NY Judge Overturns Disciplinary Actions Against Columbia Students Who Took Over Building in 2024
“the panel’s determinations that petitioners committed most of the charged disciplinary violations… are arbitrary and capricious”
In the spring of 2024, a group of anti-Israel students took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University. There were two custodians in the building at the time who ultimately sued the school, claiming they were basically held hostage.
Now a New York judge has overturned the disciplinary actions against these students. Once again, the radical left is untouchable.
FOX News reports:
Columbia University ‘occupiers’ who held staff hostage have discipline overturned by NY judge
A New York state Supreme Court judge has vacated disciplinary sanctions against 22 former and current Columbia University students who took over Hamilton Hall in April 2024 during anti-Israel protests.
Justice Gerald Lebovits ruled on Feb. 27, 2026, that the university had improperly relied on sealed arrest records in its internal disciplinary proceedings against the students and the sealed arrests were the only evidence students were in the building during the occupation.
“Ultimately, this court concludes that the underlying disciplinary determinations were not impermissibly delayed. But respondent’s internal hearing panel was statutorily barred from taking into account the fact that petitioners had been arrested in Hamilton Hall,” Lebovits wrote. “And the fact of 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… are arbitrary and capricious.”
The court further ruled that under the university’s own guidelines, students must be charged for their individual actions based on available evidence rather than the actions of a larger group.
“The court therefore declines petitioners’ request not only to annul the challenged determinations, but also to bar recommencement of disciplinary proceedings against them,” the order stated.
More from the Washington Free Beacon:
The students’ arrest records were sealed after Soros-backed Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg dropped trespassing charges against them. At the time, in June 2024, prosecutors argued that the students should get a pass because they did not have criminal histories and would face discipline at Columbia.
The students had challenged their expulsions under something known as an Article 78 proceeding, under which judges can review whether state agencies—or, in this case, university administrative and disciplinary bodies—have applied their own rules in an evenhanded manner. Lebovits said Columbia had not, because—among other reasons—it could not distinguish between varying levels of involvement and culpability among the students, thanks in part to their use of masks and keffiyehs and destruction of security cameras.
The university can either appeal the ruling by Lebovits, who also serves as a Columbia Law School adjunct professor, or work to discipline the students relying on different evidence.
The left keeps getting more extreme because every time something like this happens, they are allowed to get away with it. There are never any serious consequences.
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Comments
>The university can either appeal the ruling by Lebovits, who also serves as a Columbia Law School adjunct professor
How was that not a conflict of interest requiring recusal?
Answered in the opinion.
So Luigi could potentially earn redemption…
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=utRSxcC6DJ4&si=M8qYvOrKTXxekCRH
Would not surprise me in the least if Luigi walked free.
I was hoping for a successful appeal of losing the possibility of the death penalty
Tort reform must happen so insurers who act in gross negligence or.Actual bad faith or malice are held to account with the Luigi option not being the sole option
Luigi should be free, evidence was rigged, shooter not him,
^^^ Moron alert!
Seek help, you’re a danger to yourself and others.
He already has a musical on Broadway praising him. Really surprised they didn’t vote for him as their Governor.
“Lebovits, who also serves as a Columbia Law School adjunct professor,”
conflict? The leftist fox seems to be guarding the henhouse.
There’s no conflict, because he works for the law school, not for the university. But he did ask both parties whether they intended to move to recuse him, and both said they didn’t.
Do you not grasp that ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge’ isn’t a valid excuse?
He’s lying. He’s biased.
Jeez, Milhouse, we all know you’re ‘one of them’, but lately, you appear to be trying to prove that you’re among the stupidest of them.
Shut up you filthy piece of lying filth. There is no conflict. He does not work for the university. And he cited a ruling from the judicial ethics committee, which is the governing body on this topic.
Technically, there’s no conflict. In reality, there is a blinding appearance of impropriety.
That’s not what the judicial ethics committee says. Did you not read the quote I gave above?
A fine example of corruption in the judicial farce system.
What corruption? You saw the explanation he gave, which I posted above. He doesn’t work for the university, so there’s no conflict. He cited a ruling from the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics.
This paragraph needs more attention. He didn’t give them everything they wanted. Even if his ruling is not overturned, they can still recommence the proceedings if they find evidence that isn’t legally barred from use.
Barring the arrest records wasn’t this judge’s decision; he was faced with the situation as it is, that the records have been barred, and therefore can’t be used. And without them, where’s the evidence? It’s a catch-22.
