By: Fern Sidman

A federal judge in Manhattan has issued a temporary order preventing Columbia University and Barnard College from turning over student disciplinary records to a Republican-led House committee, marking a significant development in the intensifying legal and political battle over campus protests related to the Israel–Hamas conflict. As reported by The Associated Press on Thursday, this decision comes as both institutions face mounting federal pressure tied to allegations of antisemitism and institutional accountability.

The order, handed down by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, blocks the universities from complying with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s demand for student records—at least until a formal hearing is held next week. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, during which the judge will consider a broader request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) from students seeking to protect their privacy and constitutional rights.

At the heart of the legal dispute is Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student who was arrested and now faces possible deportation for his involvement in campus demonstrations against Israel. Alongside other students—identified in the lawsuit only by pseudonyms—Khalil filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month, seeking to permanently block Congress from forcing the universities to disclose disciplinary records.

According to The AP report, the lawsuit names not only Columbia and Barnard as defendants but also targets the House committee itself and its chairman, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), arguing that such a demand constitutes an overreach of congressional authority and poses a serious threat to student rights.

The lawsuit comes in direct response to a letter sent last month by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, demanding that Columbia and Barnard hand over detailed disciplinary records of students involved in pro-Hamas protests. The report in the AP noted that the letter also carried an explicit warning: failure to comply could put billions of dollars in federal funding at risk, a high-stakes move that has drawn sharp criticism from students, faculty, and academic freedom advocates.

This legal clash also unfolds against the backdrop of broader political and regulatory demands. The AP reported that Columbia University is under growing pressure from the Trump administration, which has already withheld $400 million in federal funding and presented a list of sweeping reforms the school must implement to remain eligible for future support.

These demands include placing Columbia’s Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under academic receivership for five years, adopting a new definition of antisemitism, and overhauling the university’s admissions practices.

The political and legal turmoil has sparked a vocal response from Columbia’s academic community. As the AP report highlighted, a group of history professors issued a letter on Thursday criticizing what they described as “authoritarian” attempts to coerce academic institutions into compliance through political and financial pressure.

“Should this control be realized, here or elsewhere, it would make any real historical scholarship, teaching and intellectual community impossible,” the professors wrote in a public letter shared widely on social media platforms. Indicated in the AP report was that they emphasized that this moment is “fundamentally different” from past conflicts over academic freedom, such as the university’s dismissal of faculty during World War I or the 1936 expulsion of a student who led anti-Nazi protests.

The professors warned that current federal interventions jeopardize the ability of scholars to think critically and teach freely, asserting that academic freedom cannot be sacrificed in the name of compliance.

In response to the escalating tensions, Columbia University officials referred the media to a statement released a day earlier by President Katrina Armstrong. The AP reported that in the statement, Armstrong struck a delicate balance between cooperating with federal regulators and preserving the institution’s foundational values.

“We will continue to engage in constructive dialogue with our federal regulators, including on efforts to address antisemitism, harassment and discrimination,” she wrote, as quoted in the AP report. “But we will not waver from our principles and the values of academic freedom and free expression that have guided this institution for the last 270 years.”

Armstrong further noted that the university welcomes “legitimate questions about our practices and progress”, but emphasized that Columbia “will never compromise our values of pedagogical independence, our commitment to academic freedom, or our obligation to follow the law.”