Above photo: Columbia University. Scarlet Sappho, Flickr.
Amid ICE Raids.
Columbia University issued suspensions, expulsions, and temporary degree revocations to students connected to the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall, as ICE agents reportedly arrested a second Palestinian Columbia student on Friday.
On Thursday, Columbia University issued suspensions, expulsions, and temporary degree revocations to a number of students connected to the April 2024 occupation of the school’s Hamilton Hall.
The announcement from the University Judicial Board came on the same day as a campus ICE raid, with Department of Homeland Security agents executing search warrants on two Columbia University residences.
“I am writing heartbroken to inform you that we had federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) in two university residences tonight,” Interim President Dr. Katrina Armstrong told students and staff in an email.
On Friday, DHS officials said they had announced another student protester who allegedly overstaying her Visa. She was identified as Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”
Additionally, the school expelled and fired Grant Miner, President of UAW Local 2710, just one day before contract negotiations were set to begin.
“The shocking move is part of a wave of crackdowns on free speech against students and workers who have spoken out and protested for peace and against the war on Gaza,” said the union in a statement. “As the UAW has emphasized, the assault on First Amendment rights being jointly committed by the federal government and Columbia University are an attack on all workers who dare to protest, speak out, or exercise their freedom of association under the US Constitution.”
Less than a week ago Columbia Graduate Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by ICE agents for his involvement in last spring’s Gaza protests. He is currently being detained in Louisiana, while the Trump administration attempts to deport him in what legal advocates say is an egregious violation of the First Amendment. Just days before the arrest Columbia published a new protocol reversing the school’s previous status as a sanctuary campus status and allowing ICE access to the school without a warrant in some circumstances.
Khalil, and seven other Columbia students, are now suing the university Mahmoud Khalil, to block the school from handing over private disciplinary records to Congress.
Trump Crackdown
Khalil’s arrest, and the arrival of ICE agents on college campuses, is part of the Trump administration’s federal crackdown on the U.S. Palestine movement.
“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Trump told a group of pro-Israel donors on the presidential campaign trail.
Shortly after arriving at the White House, Trump issued several executive orders aimed at stifling protest on campus, including one that seeks to cancel the visas of foreign students who participated in them.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” said Trump in a fact sheet released alongside the EO. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
Axios has reported that the State Department will use AI as a tool to revoke the visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas.” Last week scholar Helyeh Doutaghi’s was placed on administrative leave by Yale Law School after an AI-generated article falsely accused her of being a “terrorist” over her connections to Palestine groups.
Thursday also saw the Trump administration send a letter to Columbia detailing a series of steps that the university could take in order to reverse the government’s recent cancellation of roughly $400 million in federal funds.
The demands included a mask ban, action on “anti-Zionist” discrimination, and the suspension of the students involved in the Hamilton Hall occupation. “We expect your immediate compliance,” read the letter.
After Khalil’s arrest, Columbia Journalism School dean, Jelani Cobb reportedly told a group of students to refrain from posting about the Middle East on their social media page. When a Palestinian student questioned the school acquiescing to Trump, Cobb told them, “Nobody can protect you. These are dangerous times.”
“If you were accepted to Columbia University, don’t come here,” tweeted a student. “This school will ruin your life for a McChicken and a nice tweet from Donald Trump.”