Inside Columbia’s Crackdown on Pro-Palestinian Free Speech

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Universities should be havens for robust debate, discussion, and learning – not sites of censorship where administrators, donors, and politicians squash political discourse they don't approve of. But Columbia University recently violated New York law to single out and suspend two student groups for participating in a peaceful student demonstration and temporary art installation in support of Palestinian rights.

That's why the NYCLU and Palestine Legal sued Columbia.

These student groups – Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace – were peacefully speaking out on a critical global conflict, only to have Columbia ignore its own longstanding, existing rules and abruptly suspend the organizations. The protest was sponsored by a coalition of over 20 groups, yet none of the other groups involved faced disciplinary action.

That's retaliatory, it's targeted, and it flies in the face of the free speech principles that institutes of higher learning should be defending. We talk about this case with two NYCLU lawyers who brought the lawsuit. We also hear from two students who are plaintiffs in the case, Maryam Alwan, an organizer with Columbia’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and Cameron Jones, an organizer with Columbia’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Since we recorded this episode several New York colleges and universities – including Columbia – have started pro-Palestine protest encampments. In some cases, students have also occupied campus buildings. The NYCLU continues to monitor these developments and has spoken out about the police crackdowns against them. This episode, however, is specifically focused on our lawsuit challenging Columbia’s decision last year to unlawfully suspend Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine.

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The NYCLU’s case against Columbia: https://www.nyclu.org/court-cases/columbia-students-justice-palestine-jewish-voice-peace-v-columbia-university

NYCLU’s commentary on the police crackdown on pro-Palestinian student protesters https://www.nyclu.org/commentary/pro-palestinian-campus-protests-shouldnt-be-snuffed-out-by-police

For more on everything we discuss in this episode, visit https://www.nyclu.org/

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