WASHINGTON

The US Department of Education is launching a federal investigation into anti-Palestinian discrimination against students at New York’s Columbia University, the Palestinian advocacy group Palestine Legal said Thursday.

“Today @EDcivilrights announced @Columbia is under federal investigation for anti-Palestinian racism, including by inviting NYPD officers in riot gear to arrest Palestinian and associated students protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” Palestine Legal wrote in a X post.

“The law is clear— if universities do not cease their racist crackdowns against Palestinians and their supporters, they will risk losing federal funding” Palestine Legal senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath said in a statement.

The investigation comes a week after Palestine Legal filed a complaint claiming that Columbia University was engaging in discrimination against Palestinian students and those advocating for Gaza, accusing the university of creating an unsafe environment for those students.

Columbia University is under criticism for asking the New York Police Department to forcibly evict a group of students who staged an encampment on a campus lawn. Over 100 people were arrested on April 18, but the protesters quickly adapted and formed another sit-in.

They were forcibly removed on Tuesday night by police from that site, as well as a building they occupied.

The school has asked police to remain on campus until the day after its graduations conclude.