Did Zohran Mamdani face any criminal charges while a student at Columbia University?

1. Why this question arose — application drama and public scrutiny that invited digging

Media attention around Zohran Mamdani in mid‑2025 centered on his Columbia University application and how he identified his race, generating intense public scrutiny that prompted reporters to search his background for any disqualifying incidents. Coverage repeatedly documents the application controversy and notes that articles looked for but did not find any criminal charges tied to a Columbia student record ^{[4] [1]}. The absence of charges in those pieces is itself newsworthy: journalists and fact‑checkers explicitly report there is no evidence of criminal prosecutions from a Columbia enrollment period because the reporting shows he either was not admitted or no student criminal record exists in the available public coverage ^{[1] [2]}.

2. What the reporting actually says about Columbia and student status

At least one outlet reports that Mamdani was not admitted to Columbia, which undercuts the premise of “student at Columbia” entirely and explains why no student‑era criminal charges are showing up in searches ^[1]. Other pieces that recount his past and the application controversy likewise make no mention of criminal charges at Columbia, focusing instead on political responses and the racial‑identity debate. That consistent omission across multiple independent stories suggests no verifiable record of student criminal proceedings connected to Columbia exists in the current public reporting ^{[2] [5]}.

3. Related legal or enforcement threads — what did surface in later reporting

While there is no evidence of student‑era criminal charges, reporters do note later legal and investigatory developments tied to Mamdani’s political activity and campaigns. Independent reporting found campaign‑finance referrals and inquiries about alleged foreign donations during a later mayoral campaign, matters distinct from college‑era criminal charges and taking place years after any potential Columbia association ^[3]. The distinction matters: public records and recent articles separate campaign‑finance questions and political threats from any criminal record as a student, and sources do not conflate them ^{[3] [6]}.

4. Competing narratives and political usage — arrests, threats, and the weaponization of absence of evidence

Political actors and commentators leveraged the application controversy and later statements by high‑profile figures, including threats of arrest or citizenship challenges, to amplify scrutiny of Mamdani. Coverage records that President Donald Trump threatened to arrest Mamdani, but the reporting documenting that threat does not claim any student criminal charges and instead situates such rhetoric in a political context ^[6]. The pattern in the record is clear: there are political accusations and rhetorical escalations, but they do not translate into documented criminal prosecutions from his purported time at Columbia ^{[6] [2]}.

5. Bottom line for readers and omitted considerations reporters flagged

After reviewing the assembled sources, the conclusive finding is that no reputable reporting has produced evidence of criminal charges against Zohran Mamdani while a Columbia student — in part because at least one report says he was not admitted, and multiple others explicitly note the absence of such charges ^{[1] [2] [5]}. Reporters emphasize what they could not find as much as what they did find: the application race‑identification controversy, subsequent campaign‑finance inquiries, and political threats are all documented, whereas student criminal charges are not, and that omission across independent outlets is itself significant ^{[4] [3]}.