replied to the entire department and characterized Kranjec’s survey as “deceptive,” “offensive” and ideologically motivated.

“The lies people spread about Jews change to fit the moral vocabulary of the time,” Kranjec told The Duke. 

Today, particularly in academic settings, Jews are just seen as “Zionists” and collectively cast as colonizers or racial supremacists who threaten global justice, he said. 

“But in every era, Jews are portrayed as attacking whatever people value most,” Kranjec said.

Deena Margolies, a litigation staff attorney representing Kranjec for the Brandeis Center, said manifestations of antisemitism include denying Jews the right to self-determination, justifying the harming of Jews or making stereotypical allegations of Jews, such as accusing them of controlling the media or the economy. 

She said criticism of Israel is not antisemitic, but applying standards to Israel that aren’t applied to other countries is. 

“There is a lack of understanding of what constitutes antisemitism,” Margolies said. “For many Jews like myself, like professor Kranjec, being a Zionist or the support of Israel is central to their Jewish identity.

“It’s okay to have an anti-Israel protest … but it’s not okay to block people because they are Jews because they support Israel.”

Around Oct. 7, 2024, Kranjec reported to department leadership that graduate students posted antisemitic and anti-Israel content on social media. One graduate student’s social media feed included expressions supporting Hamas, according to the complaint. Another graduate student, knowing Kranjec was Jewish, posted about him by name calling him a “racist” in connection with his objections to antisemitism and anti-Zionism. 

Duquesne did not intervene, the complaint read. 

A graduate student in the psychology department “defended her right to express support for violent acts against Israeli civilians by terrorist organizations such as Hamas” during a public town hall in February 2025, the complaint said.

Duquesne Human Resources and Benefits and the Office of Student Conduct investigated racist and anti-Jewish incidents in the department. After this, a graduate student filed a bullying complaint against Kranjec after being reported by the professor, according to the complaint.

On Dec. 3, Kranjec notified McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Dean Kristine Blair that the planned antisemitism training would likely fail to address the specific form of anti-Jewish discrimination present in the psychology department, proposing an alternate qualifying speaker. 

Duquesne proceeded with the original training. 

“Just because a Jew says that something is antisemitic … [I] don’t ascribe to that belief that the oppressed group gets to decide 100% of the time what’s antisemitic and what’s not,” someone said during the training, according to the complaint.

Around March 4, 2026, Kranjec asked the clinical director at Duquesne, who was unnamed in the complaint, how to report concerns of antisemitism to the American Psychological Association, but did not receive a response. 

The complaint said human resources told Kranjec the events he reported didn’t meet the criteria for a hostile work environment, and the university didn’t explain why they didn’t take corrective action. 

Instead, Duquesne created an alternative course allowing students to avoid taking Kranjec’s required Spring 2026 PSYC 560 Physiological Psychology course, the complaint said. 

Kranjec was first alerted of the creation of the alternative course in a response to an October 2025 email documenting concerns about antisemitism in the department. The email said this was to protect students from feeling pressured by his views after he raised those concerns. 

Kranjec, according to the complaint, understood this explanation to mean that his protected objections to antisemitism were being treated as a reason to remove students from his required courses, according to the complaint. 

This course was created without consultation with Kranjec, and was created even though he was the only one with expertise in this area, according to the complaint. 

In a meeting, it was discussed whether or not the creation of the alternative course was discriminatory, but that concern was dismissed, the complaint said. 

A poster was placed over Kranjec’s existing office window display that addressed antisemitism and anti-Zionism in academia on March 12, 2026. The department chair confirmed that Kranjec’s office was the only one targeted, the complaint said. 

The department chair’s name was not listed in the complaint, but Will Adams is listed on Duquesne’s website as the department chair. 

Kranjec was removed from a Jewish graduate student’s Comprehensive Exam committee March 22, 2026, after he committed substantial time to the student’s preparation. This decision was made by the department chair and Blair. 

Kranjec was told that his “ideology” was considered incompatible with that of a Jewish graduate student working through questions related to Jewish identity, the complaint said.

He was told that a perceived pattern of his “bad behavior” made students feel unsafe and concerned about potential retaliation, referencing Kranjec’s communication documenting concerns about antisemitism and anti-Zionism. 

Kanjec’s concerns were labeled as “unprofessional,” “uncivil,” “provocative” or made in “bad faith,” according to the complaint. 

Kranjec said in the complaint that he believes Duquesne made these characterizations to recast his civil rights complaints as misconduct and to justify adverse actions against him. 

Kranjec is still teaching at the university this semester. 

The goal of the complaint is to ensure discrimination against Jews is addressed when it occurs, he said. 

“If you experience discrimination, do not assume that you are alone simply because other people are quiet,” Kranjec said. “I care deeply about Duquesne and my students. I did not take filing this charge lightly. I hope it leads to a university environment where concerns about antisemitism are taken seriously, and people can raise them without fear of retaliation.” 

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu