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Mahmoud Khalil and other Columbia University students are suing the university and a Republican-led House committee to block thousands of student records from getting into the hands of members of Congress investigating pro-Palestine protests on college campuses.
Khalil, a prominent student organizer, is currently detained in Louisiana and being processed for deportation after his shock arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
He is a lawful permanent resident with a green card and has not been charged or accused of committing any crimes, but Donald Trump and federal law enforcement officials have labelled him a threat to national security who should be forced out of the country for “pro-Hamas” activities.
Last month, the Republican-led House Committee on Education and Workforce demanded Columbia produce student disciplinary records surrounding campus demonstrations and warned the school it would lose federal funding if it didn’t comply.
In a lawsuit filed in New York on Thursday, lawyers for Khalil and other student plaintiffs argue the committee’s letter is “clearly intended” to chill students’ First Amendment rights “by exposing the students to negative publicity and investigation, pervasive and persistent harassment, doxing, and threats to their safety and lives.”
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They argue that Republicans are “jawboning,” in which government officials turn to bullying institutions and organizations to do their work for them when they have run out of options.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the university announced students involved with the occupation of a campus building last fall now face “multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions.”
The Independent has requested comment from the university and the committee.
“Columbia University’s apparent willingness to comply with the Congressional request to disclose private student records sets a dangerous precedent that undermines academic freedom and student privacy,” Khalil’s attorney Amy Greer of the firm Dratel & Lewis wrote in a statement. “Our lawsuit seeks to protect the constitutional rights of students who should not be subjected to political intimidation or invasive government overreach. We will continue to fight for the privacy and dignity of all students.”
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The lawsuit — which is supported by the Council on American Islamic Relations — takes aim at the committee’s letter on “antisemitic harassment and intimidation,” which attorneys wrongfully conflates First Amendment-protected protests against Israel’s war in Gaza in an attempt to make “instrumentalized accusations of antisemitism to attack ideas it ideologically opposes.”
“As with all other forms of hatred and discrimination, antisemitism is unacceptable and should be confronted. The urgency of this issue is not disputed here. However, the records demanded by the committee are not substantially related to antisemitism,” they wrote.
The committee “trafficks in anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic dog whistles to justify unjustifiable intrusions on First Amendment rights,” according to the lawsuit.
The Trump administration has already stripped $400 million from the university, part of what the plaintiffs see as a part of the administration’s attempts “to chill and punish protected speech and protest activity,” lawyers added.
Plaintiffs said the records the committee seeks contain “demographic, academic, and financial information, and at most, personally identifying information, student group affiliations and associations, and related private information that could be and have been used to harass, make threats against, and dox the individuals whose records are turned over to the committee, and whose personal privacy and safety would be jeopardized by the committee’s politically charged investigation.”
Lawyers for Khalil are asking a judge to move him back to New York as they continue a legal challenge for his release, which has sparked international outcry and concerns over threats to First Amendment-protected dissent. Government lawyers have asked a judge to either dismiss the challenge or move the case to Louisiana.
