Columbia University has been accused in a new lawsuit of failing to protect Jewish students amid a wave of anti-Israel protests roiling the Ivy League campus.
The class action lawsuit, filed Monday by an anonymous student, recognizes the right to protest and that colleges have long been a place for lively debate of opposing viewpoints.
But the plaintiff alleged that while some protesters at Columbia are peaceful, a number of others “continue to commit acts of violence.”
“They are intimidating and harassing Jewish students and faculty members, they are inciting demonstrators to engage in hate speech,” the suit reads.
“[They] also commit acts of violence which has been taking place, and they have even called for terrorist attacks against the United States and the State of Israel.”
According to the filing against university trustees, Jewish students have been physically attacked and targeted by pro-Hamas hate speech.
The suit also accuses protestors of inciting violence against Jewish students and pro-Israel counter-protestors while on campus.
“Before a couple weeks ago, Columbia would tell anyone who would listen that it offered a safe space to its students to learn, debate, and even protest,” Jay Edelson, one of the attorneys in the lawsuit told News Nation.
“But now Jewish students are being pushed off campus by open threats and harassment from extremists within the protest movement, whose incitements are becoming increasingly violent.
“Rather than protect its students, Columbia has been complicit, offering an ‘internet-optional’ university that only the students it can’t protect have to use. We’re fighting for safe passage for all Columbia students on the campus that they all have a right to.”
Lawyers have argued that listening to encampment demands, negotiating and moving to a hybrid learning model is “unfair” creating further tension between Jewish and non-Jewish students.
The student bringing forward the lawsuit has not been named and also represents all other Columbia students forced to online studies as a result of protests.
Columbia has been asked in the suit to abide by policies regarding student safety and to return to in-person learning as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
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Aneeta Bhole
