Jewish student sues Columbia for failing to provide a safe environment amid campus protests

An anonymous Jewish student presented a lawsuit Monday against Columbia University, claiming the Ivy League school has failed to provide “a safe educational environment” for its students amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests.

In the lawsuit, the second-year student alleges that since protesters established a “Gaza Solidarity Camp” more than a week ago, she and other openly Jewish students have felt increasingly at risk of harassment and even harm. physicists.

“The camp has been the center of 24-hour harassment of Jewish students, who have been punched, pushed, spat on, prevented from attending classes and moving freely around campus, and subjected to pro-terrorist hate speech – both verbal. and written on huge banners and posters – with statements like: “Death to the Jews”; “Long live Hamas”; “Globalize the Intifada,” the lawsuit said.

In addition to safety concerns, the lawsuit also criticizes the administration’s decision to shift to a “hybrid” model of education for the remainder of the academic year, arguing that this response not only disrupted the educational experience of thousands of students, but also isolated students. Jews. your environment and your peers.

“By implementing a hybrid learning approach, the university fails to address underlying security concerns while also creating a sharp divide in the educational experiences of Jewish and non-Jewish students,” the lawsuit says.

While the plaintiff recognizes the right of students to engage in peaceful protests, the lawsuit argues that a subset of protesters “went well beyond” the exercise of this right and instead sought to advance “different and threatening goals.”

“These extremist protesters are not engaging in constitutionally protected free speech. Instead, they are openly inciting violence against Jewish students,” the lawsuit says.

Columbia University declined to comment on pending litigation.

Jay Edelson, a student representative for the class and attorney working on the lawsuit, argues that Columbia allowed its Jewish students to be “expelled from campus by open threats and harassment from extremists within the protest movement.”

“Instead of protecting its students, Columbia has been complicit, offering an “Internet-optional” university that only the students it cannot protect have to use. We are fighting for safe passage for everyone Columbia students on campus that everyone is entitled to,” Edelson said in a declaration for NewsNation.

The Hill has reached out to Edelson for comment.

Meanwhile, university president Minouche Shafik publicly acknowledged the effect the protests had on the school’s Jewish population, pledging to “make Columbia safe for all” in a way declaration issued Monday.

“I know that many of our Jewish students, and other students as well, have found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks. Many have left campus and this is a tragedy. To these students and their families, I want to say clearly: you are a valued part of the Columbia community. This is your campus too,” Shafik said in the statement.

The class action complaint, filed against Columbia’s Board of Trustees in the Southern District of New York, also requests an emergency injunction requiring Columbia to enforce its Statement of Ethical Conduct and Code of Administrative Conduct to provide safe access to education for so that students can safely complete the semester in person.

News of the lawsuit comes as the university begins suspending students who refuse to leave the pro-Palestinian camp hours after the 2pm departure deadline has passed.

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