Key facts
- Mahmoud Khalil and other pro-Palestinian student activists sued Columbia University on Monday.
- The lawsuit accuses Columbia of deliberate indifference to years of pervasive harassment and discrimination.
- Khalil alleges the university's failure to protect students from threats and doxxing facilitated his arrest by U.S. immigration agents in March 2025.
- Khalil, an Algerian citizen born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, was detained for 104 days following his arrest.
- The lawsuit names Columbia University, its Board of Trustees, and SIPA Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo as defendants.
- Columbia University stated that creating a campus environment where every member feels welcome, supported, and safe is fundamental.
Pro-Palestinian student activists Mahmoud Khalil and the SIPA Palestine Working Group, along with its president Mohammad Zubairi, are suing Columbia University, alleging deliberate indifference to years of harassment. The lawsuit claims Columbia violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect students from threats and doxxing based on their advocacy for Palestinian rights.
Khalil, an Algerian citizen born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, alleges that the university's failure to protect students from threats, doxxing, and other harassment facilitated his arrest by U.S. immigration agents in March 2025. He was detained for 104 days following his arrest.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, also names Columbia's Board of Trustees and SIPA Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo as defendants. Khalil stated at a press conference that the university exhibited "rotten, institutionalized anti-Palestinian bigotry." Columbia University, in response, said creating a campus environment where every member feels welcome, supported, and safe is fundamental to its identity.