Also, as the judge pointed out, even if the arrest records are admitted, all they prove about any individual student is that they were trespassing. The more specific charges can’t be made against any individual, because they don’t know who did what.
The obvious answer is to charge them all with acting in concert and hold them all responsible for all the damage and offenses committed, but that seems to violate the university’s own rules. “…Under the university’s own guidelines, students must be charged for their individual actions based on available evidence rather than the actions of a larger group.”
So I’m no lawyer but it seems like when the arrest records are barred from use that means use in a criminal proceeding because the DA dropped charges and not in a university disciplinary proceeding. I mean University officials saw them coming out of the building with handcuffs on. The very fact they had to be removed by police should show they violated university rules. It just seems completely upside down that the university officials can watch you being arrested in a building you are not supposed to be in and then say well they can’t prove you were in there.
No one watched them being removed, or at least there’s no record of it. The only record they have is the arrest record, and that is sealed so it can’t be used for any purpose. The university disciplinary committee is supposed to pretend it doesn’t know what’s in that record. That’s how sealing works. It’s supposed to be as if that record were never made in the first place.
Read the opinion.
That is by design. Places like NYC are starting to resemble Kampuchea, where the Khmer Rouge ran wild against “enemies of the people”. NYC judges and prosecutors have decided to join the genocidal mob. No way will more-Commie-than-thou university officials stand up to them now!
Remember that Mamdani was specifically elected to make NYC judenfrei. His voters could not possibly care less about the free stuff he also promised. What happened at Columbia is a tiny taste of the murder and mayhem to come.
Here’s the relevant bit about charging them as a group:
A bit later in the opinion:
So it’s the university’s own rules that are being applied here. Maybe it shouldn’t have made that rule.
Oh, if only those rules were applied to J6 defendants who just happened to be in the vicinity of the Capitol building on that fateful day.
FBLie created the issues, and peaceful protesters were round up and persecuted.
None of the J6 defendants were charged with what anyone else did. They were all charged, faiirly or unfairly, with what they did, and based on evidence specific to them.
But in any case it’s irrelevant, since they were not being charged under Columbia University’s internal rules. So this decision has nothing to do with them.
I know that to be untrue. They were several that were over charged and plead down because they knew that the fix was in on J6.
Others with the ability to afford representation had the excessive charges dropped.
Thank you!
^^^this^^^
Nonetheless they were each charged with what they themselves were supposed to have done, not with what someone else was supposed to have done. There were no group charges.
Also, they were not charged under the Columbia University rules, so they’re completely irrelevant to the topic. It’s like using the experience of someone in Texas to challenge a determination under Oklahoma law.
Charge them in federal court for kidnapping.
Every person that was in these buildings that were held hostage were, in fact, kidnapped.
Fun Fact: O.J. Simpson was actually convicted of kidnapping. Some of his sports memorabilia was stolen and he was able to track down the thieves when they tried to sell it – in a hotel room. He went with a few friends, held the thieves at gunpoint, and got his stolen stuff back. Where’s the kidnapping here? Jury unanimously concluded that since the thieves, the “victims” of the kidnapping case, were not free to leave then they were legally “kidnapped” for the duration of the hold up.
That seems quite the stretch to me. If that is kidnapping, then literally every mugging, armed robbery, etc would qualify for federal kidnapping charges.
For this Columbia University case though, I don’t think it is a stretch at all. The victims were literally held hostage.
Stop wasting time with school disciplinary actions, stop wasting time in NY State Courts. Hit them with federal charges.
Of course, the trial would still take place in NY and thanks to the absurd “blue slip” Senate tradition, virtually all of the federal judges in NY State are extremely libtarded. Jury pool in any trial held in NY City would be extremely biased in favor of the kidnappers as well.
Our legal system is a pathetic joke.
In regards of judicial corruption in cases of leftist violence the only solution is vigilante justice from a light pole with piano wire. That day will become reality very soon across the nation
Not soon enough.
Well said.
If there are no consequences to taking over a college campus and terrorizing it’s students/faculty we can only expect violent campus protests to increase. Of course, this Judge Lebovitz is isolated from the resultant chaos in his ivory courtroom tower.
The Caliphate – Disney Style Parody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf4mFXwpaI0&list=RDlf4mFXwpaI0&start_radio=1
“Stinky” Soros and Sons at “work” again.
Without addressing the technical aspects, when a state precludes justice, it prescribes INjustice. Thus the only choices for law abiding residents is either conceal carry – unlawful under NY law, or departing the state. And should they be forced to unconceal e.g. to protect their life or that of others, then they’ll need to seek immediate refuge in a Red state because NY will consider them a criminal, unlike Leftists who hijack buildings, take hostages, and spew anti-Semitism.
