Columbia University encampment organizer Khymani James, who has fantasized about "murdering Zionists," could return to campus this fall, even though the Ivy League university promised he would be expelled.
Columbia revealed in a Dec. 17 court filing that it sent James a letter in August denying his request to lift his April 2024 suspension following a stretch of anti-Semitic activities and remarks, such as participating in illegal encampments and saying Zionists "don't deserve to live." While the letter rejected his bid to reenroll in the fall 2025 semester, it also said he "will be eligible to reapply to return for the Fall 2026 semester."
That flatly contradicts what Columbia told Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) when she chaired the House Committee on Education and Workforce. In September, she said the university "made a direct statement to me that Khymani James would be expelled for his antisemitic rhetoric - my committee staff at the time were present as well when the statement was made."
Columbia did not return a request for comment.
Keeping the door open for James appears to stand at odds with Columbia's pledge to rein in campus anti-Semitism. The decision on whether to welcome him back in the fall could serve as an early test for the university's incoming president, Jennifer Mnookin, who will step into the role around when the school will make a determination. As Columbia's fourth president in two years, Mnookin's appointment comes at a tumultuous time as the university continues to recover from a protracted battle with the Trump administration over campus anti-Semitism.
Columbia submitted the August letter as part of a discrimination lawsuit James filed against the university in September 2024, claiming his suspension was a response to his anti-Israel views. Leading up to his suspension, James served as a protest leader and was filmed saying, "university officials should be grateful that I'm not just going out there and murdering Zionists."
Columbia, in its August 2025 letter, wrote that James had "not demonstrate[d] a clear understanding of the impact [his] conduct had on members of the University community" or shown that he had a clear plan to "avoid future violations."
"[Y]our use of language tending to reaffirm those statements during your suspension raises serious concerns about your readiness to return to Columbia and engage with others appropriately," the letter added. It pointed to his October 2024 post denying that he ever apologized for his anti-Semitic remarks, writing on social media, "anything I said, I meant it."
James, in response, sent an appeal to Columbia dean Josef Sorett, arguing that his post was merely quoting a song. Tweeting lyrics, he said, is "customary for Black artists, rappers in particular." James explained that it wasn't a "reference to a past remark I made," rather it was "specifically in regards to the apology that people thought was mine, but actually wasn't."
In other words, he was reiterating that he never made the apology issued by the anti-Semitic Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) over his threatening remarks. Regardless, the group later backpedaled, apologized to James, who served as its spokesman, and released a statement saying "liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance" and "violence is the only path forward." James thanked his "comrades" for their "beautiful, powerful" words and said he "couldn't agree more" with the endorsement of violence.
James also used his letter to Sorett to accuse Columbia of "taking orders from the fascist Trump administration" and pressing "McCarthy-type questions" about his affiliation with CUAD. He claimed, "of course I am tolerant of differing viewpoints."
James added that denying him fall enrollment will "once again render me homeless, throwing me further into a life of poverty and instability."
"Every job I've applied for over the past year has denied me," he wrote.
The letter wasn't dated, but it was filed with the court on Jan. 21.
Just weeks after Columbia denied his reenrollment, meanwhile, James posted responses to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. "More. MORE!!!" he wrote, adding, "Down with all the fascists."
"'[B]e careful what you post' and it's people rightfully celebrating the inevitable and just fate of fascists. anywho… NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKED," James posted.
He has since deleted those posts, but those remarks spurred Foxx to share Columbia's promise to expel James.
"He was not expelled. Nothing was done. Columbia, you have failed again, again, and again," she wrote.
James's high school activism was likely a central point on his original application to Columbia, which prides itself as "the activist Ivy." He served as a representative on Boston's School Committee, which voted in his senior year to eliminate entrance exams and instead use zip codes to determine student placement. James said that method was "the best route to diversifying our exam schools." He also told a local news outlet his "ultimate destination is Congress," which he said would involve "changing the way people think and getting us to dismantle a lot of the systems of oppression."
"'Cause I believe that’s what I was put on this earth to do," James added.
