Student activist Mahmoud Khalil has officially initiated legal action against Columbia University and the Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Keren Yarhi-Milo. During a news conference held in New York on Monday, Khalil alleged that the institution has engaged in gross and systematic discrimination directed at Palestinian students on campus.
Khalil stated that the university’s actions created an environment of intimidation, asserting that Columbia laid the necessary groundwork for his targeting by the US administration through what he described as deliberate indifference. According to the lawsuit, the university failed to protect the safety and well-being of its students, allegedly trading their interests to serve the ideological goals of the board of trustees. Khalil emphasized that the legal challenge is necessary to ensure that no student, regardless of their personal background, is forced to endure the experiences he faced over the past two years.
Among the allegations, Khalil claimed that Columbia deployed surveillance mechanisms against both students and faculty, repeatedly summoned the New York Police Department to campus, and banned groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. He further characterized the university’s Office of Institutional Equity as a secretive, Gestapo-like entity tasked with harassing pro-Palestine students to discourage them from speaking out. Khalil also reported that the university hired private investigators who contacted him while he was in class to question his attendance at specific events.
The lawsuit asserts that the university refused to correct disinformation regarding Khalil during his period of detention, which the filing argues allowed a false narrative to persist and facilitated peer-on-peer harassment of Palestinian students and those perceived to be of Arab or Muslim ancestry. Furthermore, the suit alleges that the university retaliated against pro-Palestinian campus groups by labeling their events as security risks and modifying disciplinary policies specifically to target criticism of the Israeli government. Khalil has called for Columbia President Jennifer Mnookin to rectify the situation and ensure equal treatment for all students.
Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia and a lawful US resident, was detained without a warrant by immigration officers in New York City in March 2025. He was subsequently transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, where he remained for several months. His deportation case is currently active, and he missed the birth of his first child while in custody. In January, a US federal appeals court determined that a judge lacked the jurisdiction to order his release.
