In an Instagram post on Monday, nonprofit Palestine Legal announced the federal Office for Civil Rights would investigate Columbia for allegations of discrimination against Palestinian students. 

Earlier this afternoon, Palestine Legal, a non-profit group aiding pro-Palestine protesters, announced the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had escalated the group’s complaint against Columbia alleging discrimination against Palestinian students to a formal investigation. The news comes one week after Palestine Legal announced it had filed the complaint with the OCR on behalf of four Columbia students and the group Students for Justice in Palestine. The news has not yet been publicly confirmed by the OCR. However, the office’s website does show that an investigation was opened on April 23.

The reported decision to investigate also comes two days after NYPD returned to Columbia’s campus, dismantling the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and arresting over 109 Columbia affiliates involved in the occupation of Hamilton Hall, renamed Hind’s Hall by demonstrators. 

The Office for Civil Rights, a section of the Department of Education, is specifically responsible for enforcing six discrimination-related laws, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. While it is a protocol for the Office for Civil Rights to evaluate all complaints and determine their validity, it only opens complaints for investigation if there is evidence to suggest one of the six laws has been violated. 

In their April 25 complaint, Palestine Legal alleged Columbia had discriminated against “Palestinian students and their allies.” The group specifically mentioned a January incident in which protesters were sprayed with an unidentified chemical substance, sending several students to the hospital, as well as University President Minouche Shafik’s initial decision to allow NYPD to sweep the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on April 18. Palestine Legal further alleged that “for more than six months, Palestinian students, Arabs, Muslims, students perceived to be Palestinian, and students associated with or advocating for Palestinians, have been the target of extreme anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic harassment,” including death threats, doxxing, and “being treated differently by high-ranking administrators including Columbia University President Minouche Shafik.” 

In Palestine Legal’s initial press release, Columbia student Maryam Alwan (GS ‘25), who was previously arrested at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, wrote, “As a Palestinian student, I’ve been harassed, doxxed, shouted down, and discriminated against by fellow students and professors—simply because of my identity and my commitment to advocating for my own rights and freedoms. I’m horrified at the way Columbia has utterly failed to protect me from racism and abuse, but beyond that, the university has also played a role in this repression by having me arrested and suspended for peacefully protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” 

At present, the outcome of the investigation is unknown. If the OCR were to conclude that Columbia had violated the civil rights laws it enforces, the University would have several options for next steps. First, the OCR would give the University and complainants an opportunity to engage in Facilitated Resolution Between the Parties (FRBP), a mode of resolving the issue privately before the investigation is concluded. If a resolution was not reached, the OCR would then attempt to get the University to negotiate a “voluntary resolution agreement” with the complainants, in which Columbia would be held to specific “remedial actions” in order to address its noncompliance with civil rights law.  If the University did not agree to take remedial action, the OCR may move to suspend or terminate any federal funding or may send the case on to the Department of Justice. 

Low Library via Bwog Archives