NEW YORK (VINnews) — Carnegie Mellon University’s relationship with Qatar has come under scrutiny in a federal lawsuit, according to a report by the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

Qatar’s financial contributions to the university have been spotlighted as part of a 2023 lawsuit filed by Yael Canaan, a former CMU School of Architecture student who is alleging that she was subjected to “pervasive anti-Jewish discrimination” during her time at the university. Canaan claims that at least some of that discrimination is related to the school’s relationship with Qatar. A federal judge has now averred that the Middle Eastern nation may be exerting influence on the university.

In a 30-page opinion issued in December, United States District Judge W. Scott Hardy wrote that “Qatar and its affiliates could be a source of antisemitic influence upon CMU. Indeed, the largess of Qatari funds supplied to CMU may permit a reasonable juror to infer, in light of logic and common experience, that significant amounts of money and the reliance on such funds serves to motivate CMU to abide by expectations and wishes of its generous donors.”

CMU receives the third highest amount of foreign investment of all U.S. universities — more than $2.9 billion annually — surpassed only by Harvard and Cornell, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Gift and Contract Public Transparency Dashboard.

Qatar invests the most money of all foreign countries in American universities, nearly $6.6 billion. CMU, the lawsuit alleges, has received more than $5.9 billion between the years 2004 to 2019 and has a campus in Doha, Qatar.

The lawsuit alleges that an agreement between the university and Qatar limits CMU’s “full operational control” and requires it to “recruit at least two-thirds of the Doha faculty from CMU’s Main Campus to serve in Qatar for terms of at least three consecutive years.”

Canaan’s case centers around School of Architecture professor and associate head for design fundamentals, Mary-Lou Arscott, who, the lawsuit alleges, spent professional time in Qatar, although the suit doesn’t specify if Arscott was at CMU’s Doha campus.

The alleged abuse began when Arscott purportedly denied Canaan a homework assignment extension so she could attend an Oct. 29, 2018, memorial service for the victims of the Oct. 27 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

The complaint further alleges that in 2022, Arscott commented on a project Canaan was working on, saying it looked like the wall Israel uses “to barricade Palestinians out of Israel.” The professor, Canaan contends, told the student that she should focus on “what Jews do to make themselves such a hated group.”

Canaan claims she reported Arscott’s behavior to her studio professor, who told her not to worry because Arscott wouldn’t be grading her.

According to the complaint, Arscott sent Canaan a link to a “violently antisemitic blog,” called The Funambulist, and copied Elizabeth Rosemeyer, CMU’s chief diversity officer and the vice provost of diversity, equity and inclusion and Title IX coordinator, on the email.

When Canaan complained, she said, other professors turned on the student, telling her to stop “acting like a victim” and that they would not “be an advocate for the Jews.”

The lawsuit details the reports Canaan allegedly made to various school administrators, who either ignored her pleas, failed to take any action to protect her or punish her abusers, or in the case of Rosemeyer, “aggressively discouraged Canaan from filing a formal complaint which would have triggered an investigation of Arscott, the DEI’s failure to address the misconduct and the systematic culture of antisemitism.”

As a result of the behavior, Canaan has brought six claims against CMU, including three counts of violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act; breach of contract; and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In December 2024, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania denied CMU’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

As part of the proceedings, Canaan filed a motion seeking discovery on information concerning CMU’s relationship with Qatar, the Qatar Investment Authority and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, leading to Hardy’s opinion.

The Chronicle contacted CMU seeking an interview with a university official. CMU’s media relations department responded with a written statement saying, “Antisemitism and other forms of discrimination have no place at our university. Carnegie Mellon University is committed to the safety and security of our Jewish faculty, staff and students and our friends and neighbors who are part of Pittsburgh’s vibrant Jewish community.”

Further, the university said it was aware of a Jan. 28, 2026, Wall Street Journal opinion piece written after Hardy’s opinion was released, examining the school’s relationship with Qatar. CMU said it took issue with several aspects of the piece, including that fact that the writer, Kenneth L. Marcus, didn’t seek a comment from the university.

The university also said it has operated a campus in Qatar, at the invitation of the Qatar Foundation, for more than two decades and is in “full compliance with all applicable U.S. laws.”

The relationship, CMU said, is part on an effort by the Qatar Foundation to bring leading global universities to Qatar and that it was encouraged by the U.S government.

Qatar, the school’s statement continued, reimburses CMU for Qatar-related work performed by CMU staff based in Pittsburgh. It does not, however, grant them “the right to approve or consult on the hiring of individuals who perform that work.”

“Simply put,” CMU said, “the University was not required to consult, and did not consult, on the hiring of the individual [Rosemeyer] referred to in the opinion piece.”

CMU, the statement concluded, “looks forward to an opportunity to refute these allegations through the judicial process, where we will present the full facts.”