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A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC. Gothamist Listen Live Donate News Palestinian students at Columbia allege the school 'actively encouraged' their mistreatment By Arya Sundaram Published Aug 10, 2026 at 6:37 p.m. ET
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A group of current and former Palestinian students and lecturers at Columbia University allege in a lawsuit filed on Monday that school officials discriminated against them after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the ensuing war in Gaza, and the tumult on campus that followed.
The complaint, filed in state court, alleges the school officials not only failed to adequately protect students, faculty and staff from harm on campus, but “actively encouraged" mistreatment, including subjecting the students to "unfair and biased disciplinary hearings." The complaint alleges the school created “a hostile and unsafe environment.”
School officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The filing joins a bevy of legal claims across the ideological spectrum alleging harm on campus tied to the events in the Middle East, among them lawsuits alleging harm from antisemitism on a campus that was the site of months of student protests.
The plaintiffs in the new filing include Haddel Assali, a former Columbia anthropology student; Bahia Munem, a former lecturer at Columbia's Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race; Mahdi Sabbagh, a Ph.D. student in Columbia’s architecture and planning school; Maryam Alwan, who graduated with an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature and Society from Columbia in 2025; and Layla Saliba, who graduated with a social work degree from Columbia in 2025.
They seek monetary damages under the city's Human Rights Law , which prohibits discrimination or harassment based on actual or perceived race, creed, national origin, immigration status or citizenship status.
The allegations include Columbia's alleged failure to respond to repeated incidents of keffiyehs being ripped off Palestinian students and physical assaults on Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students attending protests, including an instance in which several students were attacked with a foul-smelling chemical substance.
The complaint also says the university failed to take appropriate action to address discriminatory and racist statements made against Palestinian students, including by medical center employees and senior administrators.
Columbia also targeted pro-Palestinian protesters and Palestinian students, according to the complaint, including by surveilling a pro-Palestinian teach-in and suspending several students who attended. Columbia earlier settled claims asserting it failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination.
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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