Columbia U. cant punish anti-Israel students who took over Hamilton Hall: court

Nearly two dozen anti-Israel students arrested for violently occupying a Columbia University building in 2024 just dodged the sanctions slapped on them by the school thanks to a new court ruling.The New York Supreme Court found that the Ivy League institution improperly used sealed arrest records as the basis for handing out suspensions, expulsions and degree revocations to the students, who participated in the dangerous chaotic takeover of Hamilton Hall, during which two janitors were assaulted and held captive.Justice Gerald Lebovits, a Democrat, said in a ruling that the punishments the university handed down were “arbitrary and capricious” and that the students’ arrest records only proved that they were physically inside Hamilton Hall during the occupation.“The record did not, however, contain evidence that [students] themselves acted to endanger Hamilton Hall or University property within Hamilton,” he wrote.A Columbia rep told The Post that the university is reviewing the ruling and weighing its response.“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,’’ the representative said.“Columbia is considering all of its options, including seeking a stay of the order and appealing the decision.”Dozens of people were arrested in connection to the melee, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office dismissed charges against 31 of the 46 arrested and ordered their records sealed, citing lack of evidence.The dismissals quickly drew fury from rank-and-file NYPD officers, higher-education officials and Jewish leaders who told The Post the dismissals were nothing more than “turnstile justice.”During the agitators’ 22-hour takeover April 30, 2024, the mob — many of them clad in keffiyehs and masks — barricaded themselves inside the library, smashed windows and hung a banner reading “Intifada” from a second-story window.The ...