Khalil Sues Columbia Over Campus Harassment
Khalil Sues Columbia Over Campus Harassment
The News
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil sued Columbia University in federal court Monday, accusing the school of showing "deliberate indifference" to the harassment of pro-Palestinian students like him.
The civil rights suit says Columbia ignored harassment aimed at Khalil and a pro-Palestinian campus group, then retaliated when the students reported it.
Khalil is the Columbia graduate student ICE arrested in March 2025 at his university apartment building, a case that became the highest-profile test of the Trump administration's move to deport campus activists.
The Claims
The complaint alleges civil rights violations against Palestinian students and students of perceived Arab or Muslim ancestry.
It argues Columbia's inaction enabled the doxing of members of the pro-Palestinian group and allowed a false narrative about Khalil to spread while he sat in immigration detention.
The suit also claims the university rewrote its disciplinary policy to target criticism of the Israeli government instead of investigating harassment complaints.
The pro-Palestinian group and its president, Mohammad Zubairi, are named as plaintiffs alongside Khalil and other former student activists.
Timeline
The lawsuit says Columbia was already deliberately indifferent to harassment of pro-Palestinian students before the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
ICE agents arrest Khalil at his Columbia apartment building.
Khalil spends 104 days in a Louisiana immigration jail before a federal judge orders his release. He separately sues Columbia to block the release of student records to Congress.
Khalil and other former student activists file the federal civil rights lawsuit against Columbia.
Reactions
Columbia declined to comment on the substance of the lawsuit, saying in a statement that it is committed to protecting its community from harassment.
Khalil and his co-plaintiffs say the university treated their complaints as a discipline problem rather than a harassment problem — investigating criticism of the Israeli government while leaving doxing and threats against them unaddressed.
What's Next
Columbia has not yet responded in court. The case will test whether a university can be held legally liable under civil rights law for harassment carried out by third parties.
Khalil's deportation proceedings remain active despite his release from detention, and that case runs on its own track.
More
All eight outlets in the Wire cluster describe the filing the same way, drawing on the same reporting and the same emailed Columbia statement. There is no factual dispute in the coverage — only the open legal question of liability.
Poll
Should Columbia be held legally liable for harassment of its students by others?
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