Anti-Israel activists are seeking legal action against Columbia University over alleged persecution and to force the institution to cut its associations with Israel, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) announced on social media on Friday.
The activists are fundraising for a legal fund to seek injunctive relief to stop Columbia and the affiliated Barnard College from taking disciplinary and law enforcement action against students. The suit would demand amnesty and monetary compensation for those disciplined since post-October 7 Massacre protests.
"Countless Palestinian students and pro-Palestine students have experienced discrimination, violence, harassment, and doxxing on the basis of their identity or perceived identity," reads the funding page.
"Since the genocide began, Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and other students of color have been disproportionately targeted by the University and its affiliates."
The funding page, which had raised $840 by Sunday, explained that pro-Palestinian students had been expelled and suspended through a "draconian" disciplinary system without sufficient evidence. On March 13 the Columbia University Judicial Board announced that it had suspended, expelled, and temporarily revoked the degrees of students involved in last spring's protests. CUAD claimed at the time that twenty-two students were sanctioned. Three Barnard students were expelled for the disruption of a January 21 Israeli history class.
Students allege police mistreatment
CUAD alleged on X that the students were subjected to police brutality and excessive force when removed from last April's encampment and the May Hamilton Hall occupation. Reuters reported that around 100 students were arrested in May, and almost 100 in April, according to JTA.
The activists also saw the legal action as a means of pressuring the Columbia administration into adopting its demands, including disclosure of investments connected to Israel and the boycott of Israel-tied companies and academic institutions.
"Why are we suing? To attack Columbia from all fronts," CUAD said in a X post graphic.
The activist cited the example of CUAD leading member Mahmoud Khalil, who had been arrested on March 8 by immigration authorities, as someone who had been persecuted. The legal case for Khalil's deportation is ongoing, with a judge ruling last Tuesday that his case would be heard in New Jersey and not in Louisiana where he has been detained.
Khalil's appeal for a restraining order against the congressional Committee on Education and Workforce for requesting Columbia disciplinary records was rejected on Friday. Committee Chairman Tim Walberg said in a statement that it was a victory for oversight of antisemitism on campuses.
Activists alleged further abuse on Wednesday night when students who chained themselves to two campus gates were removed by security personnel. A Palestinian student alleged that she was targeted with particular animus by the security officers.
The students that chained themselves to the Earl Hall and St. Paul’s Chapel demanded to know the name of board of trustees members who were alleged to have reported Khalil to government officials. Columbia denied these allegations on Wednesday, and said Thursday that it was investigating the rules violations.
Activists vandalized a Lerner Hall restroom on Thursday, according to Columbia. CUAD posted photographs of what it said was an anonymous submission of the incident. Graffiti and posters castigated new acting President Claire Shipman, who entered the position on March 28. Graffiti mocked Shipman's name and welcomed her with the red inverted triangle used to denote the targeting of enemies in Hamas propaganda.
"S**tman we know you, you arrest students too," alleged posters with the logo of Columbia Students for a Democratic Society.
SDS said on Instagram Thursday that students would continue to disrupt campus activity until demands were met.
CUAD said on X on Thursday that "every Trustee and every Administrator is complicit in Mahmoud's abduction. It’s their role in the genocide of the Palestinian people that has paved the way for this brutal repression today."
"Shipman’s abrupt appointment to presidency merely reveals everything we’ve always known — that Columbia administrators are puppets of the genocidal board of trustees," said CUAD.
