Nov 5 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge overseeing lawsuits

accusing Harvard University of antisemitism on Tuesday narrowed

but refused to dismiss a case by two advocacy groups accusing

the Ivy League school of making it unbearable for Jewish

students to study there.

U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said the Louis D.

Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans

for Fairness in Education can pursue a hostile educational

environment claim on behalf of students.

The Boston-based judge dismissed claims that Harvard

directly discriminated against Jewish and Israeli students, and

retaliated against them for complaining about antisemitism.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs had no immediate comment.

Harvard and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests

for comment.

In August, Stearns refused to dismiss a related lawsuit by

Jewish students who accused Harvard of letting its Cambridge,

Massachusetts campus become a bastion of rampant antisemitism.

Both lawsuits accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars federal funds recipients

from allowing discrimination based on race, religion and

national origin, and sought to stop further violations.

Tuesday's decision primarily concerned Harvard's alleged

mishandling of incidents from the spring and fall of 2023.

In one, a Jewish lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School

allegedly pressured students in a course on organizing community

action to abandon a project predicated on the existence of a

"liberal-Jewish democracy," because associating "Jewish" with

"democracy" created an "unsafe space" for classmates.

The other concerned a viral "die-in" near Harvard Business

School where attendees accused Israel of war crimes, chanted

antisemitic slogans and allegedly physically assaulted an

Israeli-Jewish student.

Stearns said the plaintiffs can try to prove Harvard's

"deliberate indifference" to harassment, reflecting its failure

to discipline the professor and alleged lack of speed

investigating various incidents.

"To conclude that the mere act of launching an investigation

without any further follow-through necessarily defeats a

deliberate indifference claim, would be to prioritize form over

function," Stearns wrote.

Stearns nonetheless found no plausible accusations that

Harvard's responses reflected anti-Jewish or anti-Israeli

animus, or retaliation.

The lawsuits are among many accusing major universities of

allowing and encouraging antisemitism following the October 2023

outbreak of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.