Following the widespread arrests of anti-war protestors last week, when the university administration asked police to disperse demonstration camps, a pro-Palestinian American organization filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Columbia University, the group said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
The U.S. Education Department was requested to look into the school's conduct by Palestine Legal, a group that works to defend Americans' rights to speak out for Palestinians. The organization claims that the school's policies discriminate against those who support Palestine.
The University of Columbia declined to comment.
After Columbia President Minouche Shafik made the bold decision to open a new tab allowing New York City police to enter the campus last week, the institution tried to forcefully end student protests. This approach angered several human rights organizations, students, and staff. Remembering the anti-Vietnam War protests at Columbia University over fifty years ago, over a hundred individuals were taken into custody.
Since then, protests continued at Columbia, expanded to other American universities, and resulted in hundreds of arrests throughout the previous week.
The protesters demanded an end to Israel's assault in Gaza, which, according to the health ministry in Gaza, has resulted in 34,000 deaths, forced almost all of Gaza's people to leave the area, caused severe famine, and given rise to charges of genocide, which Israel disputes. The conflict has sparked heated debate and opened new channels of communication within the US, Israel's most significant ally.
Advocacy groups have observed an increase in bias and hate crimes directed towards Jews, Arabs, and Palestinians.
The deadly stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American in Illinois in October, the shooting of three students in Vermont in November, and the stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas in February are among the most concerning U.S. occurrences.
On Thursday, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona stated that he was keeping an eye on information about alleged instances of antisemitism on college campuses. A former Cornell University student opened a new tab after entering a guilty plea earlier this month for making threats online against Jewish students on campus, including threats of murder and death.
