(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York will hear arguments Tuesday over whether to extend an order that prevents Columbia University from the sharing student disciplinary records of a number of pro-Palestinian activists with a House of Representatives committee.
The request for an injunction was filed by a group of Columbia students and graduates, including Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian activist detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement who is separately fighting his detention by the Trump administration.
Khalil and the others said the Republican-controlled committee’s request for their records violates the First Amendment and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and made Columbia “feel pressure to cooperate with the government in its efforts to chill and punish protected speech.”
Judge Aruba Subramanian has temporarily blocked Columbia from disclosing the student records and will hear arguments Tuesday afternoon over whether to permanently block sharing of the records or allow the school to cooperate with the committee.
The government arrested Khalil on March 8 after invoking a rarely used provision of immigration law that they said allows the secretary of state to revoke the legal status of people whose presence in the country could have “adverse foreign policy consequences.” He continues to be held in Louisiana awaiting further court proceedings.
Last week, Columbia University ceded to Trump administration demands after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold $400 million in federal funds. The school agreed to ban masks on campus, one of the Trump administration’s key demands, as well as stricter controls over its Middle East Studies department, which will now be overseen by a new senior vice provost who “will conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East.” The university also agreed to hire 36 new police officers empowered to make arrests of student protesters on campus.
The Trump administration canceled $400 million worth of grants and contracts to Columbia University, accusing the university of “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The administration sent a letter to Columbia interim President Katrina Armstrong on March 13, listing nine demands the university needed to comply with by last Thursday “as a precondition for formal negotiations” regarding federal funding.
Columbia’s response was closely watched by other schools that became flashpoints for pro-Palestinian protests last year. The university has come under intense scrutiny for its handling of pro-Palestinian protests, which led to arrests, property damage and backlash.
Former Columbia President Minouche Shafik resigned last August, months after the protests. She was the third Ivy League president to step down within a few months.
Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill previously announced their resignations following congressional testimony on the handling of antisemitism on campus.
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