Just as summer vacation is getting underway, students at Columbia University in New York are left dealing with a raft of looming disciplinary charges from their participation in campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. But some students at the school said 11th-hour changes to disciplinary procedures are making it harder for students to defend themselves.
On Wednesday night, a group of Columbia Law students wrote a 32-page letter addressed to Columbia administrators that accused the university of imposing “egregious and draconian restrictions on the already non-existent due process protections.”
“Over the past year, we’ve seen Columbia really weaponize its disciplinary process against students speaking out for Palestinian human rights.”
The letter charges the school with letting a newly created office impose unprecedented rules that infringe upon student protections, including by preventing…