BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- The NY Supreme Court ruled against Columbia University for disciplining student activists based on sealed arrest records, deeming the use of such evidence arbitrary and capricious.
- The court found that the university's disciplinary panel failed to hold students accountable for individual actions, as the evidence only indicated they were present during the occupation, not that they participated in it.
- The university is currently reviewing its options following the ruling, which could include an appeal or an attempt to re-discipline the students with different evidence.
The New York Supreme Court ruled Friday against Columbia University’s decision to discipline student activists who occupied a building on campus, as the school illegally used sealed arrest records as evidence.
“Petitioners’ sealed arrests was the only evidence before the hearing panel that petitioners were in Hamilton Hall while it was occupied. As a result, the panel’s determinations that petitioners committed most of the charged disciplinary violations (as affirmed on administrative appeal) are arbitrary and capricious,” the ruling reads.
The court denied the school’s request to dismiss the case and granted the students their request of “canceling (vacating) the disciplinary decisions and punishments that were challenged,” according to the ruling by New York State Supreme Court justice Gerald Lebovits.
He also stated that even if the arrest records were allowed as evidence, they would only prove that the students were inside Hamilton Hall while it was occupied, not that they participated in the occupation.
The judge ruled that the school’s own rules require each individual to be held accountable only for their own specific actions rather than for the conduct of the group as a whole.
In April 2024, around three dozen protesters smashed windows, barricaded doors, and pledged to stay until the university agreed to divest from Israel, The College Fix reported.
Several students also reported being assaulted by protesters trying to enter the building. As a result, Columbia implemented lockdowns, temporarily moved classes online, and canceled its 2024 graduation ceremony.
Columbia disciplined 22 current and former students connected to the Hamilton Hall occupation. These punishments included expulsions, suspensions, and the revocation of degrees for some, according to The New York Times.
However, administrators didn’t discipline the students until March 2025, “when the students’ arrest records were sealed,” The Washington Free Beacon reported.
The students later challenged their expulsions through a New York legal process called Article 78 that allows courts to review whether government or university bodies applied their own rules fairly and consistently.
Now, the school can either appeal Judge Lebovits’s decision or attempt to re-discipline the students using different evidence.
“Columbia is reviewing the Court’s ruling from last Friday,” a university spokesperson told the Free Beacon.
“The order does not take effect for at least 30 days, and no student who was disciplined for the occupation of Hamilton Hall can return to campus at this time. Columbia is considering all of its options, including seeking a stay of the order and appealing the decision,” the spokesperson said.
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