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Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Lawsuit
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Incident Political Orientation:
Left wing -
Incident Responses:
Litigation
Title IX or other federal statute
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Incident Status:
In litigation State Court
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
On April 10, 2026, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit against Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, alleging that the college violated its charitable obligations by ending its Cincinnati rabbinical program and seeking to sell or transfer assets associated with the campus. Yost argued that HUC-JIR remained obligated under a 1950 consolidation agreement to maintain a rabbinical school in Cincinnati and that donations made in reliance on that commitment were charitable assets that could not be redirected to other purposes. The state sought to prevent the sale or transfer of Cincinnati-related assets and require HUC-JIR to continue supporting a rabbinical school in the Cincinnati area.
HUC-JIR had announced plans to end its Cincinnati rabbinical program after the 2025–26 academic year, citing declining enrollment and financial pressures. On May 9, 2026, the college ordained its final four Cincinnati rabbinical students. HUC-JIR said it would continue other activities in Cincinnati, including the Klau Library, American Jewish Archives, and Skirball Museum. On May 28, the newly formed College for Contemporary Judaism moved to intervene in the lawsuit, asking the court to allow it to take over HUC-JIR’s Cincinnati campus and related assets and establish a new rabbinical school there.
On June 12, 2026, HUC-JIR moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that requiring it to maintain a particular rabbinical program would violate the First Amendment by interfering with its religious autonomy. HUC-JIR argued that decisions about where and how it conducts rabbinical education involve religious and ecclesiastical matters protected from government control, and that the state could not use its authority over charitable assets to dictate the institution’s religious and educational activities. HUC-JIR also disputed Yost’s interpretation of the 1950 consolidation agreement and maintained that its governing documents authorized the decision to end the Cincinnati rabbinical program.
The dispute followed Yost’s 2024 challenge to HUC-JIR’s proposed disposition of rare books and manuscripts held at the Klau Library. That matter resulted in an October 2025 agreement governing the management and potential sale or transfer of the collection. The earlier dispute provided background to Yost’s subsequent challenge concerning HUC-JIR’s Cincinnati rabbinical program and related charitable assets.
