The court is expected to take months to deliver its opinion.
Mahdawi spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, a day after pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with campus security guards inside the university’s main library. At least 80 people were taken into custody, police said.Mahdawi said instead of being a “beacon of hope,” the university is inciting violence against students.
“Columbia University is participating in the destruction of the democratic system,” Mahdawi said in the interview. “They are supporting the initiatives and the agenda of the Trump administration, and they are punishing and torturing their students.”Mohsen Mahdawi, center, speaks during a press conference announcing the launch of the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund in the Cedar Creek Reception Room at the Vermont State House on Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Montpelier, Vt. (AP Photo/Alex Driehaus)Mohsen Mahdawi, center, speaks during a press conference announcing the launch of the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund in the Cedar Creek Reception Room at the Vermont State House on Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Montpelier, Vt. (AP Photo/Alex Driehaus)
A spokesperson for Columbia University, which in Marchsweeping policy changes related to protests following Trump administration
to revoke its federal funding, declined to comment Thursday beyond the response of the school’s acting president to Wednesday’s protests.
The acting president, Claire Shipman, said the protesters who had holed up inside a library reading room were asked repeatedly to show identification and to leave, but they refused. The school then asked police in “to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community,” she said in. It stipulates that their ties “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
The Dutch government intends to block the agreement pending an EU review into whether the Israeli government is complying with the pact, which entered force in 2000.Israel’s offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials. The officials do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel blames Hamas for the rising death toll in Gaza because it operates from civilian infrastructure, including schools.The latest bloodshed came days after Israel