Columbia University settles with Jewish student who sued over hostile environment on campus

Columbia University reached a settlement with a Jewish student who sued in late April, claiming the Ivy League university failed to provide a safe environment.

Columbia University has settled with a Jewish student who sued in late April, claiming the Ivy League university failed to provide a safe environment. It’s one of the first such settlements reached as the university faces lawsuits and investigations from Jewish, Palestinian, Arab and pro-Palestinian students for allegedly failing to protect them after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel heightened tensions on US college campuses. In late April, a lawsuit from the anonymous student said that their education had been disrupted by a hostile environment on campus, when pro-Palestinian protesters put up encampments on Columbia’s lawn protesting Israel’s war in Gaza and also occupied Hamilton Hall, a building on campus. As part of the settlement, Columbia said it is providing 24/7 walking escorts and safe entrances to campus. The settlement also said the school agreed to provide accommodations “for students who were displaced from campus and couldn’t finish exams or other important assignments” after Columbia announced a hybrid learning model in late April. Columbia also created a “Safe Passage Liaison,” who will manage and coordinate the safe passage escorts. Columbia president Minouche Shafik acknowledged in a statement in April that many Jewish students and other students have “found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks.”