Students To Sue Columbia University For Suspension Over Palestine Solidarity Protests
Three students of Columbia University are suing the University after they were suspended for their role in on-campus Palestine solidarity demonstrations. The students are facing one to two-year suspensions from the university for taking part in several protests, including the takeover of a campus building
Student Catherine Curran-Groome told Al-Jazeera, “We are hoping to hold Columbia accountable, first and foremost. They have escaped for every ounce of accountability that could have been over the last year and a half during the genocide. The only ones to hold them accountable have been the students through organising on campus. We are seeing resistance come up in many different forms”.
Read also: US Education Dept Closure: Potential Impact on Higher Education
Curran-Groome lost her scholarship at the university and said her name was reported to the Israeli government. She said, “The Columbia Univesity has a really important struggle for me as it was funding the genocide of my loved ones. I will never be able to return unless Columbia is held accountable”.
“They had no semblance of due process. no evidence no jury of our peers. There is no process and students were just interim suspended on the will of the administration”, she added.
Another student Brandon Murphy said, “basically a way to show that there are channels of resisting against these monolithic institutions. Whether that be protest. Whether that be paper warfare. Going to the courts. Whatever happens to be so”.
Aidan Parisi said, “Columbia’s instilled a fear in the student body. They have scared their students into silence and that level of repression impacted everybody. It goes against the principle of higher education and freedom of speech. Columbia is ready to secrifice in order to protect their profits in genocide and occupation”.
In 2024, Columbia students staged a series of protest and sit-ins over the Gaza war. Authorities were criticised for their heavy crackdown on the protesters.
Read also: How Will Trump ‘Shutting Down’ USAID Affect India?
The lawsuit cites dozens of cases where it alleges that the university violated its own disciplinary policies and targeted students for their political views. It lists multiple causes of action fron civil rights violations to unlawful eviction.
Trump has said that such “illegal” protests will lose all funding and students could be imprisoned. The Trump administration has threatened to pull Columbia’s funding and accused it of failig to address antisemitism during the pro-Palestine deomonstrations. Trump said non-citizen students taking part in the protests would be deported.
