SDNY COURTHOUSE, August 3 – Inner
City Press was covering a public court conference on
August 4 when suddenly it was determined to take it
sealed, and it was.
John Doe v. Columbia
University is a Title IX and sex discrimination suit
brought pro se by a once (and again?) Columbia student
against the university, filed in March 2025. (On August 4,
before the proceeding went sealed, Doe said he remains a
student, only blocked from enrolling in classes or
entering the grounds. Columbia has made an offer of
settlement, see below).
The case originally named a
long list of individual defendants — including former
Columbia president Shih-Fu Chang, along with deans,
administrators, and disciplinary officials — but a June 9,
2026 order pared the docket down to Columbia University
alone as defendant, restoring only "Jane Roe" as a
remaining pseudonymous party.
On July 28, Doe filed a letter to
Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky asking the Court to
clarify whether her own Settlement Conference
Confidentiality Agreement barred him from discussing a
settlement offer, made by the Office of General Counsel,
with others at Columbia.
On July 31, Magistrate Judge
Tarnofsky granted the sealing motion, permitting Doe to
file the unredacted version of his letter and its
attachments under seal, visible only to the Court and case
participants
A conference was scheduled for
August 4, 2026, specifically "to discuss letter ECF 231,"
Doe's sealed letter. The letter, and the offer made in it,
were mentioned in the open proceeding, which was abruptly
ended. It seems without question that what is said in an
open court proceeding can be reported. In an abundance of
caution, or of classiness and respect for the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New York, the
more is on X for Subscribers here
and Substack here
The case is Doe v. Colombia University, 1:25-cv-2132 (Ho /
Tarnofsky)
