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Prominent pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has initiated legal action against Columbia University and the dean of its School of International and Public Affairs, alleging institutional racism, pervasive discrimination, and deliberate indifference toward Arab and Muslim students who opposed Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
The federal civil rights complaint names Columbia University, its Board of Trustees, and SIPA Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo as defendants. Filed jointly with the Palestine Working Group, a campus student organization currently subjected to an indefinite suspension by university leadership, the legal action seeks to hold academic administrators accountable for years of alleged hostility and civil rights infractions.
Through the lawsuit, Khalil and the student group are petitioning the court to terminate the Palestine Working Group’s suspension, reinstate Khalil’s right to access university grounds, and prohibit administrators from pursuing discriminatory measures in the future. The plaintiffs are also pursuing compensatory damages for personal and professional harms, with the exact financial figure to be determined at trial.
According to Khalil, the university’s actions fostered a hostile campus climate that directly enabled wider government reprisal. Announcing the suit, the SIPA alumnus asserted that Columbia’s administrative indifference and targeted intimidation of Palestinian advocates effectively laid the groundwork for federal authorities to target him during subsequent crackdowns on pro-Palestinian speech.
The filing comes shortly after a significant legal victory for Khalil in late August, when a federal judge halted administrative attempts to deport him. The court ruled that the Trump administration had infringed upon the constitutional protections of foreign students by attempting to penalize and expel them for voicing opposition to the war in Gaza.
Khalil’s immigration struggles began in March 2025, when plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took him into custody outside his residence. Despite holding lawful permanent residency as a green card holder, federal authorities moved to expel him on accusations of conducting activities aligned with Hamas, the governing entity in the Gaza Strip.
The arrest, captured on video by Khalil’s American wife when she was eight months pregnant, triggered widespread public outrage across social media. Khalil spent 104 days in federal detention before his release in June 2025, during which time he was forced to miss the birth of his child.
The aggressive measures against Khalil were part of a wider federal campaign led by the Trump administration. In 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the formal revocation of visas for hundreds of international students and permanent residents who had participated in pro-Palestinian campus organizing.
The newly filed lawsuit documents that the Palestine Working Group experienced systemic hostility beginning at its inception in 2018. However, legal filings argue that the pattern of harassment escalated significantly following the outbreak of hostilities on October 7, subjecting members to extreme animus from hostile campus actors.
The complaint alleges that affiliated Arab and Muslim students endured persistent harassment, intimidation, and online doxxing—the unauthorized dissemination of private addresses and contact information intended to facilitate harassment. Plaintiffs argue that university officials demonstrated deliberate indifference by failing to curb these threats or protect targeted students.
The tensions at Columbia served as the catalyst for a wider national movement in the spring of 2024. In April of that year, student demonstrators established an encampment on the Manhattan campus, demanding that the university divest its financial portfolio from corporate entities tied to the Israeli military. The initiative quickly spread across the country and abroad, prompting mass arrests across numerous campuses.
During the height of the demonstrations, Khalil was enrolled as a full-time graduate student at SIPA and acted as a primary mediator between university administrators and student organizers. Despite prolonged negotiations, Columbia’s leadership ultimately refused to accede to student demands regarding financial divestment.
Tensions culminated on April 30, 2024, when student protesters occupied Columbia’s historic Hamilton Hall, renaming the facility “Hind’s Hall” in memory of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. While Khalil did not participate in the building takeover, he continued to serve as a mediator seeking a resolution between student activists and the administration.
The lawsuit asserts that the ongoing institutional hostility, coupled with the administration's punitive disciplinary measures, caused lasting harm to the plaintiffs. The complaint details extensive psychological, emotional, reputational, and professional damages suffered by Khalil and members of the Palestine Working Group.
Columbia University has not yet issued a formal public response to the allegations outlined in the complaint. The lawsuit is expected to test the legal responsibilities of university leadership regarding the protection of international students and controversial political speech on American campuses.
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