On Monday, five Columbia University students and graduates filed a class action lawsuit against the unions, activists, and students they claim organized and supported the anti-Israel encampment, forcing the university campus to close down at the end of the 2024 spring semester.
The case, which includes Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Jamaal Bowman of New York, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, as defendants, alleging that Columbia students were bullied and harassed, denied access to in-person classes and campus facilities, and denied a commencement that was canceled due to campus unrest.
According to the complaint, the student plaintiffs chose to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation given certain “hateful rhetoric,” in contempt of the law and affiliations to terrorist organizations among defendants. The suit, filed on July 26, was received on Monday in New York County.
Campus demonstrators chanted, “Death to Israel,” “Death to America,” “Death to Jews,” and “Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets too!,” “Is‐ra‐el go to Hell,” and “October 7 is going to be every day for you,'” the lawsuit states. According to the suit, two Jewish Columbia students were allegedly referred to as “Nazi B—-es,” and Jewish students were punched, shoved, spat at, and physically blocked from moving throughout campus by encampment participants.
According to the suit, “This case is brought on behalf of the students who were forced to pay that high price by the tortious acts of on-campus students and faculty and their off-campus allies who conspired to organize and continue the two-week encampment. That encampment, and the safety threat that it created, forced Columbia to move classes online, restrict access to campus immediately before finals, and ultimately cancel commencement.”
The anti-Israel activists wanted the university to divest its financial support for Israel, be more transparent in supporting its investments, and provide blanket amnesty to students who participated in the demonstrations.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik, addressing the anti-Israel encampment and its impact on the broader campus in April, stated, “These past two weeks have been among the most difficult in Columbia’s history.” “The turmoil and tension, division and disruption, have impacted the entire community. You, our students, have paid an especially high price. You lost your final days in the classroom and residence halls. For those of you who are seniors, you are finishing college the way you started: online.”
Daniel Suhr, the lead attorney on the case and a partner at Hughes and Suhr, stated that Columbia University’s 36,000 students deserve financial compensation for being unfairly denied access to the education, experience, and campus for which they pay.
He told the media that “Radical protesters are burning the American flag, vandalizing the homes of community leaders, and shutting down entire universities.” “We are fighting back to stop this lawbreaking, expose the people behind it, and provide justice to the victims of the chaos at Columbia.”
According to the suit’s organizers, the plaintiffs are demanding $30 million in damages, although that specific total is not specified in the lawsuit.
Columbia University is not a defendant in the lawsuit. Instead, the students are focusing on the student groups that organized the encampment, such as Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and the Graduate Students Union, as well as the faculty groups that the suit claims protected them from accountability, such as the Columbia/Barnard Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
The lawsuit includes National Students for Justice in Palestine, Within Our Lifetime, the People’s Forum, the Unit Auto Workers (UAW), and lawmakers such as Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Bowman.
The case attorney, Patrick Hughes, stated, “This case is vital not only to secure justice for the students affected at Columbia but for all university students nationwide who pay to receive an education and are disrupted by violent and well-funded agitators whose only mission is to cause disruption and chaos to pursue their own radical political beliefs.”
According to the student newspaper, protests at Columbia escalated after it began giving mass suspensions. Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University took over Hamilton Hall, an academic building used by the dean and other senior offices, shortly before 1 am on April 30. They began “moving metal gates to barricade the doors, blocking entrances with wooden tables and chairs, and zip-tying doors shut.”
In June, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dismissed charges against 30 Columbia University students and staff members arrested during the campus unrest, including those who occupied and barricaded Hamilton Hall in April. The DA’s office cited insufficient proof of property damage or injury to individuals for dismissing the charges.
Suhr stated that the case is about holding those accountable for shutting down the university, forcing class cancellations, and violating the law.
Suhr said: “It’s been months since the encampment at Columbia, and we are no closer to answers or accountability.” “The DA dropped the criminal charges, and the university is desperate to get back to business as usual. This lawsuit will finally bring some justice for all of the Columbia students who saw their school year ruined by the lawbreaking and harassment of these unhinged activists.”
He added, “Doing so wasn’t an exercise of First Amendment rights – it was a violation of the rights of every other Columbia student to the education they paid for.”
