The StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice announced on March 5 that it has reached a confidential settlement with Columbia University in a federal lawsuit alleging the school failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitism on campus.
The agreement, reached Feb. 27, resolves claims brought by Students Against Antisemitism, SCLJ and a majority of the student plaintiffs in Students Against Antisemitism, Inc. et al. v. Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York et al. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The lawsuit, first filed in February 2024, alleged that Columbia allowed a hostile environment for Jewish students and did not adequately enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin.
Under the settlement terms disclosed by SCLJ, Columbia has agreed to appoint a Title VI coordinator responsible for overseeing compliance with federal civil rights law and to implement enhanced education and training programs on antisemitism. The university also said it will consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism in enforcing its anti-discrimination policies and will provide scholarships for students who have lived, studied or worked in Israel.
Oleg Ivanov, executive director of the SCLJ, told JNS that the settlement “follows recent agreements by other educational institutions, which have acknowledged the issue of campus antisemitism and adopted measures, which, if properly implemented, will meaningfully address the problem.”
The initiatives that the university agreed to as part of the settlement “help to ensure that Jewish and Israeli students and faculty are treated as equal and valuable members of the campus community,” Ivanov said.
He added that “it is critical that other schools follow suit to ensure that those responsible for handling complaints of antisemitism on campus are trained and well-versed in the nuances of these identity-based attacks, which include contemporary forms of antisemitism, like anti-Zionism.”
Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia, stated that “this settlement is an important step—one of many needed—to promote healing within our community.”
“I am grateful to the members of our community who have provided and will continue to provide constructive ideas as we chart our path forward,” she added.
