Longtime Columbia custodian who pleaded to be let out of building was taunted by rioters, who called him a “Zionist.”
By World Israel News Staff
Two Columbia University janitors who were force to fight their way out of a campus building after it was taken over by an anti-Israel mob filed a federal complaint against the school, saying that their civil rights had been violated and that the institution failed to protect them from a racially hostile environment.
Lester Wilson and Mario Torres, two longtime custodians at the school, formally complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency tasked with ensuring civil rights are upheld in the workplace, regarding the harassment and violence they endured at Columbia.
“Hours after President [Minouche] Shafik issued her statement [that Columbia was ‘unsafe for everyone‘], an antisemitic mob assaulted two janitors inside Columbia’s historic Hamilton Hall, calling them ‘Jew-lovers,’” read the complaint from Wilson and Torres, according to the New York Post.
“Masked intruders obstructed Mr. Torres’ path at every turn,” Torres’ complaint read. “Mr. Torres had no idea that all the while rioters had been zip-tying shut the exits on the ground floor of Hamilton Hall.”
The filing noted that Torres “observed that what had initially seemed like chaos was actually highly coordinated. An unmasked woman and a masked man barked orders at the rioters, directing them to different areas of Hamilton Hall.”
Torres was violently assaulted by rioters who called him a “Jew-lover.” While trying to leave the building, assailants repeatedly smashed furniture into his body.
Eventually, Torres was able to escape the building.
Wilson, who is African-American, was frightened by the situation and initially tried pleading with the rioters to let him exit Hamilton Hall.
“‘I work here. Let me out,’” Wilson noted in his filing. “The rioters responded by laughing at him and mocking him. He remembers being told, ‘You work for the Jews,’ and ‘You’re a Zionist.’ Eventually, someone opened a door and Mr. Wilson was physically pushed out of the building.”
Wilson and Torres’ complaint also noted that Columbia had failed to provide them with a safe work environment, and had not put in the necessary effort to crack down on campus violence.
Columbia declined to comment on the EEOC complaint to the Post.
