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Columbia students suing university over alleged discrimination for defending Palestine
Current and former Columbia University students have sued the university in Manhattan federal court, alleging they faced threats, doxxing and harassment for advocating Palestinian rights. The plaintiffs include Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil and Columbia’s Palestine Working Group.
Current and former Columbia University students have sued the university in Manhattan federal court, alleging that they faced discrimination, threats, doxxing and harassment for advocating Palestinian rights. The lawsuit, filed this month, names Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil and Columbia’s Palestine Working Group among the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs argue that Columbia’s administration violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect students who were targeted because of their Arab or Muslim backgrounds or because they advocated Palestinian rights. The complaint alleges that the university remained indifferent to threats, the publication of personal information and other forms of harassment.
Pro-Palestinian students were targeted on a truck
One of the incidents described in the lawsuit occurred in October 2023, shortly after Israel’s war on Gaza began. A truck that circulated around the Columbia campus displayed the names and photographs of pro-Palestinian students, labeling them “leading antisemites.”
Columbia graduate Bhavana Bellamkonda, one of the students targeted, said the truck incident made the hostility on campus frightening for her. Bellamkonda said conditions on campus had become increasingly hostile and that students feared for their safety.
Bellamkonda said some of the information displayed on the truck had been taken from the university’s restricted-access CampusGroups platform. She said that after a similar truck was seen at Harvard University, students sought protection from Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. The students also asked the university to remove data from its systems that could facilitate the disclosure of personal information.
Bellamkonda argued that the requests received no support and that the school’s administration was displeased by them. She said that advocating Palestinian rights, or any human right, should not make a person expendable.
Plaintiffs describe threats and harassment
The plaintiffs said the hostile environment at Columbia had developed well before Khalil was detained. Bellamkonda said some Muslim students had their head coverings pulled and were called “terrorists.”
She said that during a class, an Israeli student who was also a research assistant to the dean of the School of International and Public Affairs called her a “terrorist.” Bellamkonda argued that the university’s failure to intervene adequately in such incidents left pro-Palestinian students more vulnerable.
According to Bellamkonda, the university’s handling of incidents it described as coordinated harassment helped create the environment that later led to Khalil becoming a target of immigration authorities.
In a statement submitted as part of the lawsuit, Khalil also alleged that Columbia’s failure to protect Palestinian students and its discriminatory practices laid the groundwork for the Trump administration to target him. Khalil said they had sought help from the university for more than two years without receiving a response, and that he filed the lawsuit to prevent other students from experiencing what he had gone through.
Khalil’s detention among the issues raised
The lawsuit also addresses the process connected to Khalil’s detention by U.S. immigration authorities in March 2025. Khalil, who holds lawful permanent resident status in the United States, was held in Louisiana for 104 days, about 2,092 kilometers from his family.
Khalil missed the birth of his first child while in detention and was released in June. His legal fight against the Trump administration’s attempt to deport him is continuing.
Khalil’s attorney, Brittany Finley, alleged that Columbia failed to protect pro-Palestinian students while also subjecting them to disciplinary proceedings. Finley said she began representing students after the university established its Office of Institutional Equity and Discrimination in August 2024 to centrally handle reports of discrimination and discriminatory harassment.
Finley alleged that shortly after the office was established, it began targeting pro-Palestinian students, including Khalil. She argued that Khalil was subjected multiple times to baseless proceedings designed to portray him as someone else.
According to Finley, the pressure intensified after October 7, 2023, as pressure on pro-Palestinian students increased, and spread to Columbia’s Palestine Working Group. The Palestine Working Group remains suspended indefinitely.
Finley said Khalil had repeatedly informed Columbia before his detention that he was being harassed and that people connected to the university were seriously disseminating his personal information. Khalil contacted the Office of Institutional Equity and Discrimination in early March 2025 and emailed the president of Columbia.
In the email, Khalil wrote that he could not sleep because he feared Immigration and Customs Enforcement or a dangerous person might come to his home, that he urgently needed legal support and that he wanted the university to intervene. He also wrote that people connected to Columbia had publicly portrayed him as a national security threat, questioned his immigration status and published an accusatory message tagging U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The plaintiffs said Khalil was detained one day after submitting the complaint and sending the email. They argued that the threats continued both online and in spaces connected to Columbia.
Pakistani graduate says pressure affected his plans
Mohammad Ibrahim Zubairi, a Pakistani graduate of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, said the backlash he faced after defending pro-Palestinian students affected his academic and professional plans.
Zubairi said he urged U.S. citizen students to use their right to protest on behalf of noncitizens such as Khalil, who was being held by immigration authorities. He said he was then accused of behaving aggressively and inciting violence.
Zubairi said he was told that he was not a U.S. citizen and that he needed to leave his violence at the door. Instead, he said, he had expected to be told that protesting was a constitutional right.
Zubairi, who completed his master’s degree on a full scholarship, said he spent much of the time he had planned to devote to job hunting defending his detained friend. He said he believed he faced institutional pressure at Columbia because of his identity and political advocacy, and alleged that he encountered the view that criticizing violence against Palestinians was incompatible with being a good Muslim man.
Zubairi said he was disappointed by the censorship and pressure he encountered in the United States, where free expression and civil rights are emphasized. Zubairi later returned to Pakistan and said he was unsure whether he would be allowed to return to the United States under the current administration after being publicly associated with pro-Palestinian activism.
Columbia administration declines to comment on allegations
A Columbia spokesperson declined to comment on the allegations because of the ongoing lawsuit. The university said it was working toward a campus where all students would feel welcome, supported and safe and would be protected from discrimination and harassment.
The spokesperson also defended Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo, saying she supported students from all backgrounds, including Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students. The spokesperson said Yarhi-Milo remained committed to creating a campus free from discrimination and harassment.
The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages, the reinstatement of Columbia’s Palestine Working Group and the restoration of Khalil’s access to campus. Although Khalil graduated while in detention, he is not permitted to enter Columbia’s main campus; legal proceedings over the Trump administration’s attempt to deport him are also continuing.
Finley argued that Khalil’s lawsuits had not been resolved and that Columbia had not offered him support. According to the attorney, the university contacted Khalil after his release only to ask him to leave university property.
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