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Text Content

NEWS | ADMINISTRATION


NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION THREATENS TO SUE COLUMBIA OVER ‘UNLAWFUL’ SJP AND
JVP SUSPENSIONS


THE ORGANIZATION GAVE COLUMBIA UNTIL MARCH 1 TO RESPOND “BEFORE THE NYCLU IS
PREPARED TO MOVE FORWARD WITH LEGAL ACTION.”

BY GABRIELLA GREGOR SPLAVER / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE UNIVERSITY SUSPENDED THE COLUMBIA CHAPTERS OF STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN
PALESTINE AND JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE ON NOV. 10, 2023.
BY SARAH HUDDLESTON AND SHEA VANCE • FEBRUARY 23, 2024 AT 10:35 AM
SHARE

Updated Feb. 23 at 5:44 p.m.

The New York Civil Liberties Union announced in a Friday news release that it is
prepared to sue Columbia if it does not reinstate and reverse the “unlawful”
suspensions of the Columbia chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and
Jewish Voice for Peace.

The organization sent a letter to University President Minouche Shafik, Senior
Executive Vice President Gerald Rosberg, and General Counsel Felice Rosan on
Thursday, giving the University until March 1 to respond “before the NYCLU is
prepared to move forward with legal action.”

“We write to demand reversal of the university’s suspension decision and
immediate reinstatement of the student groups,” the letter reads. “If the
university is unwilling to reverse its suspension decision and reinstate the
groups, the NYCLU is prepared to file a lawsuit to vindicate their rights.”

A University spokesperson declined to comment on the prospect of legal action
and pointed to the language in the new interim policy on safe demonstrations,
released on Monday.

“The right of students, faculty, and staff to express their views is the
cornerstone of our academic community,” the policy reads. “We are committed to
free and open debate, and the principle that the right to speak applies equally
to everyone, regardless of their viewpoint. Just as every member of our
community has this right, they also have a corresponding responsibility not to
interfere with the rights of others to speak, study, teach, and learn.”

The interim demonstration policy established designated protest areas and times
and altered the disciplinary channels for student groups and individuals found
in violation of the policy. The policy was created in “consultation” with the
University Senate’s executive committee, but was not reviewed by the entire
senate.

Columbia suspended SJP and JVP on Nov. 10, 2023, citing repeated violations of
the University Event Policy and the use of “threatening rhetoric and
intimidation.” Seventeen days prior, top administrators unilaterally revised its
events policies to hand the University “sole discretion” to determine “final and
not appealable” sanctions on student groups and their individual members. The
Student Group Adjudication Board and the University Judicial Board previously
held the sole power to discipline student groups and individuals, respectively.

[Read more: Columbia updated its event policy webpages. Seventeen days later, it
suspended SJP and JVP.]



The NYCLU’s letter states that “the disciplinary actions of any university in
New York against its students or student organizations must proceed in
accordance with the university’s own rules and guidelines,” as upheld in the New
York Supreme Court case Matter of Harris v. Trustees of Columbia Univ.

“The decision by members of senior university leadership to immediately suspend
SJP and JVP for allegedly violating a procedural rule was a substantial
departure from the university’s established procedures for engaging with and
sanctioning student groups,” the letter reads.

SJP and JVP are recognized under the Student Governing Board, one of six
governing bodies responsible for overseeing and financially supporting all
recognized student organizations. In cases of alleged misconduct, SGB refers its
member groups to the Student Group Adjudication Board. According to the letter,
SGAB has the jurisdiction to oversee violations of Undergraduate Student Life
policy and University policy.

“Had the university followed its existing processes, as it was required to do,
the student groups would have been afforded several protections, including an
opportunity to appeal the final decision,” the letter reads. “Because it failed
to follow its own rules, Columbia University must reverse the suspensions and
reinstitute the student groups.”

The letter also claims that Columbia’s “public accusation” that the groups used
“threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” as stated in the email announcing their
suspension, “raises serious concerns that the university’s unprecedented actions
were improperly motivated by the student groups’ political stance in support of
Palestinian rights.”

“By publicly pronouncing the students’ November 9 conduct as ‘threatening’ and
‘intimidating,’ the university perpetuated already pervasive and dangerous
stereotypes about Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and individuals—particularly
other people of color—who advocate for Palestinian rights in general,” the
letter reads.

Section 440 of the Rules of University Conduct—the document’s affirmative
statement—outlines a robust protection of free expression and the right to
protest, specifying only two limitations by which the University may restrict
speech, both of which must be “narrowly construed.”

Columbia “reasonably regulates the time, place, and manner of certain forms of
public expression” and “may restrict expression that constitutes a genuine
threat of harassment, that unjustifiably invades an individual’s privacy, or
that falsely defames a specific individual,” according to Section 440.

The University may not “limit discussion because the ideas expressed might be
thought offensive, immoral, disrespectful, or even dangerous.”



University News Editor Sarah Huddleston can be contacted at
sarah.huddleston@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec.

University News Editor Shea Vance can be contacted at
shea.vance@columbiaspectator.com. Follow her on X @SheaVance22.

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