The Trump administration’s historic antisemitism settlement with Columbia University has already resulted in relief for at least two of the victims of last year’s campus unrest.
Former Columbia janitors Mariano Torres and Lester Wilson, who were terrorized by anti-Israel protesters during the Hamilton Hall occupation, have resolved their Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims under the newly established $21 million settlement fund.
The two men settled their EEOC complaints for an undisclosed sum, a source told The Washington Times on Monday.
Their claims were resolved under a newly established EEOC class-settlement fund, part of the $221 million resolution agreement reached last week between the administration and Columbia to address campus civil rights violations spurred by the anti-Israel demonstrations after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
“This resolution represents the largest EEOC public settlement in nearly 20 years for any form of discrimination or harassment,” the commission said in a statement. “In addition, in the EEOC’s 60-year history, this is both the largest EEOC settlement for victims of antisemitism to date, as well as the most significant EEOC settlement for workers of any faith or religion.”
Under the agreement, Columbia will pay $21 million to resolve “alleged civil rights violations against Columbia employees occurring on its campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks,” the commission said.
Columbia chose to resolve the EEOC charges voluntarily as part of the broader agreement without admitting liability, including the Commissioner’s Charge brought last year on behalf of a class consisting of all Jewish employees at the university.
The charge brought by Acting Commissioner Andrea Lucas accused Columbia of violating Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in employment, by engaging in a “pattern or practice of harassment based on national origin, religion, and/or race.”
“Under the guise of promoting free speech, many universities have actually become a haven for antisemitic conduct, often in violation of the universities’ own time, place, and manner policies, as well as civil rights law,” Ms. Lucas said in a Friday statement.
“The Trump administration is committed to combating antisemitism wherever it rears its head, including the workplace — and universities are workplaces too,” Ms. Lucas said of the broad settlement.
The commission said it will send notices to Columbia employees, including faculty, staff and student workers, alerting them of their potential eligibility under the claims fund, as well as how to respond to a confidential questionnaire.
Employees who have experienced antisemitism at Columbia are still eligible even if they had not previously filed an EEOC complaint.
“No employee should be subjected to harassment based on their faith or Jewish identity,” Ms. Lucas said. “We commend Columbia for providing a robust claims fund to remedy alleged antisemitism harassment that may have been experienced by its employees.”
As the settlement with the custodians shows, Columbia employees need not be Jewish to have experienced antisemitic harassment.
Neither Mr. Torres nor Mr. Wilson is Jewish, but they were assaulted and held against their will by pro-Palestinian student protesters and outside agitators who lay siege to Hamilton Hall, according to an April 25 lawsuit filed by the janitors against the occupiers.
The details of the EEOC complaints are confidential, but the ongoing lawsuit said the protesters “threatened and harassed them by referring to them as ‘Jew-lovers,’ ‘working for the Jews,’ and ‘Zionists’ because they each refused to support the Occupiers’ seizure of Hamilton Hall.”
“Furthermore, these Occupiers repeatedly asked Mr. Torres, ‘Why are you defending them?’” the lawsuit said.
“Upon information and belief, the Occupiers were motivated by perceptions that Mr. Torres and Mr. Wilson supported Jews and Israel and presented potential obstacles to the execution of their plot to take over and occupy Hamilton Hall,” it stated.
Both suffered physical injuries.
Mr. Torres was punched repeatedly and pushed into a wall. Mr. Wilson was pushed, shoved and rammed with furniture as he made his way to the lobby in search of an escape.
A photo taken during the April 29, 2024, siege by freelance photographer Alex Kent shows Mr. Torres in a New York Yankees baseball cap struggling against a crowd of masked demonstrators.
The occupiers tried to “bribe” him by pressing a roll of bills into his hand, telling him, “You don’t make enough money for this,” but he threw the money on the floor and shouted, “I don’t want your f—-ing money,” the lawsuit said.
The complaint described the takeover as “calculated and deliberate,” coordinated by organizers using “violent, masked tactics reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan.”
Protesters barricaded the exits with furniture and sealed the doors with zip ties, but Mr. Torres and Mr. Wilson were finally able to exit the building after pleading with protesters to let them go.
The two men have been unable to return to work after suffering physical injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. Both are subsisting on interim workers’ compensation payments from the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board.
Their lawsuit filed in federal court in New York seeks “compensatory, consequential and punitive damages” from the defendants, including the People’s Forum and nearly 50 individuals.
Representing Mr. Torres and Mr. Wilson are Torridon Law and the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
Police broke up the Hamilton Hall siege and made 46 arrests, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office dropped charges against 31 of the suspects shortly thereafter, citing a lack of evidence.
Twelve of those arrested were neither Columbia staff nor students.
