Civil liberties organizations sue Columbia over suspension of pro-Palestinian groups
NEW YORK — The New York Civil Liberties Union and a Palestinian rights organization filed a lawsuit against Columbia University on Monday over its suspension of two pro-Palestinian groups pushing for a cease-fire.
NYCLU and Palestine Legal — an independent organization that aims to protect the civil rights of pro-Palestinian Americans — are looking to compel the university to reverse the suspensions and reinstate the groups rallying against Israel’s anti-Hamas offense in Gaza.
Donna Lieberman, NYCLU’s executive director, said the activists were “peacefully speaking out” on the conflict, only to have the university ignore its own long-standing rules and abruptly suspend them.
“That’s retaliatory, it’s targeted, and it flies in the face of the free speech principles that institutes of higher learning should be defending,” Lieberman said in a statement. “Students protesting at private colleges still have the right to fair, equal treatment — and we are ready to fight that battle in court.”
The suit was filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on behalf of the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as two individual students. The lawsuit names Columbia, university president Minouche Shafik and Gerald Rosberg, the university’s senior executive vice president, as defendants.
The legal action is the latest chapter in how unrest on college campuses is playing out across the United States, following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack and the ensuing war in Gaza. Columbia is among the prestigious academic institutions where the global conflict is playing out at home. Already two high-profile university presidents — Liz Magill at the University of Pennsylvania and Claudine Gay at Harvard — resigned following criticism of their testimony before Congress at an antisemitism hearing. (The Harvard president also faced plagiarism allegations).
Columbia is among the institutions under investigation over discrimination complaints.
Private universities in New York are not subject to the First Amendment, but New York’s highest court has established that universities must follow their own rules and guidelines when taking disciplinary actions against students or student organizations, the plaintiffs contend.
At issue in this suit is a charge that Columbia officials sidestepped a procedure ensuring a board presides over formal proceedings following complaints that a group has flouted university policies. Officials instead moved to unilaterally suspend the chapters in November, according to the lawsuit.
If the school had followed its existing processes, the clubs would have had several protections, including an opportunity to appeal the final decision, the lawsuit states.
NYCLU and Palestine Legal also allege Columbia was aware that the two organizations were not alone in advertising, organizing and participating in the demonstration, but still penalized them less than 24 hours after the episode.
Columbia Daily Spectator previously reported that 17 days before it suspended the groups, administrators single-handedly changed event policies to give the university "sole discretion" to decide on sanctions for student groups that cannot be appealed, which the lawsuit also notes. The groups, the university community and the University Senate — a legislative body of students, faculty and staff — were also unaware of the existence of a Special Committee on Campus Safety chaired by Rosberg that issued the verdict.
A Columbia administrator previously said the groups repeatedly violated college policies like holding unauthorized events and that the gathering “included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.” (The civil rights groups said the unsanctioned event was a peaceful demonstration and temporary art installation advocating for a ceasefire.)
A Columbia spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation. Columbia previously pointed to a new interim policy for safe demonstrations.
NYCLU is following through on its threat last month to sue the institution. Its attorneys obliged college administrators to respond by March 1. They also dismissed the university’s claims of “threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” insisting it has “no basis in fact.”
“Universities must abide by their own rules and may not punish student groups speaking out for Palestinian rights in the moment when they are most essential — even if donors and lobby groups complain,” Radhika Sainath, a senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal, said in a statement, referring to pressure Columbia and other schools have faced from wealthy donors to tackle antisemitism on campuses.
In a statement, Maryam Alwan, an organizer with Columbia's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, said: "As a Palestinian-American student, I should have the same right to speak out on my campus as everyone else—and no amount of targeted policy changes or illegitimate suspensions will prevent us from advocating for the Palestinian people."
