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A Jewish student attending Columbia University has anonymously filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging the institution’s negligence in maintaining a safe educational environment amidst pro-Palestinian protests. 

The student claims that the protests have escalated to include threats and physical attacks against Jewish students. Some reports have indicated that Jewish students have faced physical and verbal harassment, being blocked from classrooms, and subjected to threatening messages like “Death to the Jews” and “Long live Hamas.”

The lawsuit also challenges Columbia’s shift to a hybrid learning model as a response to the unrest, arguing that it has “disproportionately affected Jewish students” by isolating them academically and socially. According to the lawsuit, this model fails to address safety concerns and exacerbates the divide between Jewish and non-Jewish students.

In court documents, lawyers for the student acknowledged that protestors have a right to peacefully protest, but some have “gone well beyond” that right to advance “different and menacing goals.” The lawyers add, “These extreme demonstrators are not engaging in constitutionally protected free speech. Instead, they are openly inciting violence against Jewish students.”

Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, has issued a statement following the lawsuit. She said, “I know that many of our Jewish students, and other students as well, have found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks. Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy. To those students and their families, I want to say to you clearly: You are a valued part of the Columbia community. This is your campus too.”