RALEIGH — North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk) is being sued by a suspended Columbia University student who claims Foxx abused her official position, resulting in his being blocked from reenrolling at the school.
Khymani James filed his lawsuit against Foxx on Feb. 5 in the New York Southern District Court.
The complaint alleges Foxx violated his First Amendment rights by abusing her position as chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to influence Columbia University to expel him for alleged antisemitic comments, such as stating Zionists “don’t deserve to live.”
“The speech, for which Columbia claimed to determine that James was an antisemite and Foxx and the Committee also accused them of hating Jewish people, involved a number of references to Zionists and Zionism on James’ personal social media,” the lawsuit states.
In April 2024, James made national headlines after a January 2024 video surfaced of him appearing in a livestreamed Columbia University meeting, during which he called for the death of Zionists.
The Daily Wire broke the story and compiled clips of Khymani’s remarks during the meeting in which he stated, “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
“The same way we are very comfortable accepting Nazis don’t deserve to live, fascists don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live, Zionists, they shouldn’t live in this world,” James said in the video.
James also said, “I feel very comfortable — very comfortable — calling for those people to die,” and “Be glad, be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
Days after James’ past remarks went viral, it was initially reported he was banned from the Columbia campus, but a lawsuit brought by James against the university indicated he was suspended for one year.
James’ suit claims that Foxx’s pressure on Columbia caused his one-year suspension and subsequent denial of readmission for the Fall 2025 semester, which his complaint characterized as a “de facto expulsion.” It also claims Foxx “deliberately and officially conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism.”
The lawsuit points to a Sept. 12, 2025, X post by Foxx when she was chair of the committee.
“When I was Chair of the @EdWorkforceCmte, the leadership at @Columbia made a direct statement to me that Khymani James would be expelled for his antisemitic rhetoric — my committee staff at the time were present as well when the statement was made,” Foxx wrote. “He was not expelled. Nothing was done. @Columbia, you have failed again, again, and again.”
Foxx’s post, also included in James’ lawsuit against Columbia, was a reaction to another user’s post containing screenshots of James’ social media activity praising the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
“This lawsuit’s lack of credibility and factual basis speaks for itself,” responded Foxx in a post on X. “I stand behind the Committee’s antisemitism investigation and won’t be deterred from my fight to protect Jewish students from discrimination on campuses across the nation.”
The lawsuit against Foxx is not dissimilar to that of a Wake Forest University former trainer’s recently dropped complaint against Foxx’s colleague, Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-Hickory).
James’ complaint is complicated by his own past activities.
When the video of his remarks resurfaced, James was actively involved in anti-Israel protests, the Boycott, Sanction and Divestment of Israel movement, and the pro-Palestine solidarity encampment erected on the Columbia campus in April 2024.
During the 2024 anti-Israel protests that spread across college campuses, James was a leader of the group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an anti-Zionist organization. Columbia University disavowed the group and has continued to not recognize it as an official student group.
Following James’ suspension, CUAD issued an apology, calling it a misstatement in the heat of the moment. CUAD withdrew that apology in October 2024 with James publicly claiming CUAD stood by his original statements.
On Aug. 7, 2024, Columbia issued a notification letter to James summarizing a student conduct hearing held April 20 and 21, 2024. The letter stated, “Due to the nature of the violation(s) and given that you were on Disciplinary Probation at the time of the violation(s), you are suspended from Columbia College effective immediately and eligible to return for the Fall 2025 semester, beginning September 2, 2025.”
James appealed the suspension, but the appeal was denied, with an official for the school stating, “The University retains the right to review your request to return and delay or deny your reentry to the institution.”
In his appeal attempt, James wrote a four-page letter that began by blaming the university for “taking orders from the fascist Trump administration” and also stated, “I knew that you all had no intention of allowing me to reenroll.”
James sued the school in October 2025 after Columbia refused his application to reenroll after he applied for the Fall 2025 semester on Aug. 15, 2025. Columbia’s refusal cited James’ “insufficient ‘reflection’” on his remarks but also over concerns about his continued behavior during his one-year suspension.
In his filing against Columbia, James alleged he was unfairly targeted because he’s black and pro-Palestine. The complaint accuses the school of “breach of contract” for not following its own rules and handbook.
Columbia has so far declined to comment on any of the pending litigation.
The university also saw blowback from federal agencies.
In June 2024, the U.S. Department of Education formally notified Columbia’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, that the school was in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, concluding the school showed “deliberate indifference” toward harassment of Jewish students.
By March 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism canceled contracts and grants to Columbia worth more than $400 million “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
The same month, the U.S. Department of Education also issued letters to 60 higher schools about their obligations to protect Jewish students; the UNC System received one of those letters. The prior January, UNC Chapel Hill had a Title IV complaint lodged against it that claimed unlawful discrimination against Jewish students.
In July 2025, Columbia reached a resolution agreement with the federal government that included a $200 million settlement over three years as well as promises to enact enhanced campus safety measures, disciplinary changes, and use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in its policies. A year earlier, the North Carolina legislature had enacted the SHALOM Act, which adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
