SOUTH BEND, IND. (WOWO) A family is suing Culver Summer Academy in Indiana after claiming their 12-year-old son endured bullying and physical assaults because of his Jewish faith, according to WNDU.
The lawsuit, filed last November and supported by attorneys from the Anti-Defamation League and StandWithUs, outlines an eight-day period of harassment during the boy’s week at the camp in June 2025. Attorneys say the child was subjected to antisemitic slurs, threats, and physical attacks, including being hit in the head with a rock and later having sunscreen and bug spray sprayed in his mouth and eyes while being beaten with a broomstick.
The suit claims camp counselors repeatedly left campers unsupervised and failed to intervene. Parents reportedly were notified of injuries but were not provided details or context. According to the lawsuit, the bullies threatened to harm the boy further if he reported the incidents.
The boy’s pediatrician noted significant bruising, concussion-like symptoms, and eye pain following the alleged abuse.
In response, the Culver Educational Foundation released a statement saying, “We take these allegations very seriously. The safety and well-being of every student and camper entrusted to our care is our highest priority. While we cannot comment on the specifics of ongoing litigation, we are thoroughly reviewing the claims and are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities.”
The court held a pre-trial conference Wednesday in Fort Wayne and set deadlines for discovery by January 2027. No trial date has been announced.
1 comment
Sadly, i wasn’t able to attend a haughty little summer camp, let alone an academy of snobbery.
…and, is it just me?
This sounds like it’s pulled straight from the plot of Addams Family Values? 🤔
(An amazing sequel, of equal caliber, to the first, The Addams Family. BTW)
Where was i? Ahhh, the upper echelon of youth camps. Right.., my parents off-loaded us to 4-H camp, instead.
While i only attended a few years, no one was denigrated for their race/nationality/creed. There may have been a squabble, between a couple guys one year, but it was promptly resolved by the camp counselors. AND, there certainly weren’t gangs of camp kids harassing anyone. They did their best to mix us with people we didn’t know.
…similar to FFA camp! And hell, we had shooting ranges for Archery and Gun targeting, there!
Antisemitism? I’m not sure i knew what that was, until we began to learn about the atrocities of the World Wars, in World History. So what? 10th grade, i was 15.
Children have to be taught to be like this. This doesn’t just come to them, when they sit around the camp fire, singing Kum Ba Yah.
So, if there’s a gang of supremacists, running rampant, physically assaulting fellow members, then this scary camp story needed to be told last June!
If there were marks on this child, when he returned, in June of last year, from being beaten with objects and/or by people… this academy needs removed from it’s current owners, management and clientele.
Why weren’t these violators placed in a line-up, identified, and send off to Juvey? Do Military Academy run differently?
Is there more truth to the movie, The Lords of Discipline, than i realise?
This should have been an open/closed case, right?
I don’t see how this could be handled any other way, if the story checks out. There should have been police reports and investigations taking place, as soon as it was identified!
Should have been breaking news last year.