NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Columbia University was sued by a pair of student groups that were suspended last year after a demonstration opposing the war in Gaza, the latest in a growing list of lawsuits the school faces over the hot-button topics of antisemitism and Palestinian rights.
The suit, brought by Columbia’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, claims the university violated its own policies by suspending the student groups after a November protest that violated school policies. They are seeking to restore funds they lost as a result of the suspension, according to the complaint filed in New York state court Monday.
The student groups, who are suing under New York civil law, claim they were “targeted for punishment not because of the claimed rules infractions but because of the content of their advocacy” and that their suspension was disproportionate to the policies they violated.
The lawsuit demonstrates how elite universities are facing legal pressure from multiple groups following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel, killing 1,200 people, and the country’s military response in Gaza, which has left 30,000 dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. A pair of lawsuits brought by Jewish students last month accused the school of permitting antisemitism on campus. One claims the campus had been “one of the worst centers of academic antisemitism” even before Hamas’ attack, but that Jewish students have feared for their safety since.
A spokesperson for Columbia declined to comment. The groups were suspended after holding an unauthorized protest that “included threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” according to a university email included in the complaint. The groups have since been reinstated.
The complaints filed previously by Jewish students claim that Columbia violated a federal civil rights law that students at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and New York University have also used to sue their schools in recent months.
Columbia is also the subject of a US House committee probe over campus antisemitism and faces an investigation from the US Department of Education over a years-old complaint from a student who complained of a “severely pervasive and hostile environment” on campus. The investigation concerns whether Columbia violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, who is a defendant in Monday’s lawsuit, will appear before the House Education Committee next month as a witness.
The lawsuit filed Monday is being brought by attorneys at the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestinian Legal, an advocacy group that has defended people supporting Palestinian rights.