An Orthodox Columbia University graduate student who allegedly was forced out of an elite program at the School of Social Work because she requested religious and safety accommodations has filed suit against the university.

The suit was filed on behalf of Mackenzie Forrest by the Lawfare Project and Manhattan law firm of Eiseman Levine Lehrhaupt and Kakoyiannis, P.C.

Ziporah Reich, Lawfare’s director of litigation, said the right to an education where a student feels physically safe is “a fundamental non-negotiable right protected by law.”

The suit charges the Ivy League university “unleashed a retaliatory campaign” against Forrest “fabricating false pretexts for kicking her out of a program where she was a straight-A student,” said Reich in a phone interview.

Lawfare is an organization dedicated to protecting the civil and human rights of Jewish people worldwide through legal action.

The suit is seeking injunctive relief and money damages based on federal, state and common law claims arising out of the “pervasively hostile environment Mackenzie has been subjected to and Columbia’s unlawful discrimination and retaliation against her because of her status as a Jew.”

“The university’s failure to provide Mackenzie with a basic accommodation to ensure her safety is not only shameful, but a dereliction of the university’s moral and legal responsibilities,” noted Reich. “Such negligence demands accountability.”

She added that Columbia has “a serious history of allowing antisemitism to thrive on campus and not shutting it down.”

Although the university can’t comment on pending litigation, spokesperson Samantha Slater noted in a statement that President Minouche Shafik has repeatedly said, “We will not tolerate antisemitic actions and are moving forcefully against antisemitic threats, images, and other violations as they are reported, and we will continue to provide additional resources to protect our campuses.”

To address the root causes of antisemitism, she wrote that the university president had formed a task force on antisemitism “to enhance our ability to address this ancient, but terribly resilient, form of hatred. In the coming months, the task force will identify practical ways to enhance support for all members of the Columbia, Barnard, and Teachers College communities, particularly our Jewish students. Longer term, it will recommend changes related to academic and extracurricular offerings and administrative policies.”

Reich said that Forrest, who is from Florida, specifically came to Columbia in August 2022 to enroll in its highly specialized dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) program.

“We don’t know of any other school of social work that offers this program,” said Reich, adding that acceptance into the graduate school doesn’t guarantee acceptance into the DBT program. “Only students who excel can apply to it and be accepted.”

However, because Forrest was a straight-A student in the general program she was immediately accepted when she applied to the DBT program.

“That’s when the trouble began,” said Reich.

During an initial “antisemitic” encounter after her acceptance she reportedly told the head of the program she would need a Sabbath accommodation for its required “suicide weekend” devoted to dealing with suicidal individuals and was told, “This is a problem.”

“Schools routinely make accommodations for students’ religious observance,” said Reich. “It is the law, no ifs, ands or buts about it. If an exam is scheduled on the Sabbath the law says they are required to have a way for students to make it up.”

In Forrest’s case, she was eventually told that “we’ll talk about it when the time comes,” so she dropped the issue and enrolled in the DBT program, meeting with patients as required and continuing to receive all As in her coursework.

However, Reich said, as the “suicide weekend” approached, Forrest again brought up the Sabbath issue resulting in her coming under “incredible pressure.”

“She was told to just come even though it violated her religious observance or get a rabbi to give her dispensation and finally, after much back and forth, they finally said, ‘OK, we’ll work something out,’ but it’s not what she wanted. They were angry and made it difficult for her.”

Compounding the situation, the atmosphere on campus became even more hostile for Jewish students after the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel.

“There were anti-Israel protests creating mob-like scenes in violation of school policy,” noted Reich. “They were blocking entrances to the library and assaulting Jewish students and calling for violence against Jewish students on campus. One student suffered a broken bone. She became terrified of walking on that campus so she asked the administration for an accommodation to take classes by Zoom, an accommodation routinely given to students.”

However, in Forrest’s case she was told her request was “unreasonable” and that she “was the only person who felt unsafe on campus,” which Reich called “ludicrous because at the time a Jewish professor had already said it was unsafe.”

Reich said soon after, faculty members began their campaign to remove Forrest from the DBT program.

“They began telling Mackenzie she didn’t meet expectations, she wasn’t fulfilling the program’s requirements, none of which had ever been told to her before, and she was not presented with a way to fix it,” she added. “She was simply told, ‘If you continue to stay in the program you will fail.’ So essentially she was forced out of the program despite being a straight-A student.”

In November, the federal Department of Education opened an investigation of Columbia for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for allowing antisemitic and anti-Muslim harassment.

Earlier this month the House Education Committee announced it is investigating the school over its handling of antisemitism.

The university suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace earlier this school year for their threatening rhetoric, intimidation and unauthorized events.

“The vitriolic and antisemitic environment at Columbia,” said Reich, “to which Jewish students like Mackenzie have been subjected, is utterly indefensible.”

Debra Rubin has had a long career in journalism writing for secular weekly and daily newspapers and Jewish publications. She most recently served as Middlesex/Monmouth bureau chief for the New Jersey Jewish News. She also worked with the media at several nonprofits, including serving as assistant public relations director of HIAS and assistant director of media relations at Yeshiva University.