(ATLANTA, GA, 8/4/2025) – The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia), a chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, today announced the joint filing of a lawsuit with co-counsel Jonathan Wallace against Emory University, the Emory University Board of Trustees and Dr. John William Eley in his official capacity as a Dean within the Emory University School of Medicine on behalf of Emory Palestinian-American MD/PhD student Umaymah Mohammad who was suspended for her anti-genocide advocacy.
Mohammad said: “Emory’s continued punishment of students who speak out against the genocide in Gaza is an act of complicity. Disguising this repression as a matter of ‘professionalism’ or ‘conduct’ is a moral failure—one that stains not only Emory, but the entire U.S. healthcare and education system. It is the duty of healthcare workers and students to speak out against mass atrocities. Emory has chosen silence, disciplinary action, and erasure over justice, effectively standing on the wrong side of history.”
CAIR-Georgia Staff Attorney Keon Grant said, “Much like what led to our filing of a Title VI complaint with the Department of Education in 2023, Emory University has once again tried to quell pro-Palestinian advocacy. This lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Mohammad challenges not only the latest incident in their well-documented history of discriminatory treatment toward Palestinian students and their advocacy, but an intensification of this behavior – not only ignoring outside pleas for justice but also disregarding their own internal policies in pursuit of silencing pro-Palestinian advocacy, as well as criticism of Emory University’s own shortcomings and institutional biases.”
BACKGROUNDER:
Emory University violated federal civil rights law when it suspended Palestinian-American MD/PhD student Umaymah Mohammad for advocating for Palestinian human rights and speaking out against campus discrimination. The university’s selective enforcement of disciplinary policies against Mohammad based on her Palestinian identity and viewpoints constitutes illegal discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Emory simultaneously ignored their own free speech policy.
CAIR-Georgia and co-counsel Jonathan Wallace seek redress for alleged violations of Mohammad’s civil rights under federal and state law, including intentional discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as breach of contract, denial of procedural due process, and intentional infliction of emotional distress under Georgia law.
Examples of the alleged violations stated in the complaint include Emory pressuring Mohammad to admit guilt, attempting to alter charges, manipulating deadlines, disregarding institutional policies, and imposing retaliatory disproportionate sanctions.
On January 17, 2025 Emory University entered into a Resolution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) following CAIR-Georgia and Palestine Legal’s Title VI civil rights complaint demanding an investigation into the hostile environment and anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim discrimination at Emory University. In a letter to President Fenves, OCR stated “gratuitous violence of law enforcement activity” on Emory’s campus “may have created a hostile environment within the campus community for Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim University members and those perceived to have associated with them.”
OCR also criticized Emory’s policies and procedures, stating they “lack the clarity necessary to ensure that the University provides a prompt and effective response, consistent with the requirements of Title VI, to reports and complaints of race and national origin discrimination.”
As a result of the Resolution Agreement, Emory was required to revise its campus protest policies, nondiscrimination policies, and bias report process.
CAIR-Georgia’s mission is to protect civil rights, promote justice, empower American Muslims, and enhance the understanding of Islam.
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CONTACT: Azka Mahmood, CAIR-Georgia Executive Director, [email protected], Nazia Khanzada, Communications Manager CAIR-Georgia, [email protected]
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