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Metro

12 SUSPENDED COLUMBIA STUDENTS REINSTATED JUST DAYS AFTER ANTI-ISRAEL PROTEST,
AS LAWYER VOWS TO TAKE ‘FASCIST’ SCHOOL TO NY SUPREME COURT

By Olivia Land

Published April 23, 2024, 10:46 a.m. ET

Twelve Columbia University students who were suspended over an anti-Israel event
on campus last month had their punishments lifted shortly after, their lawyer
claimed — as the school continues to weather backlash over its handling of
protesters on and near the Morningside Heights campus.

About 16 students were initially suspended for failing to provide information
about “a host of student activities,” including an “unauthorized” teach-in on
the history of Palestinian resistance on March 24, Stanley Cohen told the
Village Sun.

The university suspected that the March 24 teach-in titled “Resistance 101”
spotlighted a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which
is a US-designated terrorist organization, the Spectator reported.

4
Lawyer Stanley Cohen says he plans too sue ‘fascist’ Columbia University. AFP
via Getty Images
4
Columbia University students punished and suspended over their participation at
an anti-Israel event on campus last month had their punishments lifted shortly
after, their lawyer claimed. James Keivom

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Cohen claimed he got 12 of the suspensions thrown out – though the Columbia
Daily Spectator previously reported that only six students were suspended, two
of whom were quickly reinstated.

“I spoke to 16 students who were suspended — the grand total was initially 16 —
unless I was hallucinating about it and spent 40 hours talking to ghosts,”
scoffed Cohen, who said he was working on the case pro bono.

Columbia did not immediately return The Post’s request for clarification about
the incident.

Cohen said taking the case to the New York Supreme Court as an issue of free
speech.

“Speech, no matter how unpopular it may be, is the essence of academia. Protest
against Zionism in Israel is pure protected speech. … If Jewish students are
made uncomfortable by it, f— them!” Cohen, who was raised in an Orthodox Jewish
home, told the Village Sun.

“Speech is supposed to make you uncomfortable. This is not lighting candles and
kumbaya. … All speech is protected unless the imminent intent is to commit
violence — like shouting ‘Fire!’ in a crowded movie theater,” he added.

“These are students that have been targeted for activism. It had nothing to do
with the teach-in.”

Cohen was kicked out of Columbia when he was a student, after transferring there
fro Long Island University, he told the outlet.

4
Student activists are arrested at Columbia last week. Matthew McDermott for NY
Post

“I got f—ing suspended from Columbia 50 years ago. I got thrown out of Columbia
after a week for anti-war protesting,” he lamented.

“Columbia is fascist,” he said.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE ANTISEMITISM CONTROVERSY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY:

* Columbia University president Minouche Shafik was accused of “gross
negligence” while testifying before the House Education and Workforce
Committee about antisemitic incidents at the school and pro-Palestinian
indoctrination. Shafik defended the school’s response after Oct. 7, but
refused to tell lawmakers at the hearing if the phrase “From the river to the
sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic.
* Shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks, more than 100 Columbia professors signed a
letter defending students who support the “military action” by Hamas.
* In February, an antisemitic poster depicting Israel as a skunk appeared on
campus — which experts liken to a propaganda poster used by the Nazis in
World War II.

* While the congressional hearing was in progress, Columbia students erected 60
tents on campus to demand that the university divest from Israel. One of the
leaders of the protests, Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was suspended
from Barnard College — a women’s college affiliated with Columbia.
* On Thursday, more than 100 other protesters were arrested after Shafik
announced the campus’s closure.
* Columbia canceled in-person classes on April 22 as the protests continued.
Israeli-born professor Shai Davidai was barred from campus after he attempted
to lead a pro-Jewish rally.
* Every New York House GOP lawmaker demanded that Shafik resign immediately for
failing to crack down on the “large unauthorized antisemitic riot” on campus.
Columbia University’s Jewish Alumni Association also called for Shafik’s
resignation.

Shortly after Cohen’s conversation with the Village Sun, Columbia’s campus made
international headlines when a group of students built up a Gaza Solidarity
Encampment on one of the main lawns.

The group was warned to evacuate several times before NYPD officers entered the
area and arrested over 100 participants.

4
Columbia’s campus has been divided as protests continued for nearly seven days.
James Keivom

In the week since in the incident, the Ivy League university has come under fire
for failing to adequately discipline those whose statements and behaviors are
perceived as threatening to Jewish members of the community.

Cohen himself dismissed the 10 Cooper Union students who sued the art school for
supposedly failing to protect them during an October protest by anti-Israel
students as simply “butthurt.”

“They peed their pants because there were people saying, ‘Death to Israel,’” he
shrugged. “I have no sympathy for people that are hurt by words. Zero.”

Cohen made his name by representing members of Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as a
family member of Osama bin Laden, the Village Sun noted.

What do you think? Post a comment.

When asked about his stance on Israel’s counterattack on the Gaza Strip
following the Oct. 7 attack, Cohen said it was “genocide.”

“I’ve been accusing Israel of genocide for 50 years,” he added.

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