September 3, 2024, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights is now representing former Board Chair and Columbia Law Professor Katherine Franke, alongside cooperating counsel Kathleen Peratis, longtime civil rights and employment rights lawyer. Together, they are defending Franke against claims filed against her with Columbia’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA) by two Columbia colleagues who claim that she created a hostile environment for Israeli members of the Columbia community when she publicly discussed the fact that two Israeli students sprayed pro-Palestinian students with a noxious gas during a protest on the Columbia campus in January 2024. Franke’s comments were made during an interview with Amy Goodman on the news program Democracy Now!. The Center for Constitutional Rights’ prior statement is here. 

“The complaint is without merit and reflects the climate of oppression and marginalization of Palestinians and their advocates,” said Kathleen Peratis, Center for Constitutional Rights Cooperating Counsel. “This is the Red Scare of our time, yet those who condemn the Red Scare of the 1950s are nevertheless repeating it today.”  

Peratis and her longtime law firm Outten & Golden began representing Franke in February, shortly after the complaint was filed against Franke. In mid-July, the firm abruptly demanded that the representation be terminated, having decided that Franke was too controversial and that it did not want to be associated with her or with advocates for justice for Palestinians. Peratis refused to fire the client, believing that doing so would be unethical. The firm did so over Peratis’s objection; Peratis promptly quit in protest.   

Regarding the complaints against her, Franke said, “These charges were filed against me as retaliation for my support of our students’ rights to protest. I’ve been a member of the Columbia community for almost 45 years and have been proud of the history of the university respecting students’ right to protest on our campus – until now. Columbia University has gone to war with its own students and faculty, mirroring the same repression we see all around us – advocates for justice for Palestinians punished and forced into endless distractions. But I am confident, if the process is fair, I will be vindicated.”  

The Center for Constitutional Rights has been defending the growing movement for Palestinian liberation for more than a decade. The investigation of Professor Franke is part of a broader global effort to suppress speech critical of Israel, which has increased exponentially since October 2023. The Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal first issued a report documenting these censorship efforts on college campuses and at other institutions in 2015.  

Peratis has protected the rights of marginalized people for decades. A few years out of law school, she joined the national legal staff of the ACLU, succeeding Ruth Bader Ginsburg as head of the Women’s Rights Project. Then, after a few years at Clark, Wulf, Levine and Peratis, she joined Outten & Golden.