Student activist Mahmoud Khalil and other pro-Palestinian activists filed a lawsuit against Columbia University on Monday, accusing the university of willfully ignoring the ongoing harassment they have been subjected to over the years due to their activism in defending the Palestinian cause.
Khalil became a symbol of the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian student protests after US immigration officials arrested him in March 2025 in the hallway of his university residence, even though he was a lawful permanent resident — or green card holder — and had not been accused of any crime.
The lawsuit filed by Khalil and the Palestine Action Group at the School of International and Public Affairs and its president, Mohamed Zuberi, in federal court in Manhattan, said that Columbia University violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect students from threats, disclosure of personal information, and other forms of harassment based on their presumed Arab or Islamic origin or their advocacy of Palestinian rights.
The war in Gaza continues to raise intense debate on universities, including Columbia, where the central pedestrian corridor across the campus was closed for nearly three years, in an attempt by the university to balance safety concerns with the desire for more normalcy and openness.
Khalil said at a press conference at Columbia University to announce the lawsuit that the university showed “anti-Palestinian intolerance” rooted in every department and supported by its board of trustees. He added, "We are filing this lawsuit because no student, regardless of their background, should go through the hell we lived through at Columbia University for all these years."
Columbia University declined to comment on the lawsuit, but a spokeswoman said, “Creating a campus environment in which every member of our community feels welcome, supported, and safe is fundamental to our identity as a university.” “It is also a responsibility that we take very seriously.”
“Security risks”
Khalil said he began reporting the harassment during the spring 2023 semester, several months before Israel entered the war in Gaza. The lawsuit noted that instead of investigating reported cases of harassment, Columbia University treated pro-Palestinian protests as “security risks” and modified its policies to treat any on-campus criticism of Israel’s military or governmental conduct as warranting disciplinary sanctions.
“Defendants’ failure to respond to the legitimate complaints made by Messrs. Khalil, Zuberi, and other members of the Action Group for Palestine regarding ongoing harassment and violence, and the retaliatory actions they actively took in response to these reports, placed the members of the Action Group for Palestine at risk of violence and caused continuing and ongoing harm,” the lawsuit said.
The protests at Columbia University divided the university, with many supporting the protesters, while others said they felt unsafe or viewed some of the activities as anti-Semitic. These protests led to the spread of so-called solidarity camps on dozens of universities, and to the resignation of the president of Columbia University.
Possible deportation
Khalil is an Algerian citizen, born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. He spent 104 days in a Louisiana prison following his arrest, which prevented him from attending the birth of his first child, before he was released on bail.
Khalil still faces possible deportation, after a federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled that a district court judge did not have jurisdiction when he ordered Khalil's release from custody last year. Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Khalil also filed a lawsuit against Columbia University in March 2025, less than a week after his arrest, challenging the university’s disclosure of student disciplinary records to a House committee.
