Lubavitch-Chabad of Illinois, Inc. v. Northwestern University

772 F.3d 443, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 21179, 2014 WL 5762937
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedNovember 6, 2014
DocketNo. 14-1055
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 772 F.3d 443 (Lubavitch-Chabad of Illinois, Inc. v. Northwestern University) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lubavitch-Chabad of Illinois, Inc. v. Northwestern University, 772 F.3d 443, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 21179, 2014 WL 5762937 (7th Cir. 2014).

Opinions

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

There is a branch of Hasidic Judaism (on Hasidic Judaism see the article of that name in Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Hasidic_

Judaism# Characteristic-ideas (visited November 6, 2014, as were the other websites cited in this opinion))’known as Chabad (with the “Ch” pronounced like the German “ch” in Bach or Achtung) or Chabad-Lubavitch (with the accent in “Lubavitch” falling on the second syllable). “Chabad” is an acronym for the Hebrew words for wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, and Lubavitch is the name of the Belorussian village to which the headquarters of the movement moved shortly after its beginning in the eighteenth century and remained for a century. Chabad has grown to be one of the largest (maybe the largest) Jewish religious organizations in the world, with branches in many countries. It emphasizes mysticism over the legalism emphasized in other branches of Judaism and its ritual and observances are distinctive. (For additional detail see “Chabad,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chabad.)

There are Chabad “emissaries,” as they are called, on many American college campuses. The emissaries manage “Chabad houses” located on or near the campuses. The Tannenbaum Chabad House is located near Northwestern University’s main campus, in Evanston, Illinois. Since 1985, when the house was founded, it’s been presided over by a Rabbi named Dov Hillel Klein. For a video of him, see “L’Chayim” (“to life”), Nov. 18, 2007, www. youtube.com/watch?v=r9cA-YjohnQ. (Considerable other online material about him can be obtained by Googling his name.) He is a colorful figure and is at the center of this case, which pits him and the Illinois chapter of Chabad against the university and two of its officials; for simplicity we’ll pretend that Rabbi Klein is the only plaintiff.

Until the university broke with him as described below, Rabbi Klein had a sideline: Northwestern paid a company called Sodexo to provide food for its students and Sodexo agreed with Chabad to pay Klein for rabbinic supervision of the company’s provision of kosher food to Northwestern in order to ensure compliance with kosher law. Northwestern reimbursed Sodexo for the payments to Klein.

Religious organizations that desire access to particular Northwestern facilities and services (for example, in the case of Jewish religious organizations, access to the names of Jewish students matriculating at Northwestern) must be “recognized” by the university’s chaplain. Tannenbaum [445]*445Chabad House had from its founding been one of the university’s religious “affiliates,” the university’s term for the religious organizations that it recognizes. But in 2012 it terminated its affiliation with the Chabad house.

Back in 2001 the university had learned that underage students (the drinking age in Illinois, as in all states, is 21, except that an alcoholic beverage can lawfully be served to a person under 21 “in the performance of a religious ceremony or service,” 235 ILCS 5/6 — 16(a)(iii)) had vomited after excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks at a party at Tannenbaum Chabad House. One of the students had to be hospitalized. In the wake of that incident the university’s chaplain met with Rabbi Klein and emphasized to him the need to control the consumption of alcohol at his Chabad house. Nevertheless in 2005, at a dinner in a university dining hall to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of Rabbi Klein’s son, alcohol was served, including to underage students, even though when reserving the dining hall Klein had assured the responsible university official that no alcohol would be served. And not only wine but also hard liquor, mainly scotch and vodka, was served.

Although the chaplain spoke to Klein about the incident and extracted an apology from him, alcohol, including hard liquor, continued to be served to students at the house, both on Jewish holidays and on Friday evenings, when the Jewish Sabbath begins. The students who attended these affairs were not asked to present proof of age, though undoubtedly many were under 21 — most college students are. Rabbi Klein testified that to require attendants at the events to carry identification would violate religious law. He made no effort to limit consumption of alcohol at the events and drank along with the students attending. There is evidence that he was himself intoxicated at some of these events, though he denies that.

As far as we’ve been able to determine, plying minors with hard liquor is not required by any Jewish religious observance. It’s true that according to some adherents of Chabad Lubavitch “it is a mitzvah [a divine command] to drink, and drink to excess, on Purim” (and possibly on other holidays as well). Yanki Tauber, “The Purim Drink,” www.chabad.org/holi days/purim/article_cdo/aid/2814/jewish/The-Purim-Drunk.htm. But drinking an alcoholic beverage is not mandatory; one is allowed to be drunk simply on “happiness.” Tzvi Freeman, “Purim & Alcohol,” www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_ cdo/aid/1146095/jewish/Púrim-Aeohol. htm# footnote2al146095. Klein acknowledges that grape juice can be substituted for wine on the Sabbath; what we don’t know is whether it is considered proper under Jewish law and excused by secular law to permit or encourage minors to drink hard liquor on Purim or other Jewish holidays.

Another rabbi, not of the Chabad persuasion, whose son was a graduate of Northwestern, complained to the university chaplain about the drinking at the Chabad house, at the same time acknowledging that he had religious differences with Rabbi Klein. The chaplain relayed the complaint to the university’s vice president for student affairs, prompting her to conduct an investigation. On the basis of the results of the investigation and with the agreement of the chaplain, she decided, and informed Rabbi Klein, that unless he was replaced as the head of Tannenbaum Chabad House the university would terminate its affiliation with it. (Both the ■ chaplain and the vice' president for student affairs are codefendants with the university in this suit.) Klein was not replaced, and continues to supervise the activities of [446]*446the house as before — but the university-made good on its threat to disaffiliate.

Among the consequences of disaffiliation, Klein alleges, he and his Chabad house were barred from “contracting with Sodexo.” The letter in which Northwestern informed Klein of the disaffiliation stated that as a result of it Klein’s role as a consultant to Sodexo could not be renewed. Sodexo followed up with a letter to Klein terminating their consulting agreement. '

Originally this suit claimed that the disaffiliation, and also the resulting cancellation of Klein’s contract with Sodexo, were motivated by antisemitism and for that reason violated two federal antidiscrimination statutes, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000d. The district court disagreed and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, precipitating this appeal, in which however Klein has dropped his challenge to the dismissal of his section 2000d claim.

Section 1981(a) provides that all persons “shall have the same right ... to make and enforce contracts ...

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772 F.3d 443, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 21179, 2014 WL 5762937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lubavitch-chabad-of-illinois-inc-v-northwestern-university-ca7-2014.