(Headline USA) Students at Columbia University are now facing investigations for their public criticism of Israel.
According to a report by The Associated Press, Columbia University senior Maryam Alwan, while visiting her family in Jordan during her winter break, received an email from the university accusing her of engaging in acts of harassment.
The university cited her writing of an op-ed in The Columbia Daily Spectator, the university’s student newspaper, pushing for divestment from Israel.
This investigation is part of a surge in recent cases being reviewed by the Office of Institutional Equity. This is a disciplinary committee being used to launch probes against Columbia students who have manifested views critical of Israel.
Over the last few weeks, the committee has sent notices to dozens of students who have engaged in activities ranging from sharing posts on social media in support of Palestinians to participating in “unauthorized” protests.
For example, one student activist is being investigated for putting up stickers outside of the campus that resembled “Wanted” posters, featuring the likenesses of university trustees. In another case, the president of a campus literary club, is being investigated for helping host an art exhibition off campus that focused on the pro-Palestinian movement’s occupation of a campus building last spring.
In the case of Alwan, university investigators claimed that the unsigned op-ed in the Columbia Spectator, which also called on the university to limit academic ties to Israel, may have forced students to endure “unwelcome conduct” based on their national origin or religion.
“It just felt so dystopian to have something go through rigorous edits, only to be labeled discriminatory because it’s about Palestine,” commented Alwan, a Palestinian-American comparative studies major. “It made me not want to write or say anything on the subject anymore.”
The committee told her that possible penalties for violating school policy ranged from receiving a simple warning to being expelled from the university.
The Office of Institutional Equity is generating concerns among students, faculty, and free speech advocates, who believe the school is kowtowing to President Donald Trump’s threats to cut funding to universities and deport pro-Palestinian “agitators” on campus.
“Based on how these cases have proceeded, the university now appears to be responding to governmental pressure to suppress and chill protected speech,” observed Amy Greer, an attorney who is providing legal counsel to students accused of discrimination. “It’s operating as a business by protecting its assets ahead of its students, faculty and staff.”
On Monday, federal agencies announced they would entertain the idea of slashing $51 million in contracts to the university on top of cutting billions in additional grants because of the university’s alleged “inaction in the face of relentless harassment of Jewish students.”
“We are resolute that calling for, promoting, or glorifying violence or terror has no place at our university,” Columbia proclaimed in a statement after the announcement.
The Office of Institutional Equity was established in the summer. Per the university’s updated harassment policy, criticism of another country’s policies could be deemed as harassment if “directed at or infused with discriminatory comments about persons from, or associated with, that country.”
Columbia’s investigations come at a time when the Trump administration issued an executive order titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism” on Jan. 29, 2025.
The order aims to tackle the reported increase in antisemitic incidents, particularly on college campuses, since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas against Israel. This order instructs the Justice Department to use the appropriate civil rights enforcement authorities to fight antisemitism.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.
