Judge Clears Columbia to Share Student Records with Congress

A federal judge has ruled against a group of pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University, including Mahmoud Khalil, who sought to block the university from sharing their records with a Republican-led House committee investigating anti-Semitism on college campuses. The judge, Arun Subramanian, found that the students did not meet the legal threshold to prevent the university from complying with the committee's requests, which include documents related to protests on campus. Khalil and his co-plaintiffs argued that the committee's actions threaten their privacy and First Amendment rights, describing the investigation as an attempt to suppress their political activism. In response, Rep. Tim Walberg called the ruling a victory for oversight, emphasizing the need to address anti-Semitism in educational institutions. The judge did stipulate that Columbia must notify the students and the court before sharing any further records. Currently, Columbia has stated it does not plan to release any additional records at this time.