L: Gerald Lebovits (columbia.edu) R:A demonstrator breaks the windows of the front door of a building at Columbia (Alex Kent/Getty Images)

Remember the hoodlums who stormed Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and then demanded the university deliver them food and water? A New York judge says the school can’t expel or suspend them because it relied on sealed arrest records. New York State Supreme Court justice Gerald Lebovits—who happens to be an adjunct professor at Columbia Law Scool—said in a decision issued Friday that Columbia’s disciplinary action was “arbitrary and capricious.” Even if the arrest records were admissible, he ruled, the school established only that students were present inside Hamilton Hall, not that they had damaged property or endangered others. And what’s a little gallivanting and frolicking in an occupied building while your friends are holding a janitor hostage?

The students challenged the school’s disciplinary action under something called Article 78, which allows judges to review whether state agencies or university disciplinary bodies have applied their rules in an evenhanded manner. Lebovits said Columbia hadn’t because it couldn’t distinguish between varying levels of culpability among the students. Recall that they wore keffiyehs and destroyed security cameras to hide their identities.

The students’ legal challenge came after Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg dropped trespassing charges against them in June 2024 and sealed their arrest records. His office argued that the students should get a pass because they did not have criminal histories and would face discipline at Columbia. Columbia said it is reviewing the decision and weighing its options. “The order does not take effect for at least 30 days, and no student who was disciplined for the occupation of Hamilton Hall can return to campus at this time,” a university spokesman said.

READ MORE: New York Judge Says Columbia Cannot Expel or Discipline Students Who Stormed and Occupied Campus Building