Columbia University paid for Khymani James, its now-infamous anti-Semitic student who fantasized on video about "murdering Zionists," to return home at the height of the spring encampment that plagued Columbia's campus, according to a new lawsuit. An "associate dean at Columbia" called James, the suit says, to express "concern about his safety" before the school "bought James a train ticket to Boston."
James filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Ivy League institution, accusing it of using "anti-Palestinian bias" to discriminate against him in favor of "Zionist Jewish" students. He made international headlines in April when video surfaced of him saying that "Zionists don't deserve to live" and that Columbia officials should be "grateful that I'm not just going out and murdering Zionists."
Columbia responded by banning James from its Morningside Heights campus and announcing his "interim suspension." At the time, a Columbia administrator contacted James to arrange his departure from New York City, according to the suit—not because of his suspension, which was not leveled until a day later, but because of safety concerns.
"On April 25, 2024, James was contacted by Columbia University. In a phone conversation with an associate dean at Columbia, both James and the associate dean expressed concern about his safety," reads the suit, filed in the New York State Supreme Court. "Columbia bought James a train ticket to Boston for the evening of April 25, 2024." One day later, the school sent James a letter stating his "immediate interim suspension" and ban from campus.
The lawsuit could prove embarrassing for Columbia as it moves forward with its fall semester following former president Minouche Shafik's August resignation. It could also embolden anti-Semitic protesters should James succeed in the case, which seeks "damages and other relief for Columbia's wilful misuse of its student conduct system to discriminate against ... James." Columbia's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, has expressed support for such protesters, apologizing for the "harm" caused by police sweeps used to restore order on campus following the encampment James participated in.
Asked to confirm if Columbia used university funds to book James’s travel home, a spokeswoman told the Washington Free Beacon it would not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit states that James's suspension is active. It goes on to describe James as a victim of "anti-Palestinian bias," accusing Columbia of privileging "‘Zionist Jewish’ people over everyone on campus who does not share their views."
"First, James as a person of color is squarely within a protected class of black and brown-skinned students who have been the major targets of Columbia’s disciplinary actions arising from pro-Palestinian expression," the suit reads. "Secondly, James has been a victim of Columbia’s anti-Palestinian bias, severely punished, though not himself Palestinian, as a supporter of the rights of the Palestinian people."
"Third, James has been a victim of reverse discrimination, as Columbia privileges a class of self-described ‘Zionist Jewish’ people over everyone on campus who does not share their views."
James served as a leader of the unlawful tent encampment that disrupted university life at the close of the last academic year. In an April 21 incident, he mobilized participants to remove "Zionists" who he said entered the encampment.
"Repeat after me! We have Zionists! Who have entered the camp!" James chanted. He led students in forming a "human chain" to slowly push the "Zionists" out of the area.
'We have Zionists who have entered the camp" — Columbia students eject Jews from the quad pic.twitter.com/rdNjbR5zxx
— Luke Tress (@luketress) April 22, 2024
Although James did not participate in the violent occupation of a campus building days later, he played a key role in organizing the encampment and briefly served as a spokesman for Columbia University Apartheid Divest. Following media attention to his anti-Semitic statements, he stepped down from his public-facing duties, and the student group released a statement on his behalf. In that statement, James blamed "far-right agitators" for taking the inflammatory video out of context.
"Khymani’s words in January do not reflect his views, our values, nor the encampment’s community agreements," the group said. "We are students with a right to learn and grow. In the same way, some of us were once Zionists and are now anti-Zionists, we believe unlearning is always possible and that no human being is static."
James announced the lawsuit in a Friday post on X, accusing the school of "cowering to billionaire donors and fascist politicians." While arguing in the suit that without housing from Columbia he would be "homeless," James flaunted a recent trip to Puerto Rico, where he rode around on a jet ski.
Columbia has faced several anti-Israel protests since the start of the new school year. On the first day of classes, Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter prevented students from entering campus. Another protest group, Unity of Fields, took credit for dumping red paint on Columbia's bronze Alma Mater statue. The group said it did so "in full support of the Palestinian resistance" and would not stop until it achieved "the total collapse of the university structure and American empire itself."