Indiana University doctoral candidate Sabina Ali has taken her long-running dispute with the Borns Jewish Studies Program into federal court, alleging she was kicked out of a workshop and then punished for refusing to remove a pro-Palestine Zoom profile image. In a civil-rights complaint filed last Friday, she says the program's interim director first ejected her from a hybrid workshop on September 19, 2025 and then vetoed previously approved travel funding. Her lawyers say the suit aims to halt what they call viewpoint-based discipline, secure a court declaration protecting her expression and obtain damages for alleged First Amendment and contractual violations.
What the complaint alleges
According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, interim director Jikeli asked Ali during the workshop to either switch on her camera or remove a Zoom profile image that showed a woman in a keffiyeh in front of a Palestinian flag with the words "Free Palestine." When she did not do either, the filing says, he used host privileges to eject her from the session.
The same court document states that the program's faculty funding committee had unanimously approved Ali's request to attend the American Academy of Religion conference, including $1,200 for travel. Roughly two weeks later, according to the complaint, Jikeli vetoed that funding.
Reaction inside the program
The Bloomingtonian reports that many attendees immediately objected when Ali was removed from the workshop. A large number left the official event, the outlet notes, and continued the session elsewhere, including in a separate Zoom room that brought Ali back into the discussion.
The complaint says that afterward, Jikeli sent a program-wide email describing Ali's profile image as that of a "Palestinian terrorist." Her attorneys argue that this wording falsely equated nonviolent solidarity with violence and chilled academic expression inside the program.
CAIR legal action
The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Legal Defense Fund is representing Ali and filed the lawsuit on her behalf. In a CAIR statement, the group framed the case as part of a broader pattern of efforts to curb pro-Palestinian speech at Indiana University, urging the school to end what it calls viewpoint-based retaliation. The organization also highlighted the specific remedies Ali is asking the court to grant, which track the allegations in the complaint.
Context on campus free-speech fights
The lawsuit lands in the middle of a series of free-speech battles at Indiana University. Earlier this year, Indiana Public Media reported that a federal court ordered IU to remove reprimands from protesters' permanent records and struck down parts of an expressive-activity policy, signaling judicial skepticism about how the university polices protest.
Meanwhile, reporting by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has chronicled months of infighting inside the Borns Jewish Studies Program following Jikeli's appointment as interim director, with faculty splitting over how the program should handle scholarship and activism connected to Israel and Palestine.
Claims and remedies sought
Ali's lawsuit alleges violations of the Free Speech Clause and asserts a federal civil-rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. It also includes a breach-of-contract claim linked to IU's own student-rights and academic-freedom policies, according to CAIR. The complaint asks for a declaratory judgment, permanent injunctions blocking what she says are viewpoint-based restrictions in program settings and money damages tied to the alleged retaliation.
University response
The Bloomingtonian reported that, as of its story, neither Indiana University nor Jikeli had offered public comment on Ali's allegations. According to Ali's attorneys, IU's internal process ended with the denial of her complaint, which they say left her without an adequate institutional remedy and pushed the dispute into federal court. In their telling, the case will test how far universities can go in governing virtual program spaces that include political expression.
What happens next
The complaint was lodged on June 26, 2026 in the Southern District of Indiana and is now on the court's calendar, according to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. If Indiana University responds with an answer or a motion to dismiss, those filings will spell out the university's defenses and determine whether the case proceeds into discovery or moves first to a preliminary-injunction hearing on Ali's request for immediate relief.
