The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) recently made a court filing in an attempt to prevent Columbia University from disclosing records about pro-Palestine student activists in response to a congressional probe.
A copy of the filing has been published online by The Washington Free Beacon.
The document was filed in the Southern District of New York on April 9.
In March, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) requested that Columbia disclose records about its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). In its court filing, CAIR argued that disclosing the records might have negative consequences for anti-Israel student demonstrators.
According to the organization’s website, CAIR is currently representing several Columbia student activists, including Mahmoud Khalil, who faces deportation from the Trump administration.
In its April 9 filing, CAIR wrote that Columbia should “share” the same documents with the student demonstrators that it intends to disclose to the HELP committee.
CAIR’s filing, which was intended to prevent records about pro-Palestine activists from being released, is in response to the HELP committee’s March 26 request that Columbia share documents about its SJP group with Congress.
“Please provide a detailed account of incidents on Columbia’s campus involving SJP, including any that contributed to Columbia’s decision to suspend the group,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the HELP committee chairman, said in his March 26 letter to Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong. “Your response should include all violations of campus policy, threats to campus safety, and antisemitic threats directed at Columbia students.”
“Please provide all records in the university’s possession related to SJP and its on campus activities,” Cassidy continued.
Campus Reform has covered the federal government’s stripping the funding of hundreds of millions of dollars from Columbia after numerous complaints about anti-Semitism at the school, including anti-Semitic chants on campus and anti-Israel protests in classroom buildings.
The Trump administration accused the university of “fundamentally fail[ing] to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment.”
Campus Reform has contacted CAIR and Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