Seeking refuge in another state won’t help much, because NY can file for extradition, and the host state has no choice in the matter. Extradition to other states is not optional.
The courts are corrupt. The court officers are corrupt. The government is corrupt.
Perhaps it’s just time for the people to make their own decisions about what justice should be meted out. It’s obvious that the one sided Just Us system is useless.
One die can storm a building under the guise of “peaceful protest,” hold people hostage, and walk away unscathed.
It’s obvious that certain people can commit crimes, and never be held accountable for them. Yet others who do peacefully protest are identified, hounded, and convicted on BS charges and subjected to Soviet Style imprisonment.
Walk away from the justice system, and let the cards fall where they may.
It’s a sad day in theses United States.
I can’t believe there is not some video footage of what those students were doing.
That’s precisely the point. They wore masks and covered or destroyed the cameras, so there’s no way to prove which individual did what. They can’t be charged as a group for everything that anyone in the group did. And the only offense that they all committed is trespass, but the only evidence for that is the arrest record, which is sealed and therefore can’t be used even though everyone knows what’s in it.
Like it or not there’s structural barriers preventing consequences. Mainly in ID the individuals. Easily fixed IF the university wished. Set up far more cameras, ban covering the neck/face/head except for crown of head to include sunglasses and hoodie. Now we can see and ID with facial recognition. If this happens again surround the building, allow one exit only, use paint ball to mark each suspect on campus LEO entry. Everyone goes to jail for ID, booking. Make failure to ID to LEO/Univ Admin automatically expelled. Same for ‘occupying’ or disrupting a class, study session or speaking event, immediately notify ICE that X foreign student on a student visa has been expelled and their visa isn’t valid while the student is in custody. Maybe file civil claims against those who who do. IOW until the Univ is willing to get serious about hammering the folks who do this crap it won’t stop.
Also, change the ****ing rule that prevents charging them as a group.
Yep mob rule should not be immunized from penalties.
Meh, hold them for a couple days before arraignment dressed in ‘paper scrubs’ flip flops. Run their records, photo tattoos, review their entry into the USA and of course the wonderfully pleasant intake procedures at the jail facility. Probably find some bench warrant and unpaid parking/traffic fines. Get warrants to search their housing and vehicles. Same.for phone/email contacts ‘oh you are in contact with X group/person’. None of this separate holding area, kid glove, instant bond BS. Jail is where folks get held pre trial dominant to rub shoulders with them? Don’t get arrested.
Um, the university can’t do any of that. It’s not a government entity and has no police power.
Leave it to another New York judge to basically enable terrorism by letting them off.
What else should he have done? The university’s rules are what they are, and NY law says that sealed evidence can’t be used.
While Milhouse and others argue the “legal” nuances of this insanity, let me suggest a more direct action: street justice. Karma is a powerful force.
Lead poisoning injection through. 9 mm needle.
thank you
the left is untouchable
the left begs for violence
the same as iran and blmplo hamas does
so when is a hostage not a hostage,,then??
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, or refrain from acting, in a certain way, often under threat of serious physical harm
The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition defines a hostage as “a person who is handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war.” A party who seizes one or more hostages is known as a hostage-taker; if the hostages are present voluntarily, then th
I wouldn’t put much stock in that definition. If you insist on it, then I will have to insist that by the same token, a victim of kidnap can be, but is not necessarily, a hostage.
A woman forced at gunpoint to accompany you to an ATM and withdraw money for you is a kidnap victim, but no other party is compelled. Same for a woman pushed into a car, taken to a remote area, and raped.
The Britannica’s version starts with the most antique definition of all for a hostage — the voluntary or arranged hostage. It’s archaic.
if you are kidnapped
you are a hostage
Sounds like the time for a little academic fun like my university always did to me. If you break *one* test tube, it becomes a fine that *must* be paid before you can enroll or get your transcript. In this case, they broke security cameras. Bill them as a fine, $X dollars divided by Y students = The Amount. No email, no notification, just add it to their record and wait. When they go to enroll (if they do), they’re stopped cold. They can appeal, but the fine has to be paid first, and you only get it back if the appeal is successful. The appeals process requires multiple attendances at multiple meetings, lasts for hours…oh, and their lawyers are billing by the hour. And then there is an inconsistency in the appeal and it has to go back through the process again….and again….
The university can’t charge any of them for the damage, because it can’t prove who did it. Each one can claim he had nothing to do with that, and the university can’t prove otherwise.