Faced with the threats of Trump, Columbia investigates critical students with regard to Israel

By Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press

New York (AP) – Maryam Alwan, senior of Columbia University, visited her family in Jordan during the winter holidays when she received a school email accusing her harassment. His supposed offense: Writing an editorial in the student newspaper calling for the divestment of Israel.

The investigation is part of a wave of recent cases carried out by a new university discipline committee – the institutional equity office – against Columbia students who expressed their criticism of Israel, according to the files shared with the Associated Press.

In recent weeks, he has sent opinions to dozens of students for activities ranging from the sharing of publications on social networks to support Palestinians to access “unauthorized” demonstrations.

An activist student is the subject of an investigation for having put the stickers outside the campus which imitated the “sought -after” posters, bearing the similarities of university administrators. Another, the president of a literary club of the campus, faces a sanction for having co-organized an exhibition of art outside campus which focused on the occupation last spring of a building on the campus.

In the case of Alwan, the investigators said that OP-ED not signed in the spectator of Columbia, which also urged the school to limit academic links with Israel, may have submitted other students to “undesirable conduct” according to their religion, of national origin or military service.

“It was so dystopian that something goes through rigorous changes, to be labeled discriminatory because it is Palestine,” said Alwan, a major in Palestinian-American comparative studies. “It made me want to write or say anything on the subject.”

The committee informed him that the possible sanctions for violation of school policy went from a simple warning to expulsion.

The new disciplinary office stimulates the alarm among students, professors and defenders of freedom of expression, who accuse the school of bowing to the threats of President Donald Trump of reducing the funding of universities and to expel the “agitators” of the campus.

“Based on how these cases have been put forward, the university now seems to respond to government pressures to suppress and cool protected speech,” said Amy Greer, a lawyer who advises students accused of discrimination. “He works as a business by protecting his assets before his students, teachers and staff.”

Columbia is under financial pressure

On Monday, federal agencies announced that they would plan to reduce $ 51 million in school contracts – as well as billions more in additional subsidies – due to its “continuous inaction in the face of implacable harassment of Jewish students”.

“We are resolved what to ask, promote or glorify violence or terror has no place in our university,” said Columbia in a statement following the announcement.

The House Republicans also launched their own examination of the Disciplinary process of Columbia. Their last letter gave the administrators until February 27 to hand over the disciplinary files of students for nearly a dozen incidents on the campus, including protests that it claimed “the promoted terrorism and vilified the American army”, as well as the exhibition of art outside campus.

A Columbia spokesperson refused to specify what the files were given to the congress and if they included the names of the students, adding that they could not comment on the investigation.

The new disciplinary committee was created last summer. According to the university updated harassment policy, criticism of the policies of another country could be considered harassment if it “has been directed or imbued with discriminatory comments on people or associated with this country”. The policy notes that “the use of code words may involve”.

Jewish students from Columbia are among those who have received the opinions of participation in Pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Other Jewish students said that rhetoric during the demonstrations crossed anti -Semitism and that the administration was too tolerant towards the demonstrators who created a hostile environment for people who support Israel.

The disciplinary committee works in secret

Under office policies, students are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement before accessing the case equipment or speaking with investigators, ensuring that the process has been wrapped in secrets since its start of last year. Aspect of the work of the committee was reported for the first time this week by the online publication Drop News News.

Those who met investigators say they were asked to appoint other people involved in pro-Palestinian groups and demonstrations on the campus. They said the investigators had not provided clear advice on the question of whether certain terms – such as “Zionist” or “genocide” – would be considered harassment.

Several students and teachers who spoke with the AP said that the committee accused them of participating in demonstrations they had not attended or helped disseminate messages on social networks they had not published.

Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student who was a negotiator for pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the previous spring camp, said he was accused by the misconduct office just a few weeks before his diploma in December. “I have about 13 allegations against me, most of them are publications on the social networks with which I had nothing to do,” he said.

After refusing to sign the non-divulgation agreement, Khalil said that the university put a grip on its transcription and threatened to prevent it from graduation. But when he appealed the decision through a lawyer, they finally fell, said Khalil.

“They just want to show the Congress and right -wing politicians that they do something, regardless of students’ issues,” said Khalil. “It is mainly an office to cool pro-Palestine speech.”

According to some students, the disciplinary thrust could rekindle the pro-Palestinian protest movement which swirled campuses last year.

In recent days, students have occupied several buildings at the Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia University, to protest against the expulsion of two students accused of having disrupted an Israeli history course. Several students were arrested following a takeover of a building on Wednesday evening.

Originally published: March 6, 2025 at 5:38 pm PST