By Tamara Turki / Mondoweiss
Hundreds of Columbia students gathered frantically on Tuesday, March 25 in a cathedral near campus for an emergency union meeting, debating how to respond against what they described as the university administration’s “concessions to fascism.”
The uproar ignited on March 9, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate and student activist Mahmoud Khalil at his home without a judicial warrant. Federal authorities claimed to revoke Khalil’s green card from his involvement in pro-Palestine campus protests since Israel’s war on Gaza.
Columbia has yet to issue a public statement addressing the arrest in a university-owned residential building or clarifying whether it had prior knowledge, fueling speculation among students about the university’s collaboration with law enforcement.
From the back of the cathedral, a student’s voice cut through the noise: “We are confused about what has happened but it’s clear that the administration has made certain decisions without our consultation.”
Returning from spring break, the student described the campus as unrecognizable. “We need to know: Will we still have the same academic freedom we had two weeks ago?”
The space swelled with a mix of fear, anger, and grief—not just for Khalil, now held in a Louisiana detention center as his lawyers race against time to prevent his deportation before his wife gives birth next month, but for others caught in the widening crackdown.
Since February, ICE and NYPD officers have ramped up their presence on campus, aggressively targeting students with visas or green cards over their pro-Palestine activism. Indian PhD student Ranjani Srinivasan was forced to flee the country on March 11, while Yunseo Chung, a South Korean undergraduate, sued the Trump administration this week after its attempts to deport her.
“It’s absolutely devastating to realize that this institution that you once thought was so hallowed is now the perpetrator of violence against their own students who are coming to this country and this school for better opportunities,” Allie Wong, a PhD student, said in an interview. …
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Palestine Exception to Academic Freedom Must Go
Unsolicited thoughts from an elder citizen
The Oceanic Circle: Talk on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 155th birthday
Patrick Lawrence: Authorized Atrocities / Late-Imperial Duplicities
After the truth-shower 