Columbia University

Letter From A Columbia PhD Candidate, After Fleeing The United States

March 24, 2025 Ranjani Srinivasan, Counter Punch. Resist! Columbia University, ICE, Immigrant Rights, Palestine, Repression

My name is Ranjani Srinivasan. I was a 5th year PhD student at the Department of Urban Planning, GSAPP. I was also a TA in the Urban Studies Department at Barnard College. Some of you might have heard about my case. For those who haven’t, I would like to share the details. On Wednesday night (March 5), my visa was revoked by the Department of State. While I was examining the email on Thursday morning (March 6), I received a phone survey from a private number claiming to be a third party hired by CU to administer a student opinion survey on campus conditions.

Film On Gaza Solidarity Encampments Launched Amid Crackdown On Activism

March 23, 2025 People's Dispatch. Educate! Campus Movement, Columbia University, Documentary, Free Speech, Gaza, Genocide, Palestine, United States, Zionism

A new documentary chronicling the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University will premier at the CPH:DOX Film Festival in Copenhagen on March 25, 2025. “The Encampments,” a film produced by BreakThrough News and Watermelon Pictures, “challenges the dominant media narrative by revealing the true spirit of the encampments—what it felt like to be there, the emotions that fueled the students, and what motivated their drastic action,” said directors Kei Pritsker and Michael T Workman. The film was produced by nonprofit media organization BreakThrough News, Grammy-award winning musician Macklemore, and Watermelon Pictures, a production company focusing on Palestinian-centered films.

Palestinian Political Prisoner Mahmoud Khalil Releases Statement

March 19, 2025 Scheer Post. Educate! Campus Movement, Columbia University, Deportation, Mahmoud Khalil, Palestine, Repression, Student Activism

Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder with permanent residency, has released his first public statement since his arrest on March 8. He was taken into custody by plainclothes Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers in the lobby of his Columbia University apartment complex due to his alleged connection to Hamas. His statement, released Tuesday, was dictated by phone to family members from an ICE center in Louisiana. Khalil, who has not yet been charged with a crime, said he is a “political prisoner” and expressed concern with the political and social climate in the United States that led to his arrest.

Union President Responds To Repression

March 19, 2025 Grant Miner, Left Voice. Educate! Columbia University, Donald Trump, Palestine Solidarity, Repression, Student Activism, UAW, Unions

Last week, I was expelled from Columbia University for protesting the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza. As president of Student Workers of Columbia, Columbia’s student workers union, I was also fired from my job. The Trump administration is pushing their narrative. Here’s the real story. Thousands of students across the country have been exercising our First Amendment rights to oppose genocide. Standing against genocide is not just a moral imperative—it is an act of anti-racism and solidarity. Columbia’s response? Expulsions, suspensions, and retaliation.

Mahmoud Khalil And The Criminalization Of Anti-Zionism

March 16, 2025 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Anti-Zionism, Columbia University, Israeli Apartheid, Mahmoud Khalil, Trump Administration

“Since yesterday, I have been subjected to a vicious, coordinated, and dehumanizing doxxing campaign led by Columbia affiliates Shai Davidai and David Lederer who, among others, have labeled me a security threat and called for my deportation, he began. Their attacks have incited a wave of hate, including calls for my deportation and death threats. I have outlined the wider context below, yet Columbia has not provided any meaningful support or resources in response to this escalating threat, he added. I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home.

Columbia University Expels Student Protesters, Fires Union President

March 15, 2025 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. Educate! Campus Movement, Columbia University, Free Speech, ICE, Repression, Student Activism, Unions

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.

DHS Agents Descend On Columbia’s Campus Again With Two Warrants

March 14, 2025 Prem Thakker, Zeteo. Educate! Campus Movement, Columbia University, DHS, Palestine, State Repression, Student Activism

Less than a week after immigration authorities detained Columbia student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, Department of Homeland Security agents were back on the university’s campus to serve two search warrants. “I am writing heartbroken to inform you that we had federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in two University residences tonight. No one was arrested or detained,” Columbia interim president Katrina Armstrong wrote in an email to the university community late Thursday. “No items were removed, and no further action was taken. Federal agents from the DHS served Columbia University with two judicial search warrants signed by a federal magistrate judge authorizing DHS to enter non-public areas of the University and conduct searches of two student rooms.”

60 Universities Under Investigation Over Pro-Palestine Sentiments

March 13, 2025 Press TV, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Columbia University, Free Speech, Gaza, Hamas, Harvard University, Higher Education, Palestine Solidarity, US Empire, US Repression, US State Department

The US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) said it is investigating 60 universities for anti-Semitism, and that they are receiving warnings due to allegedly not protecting Jewish students during mass anti-Israel rallies in American universities and colleges. “The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless anti-Semitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

Professor At Center Of Columbia University Deportation Scandal Is Former Israeli Spy

March 12, 2025 Alan MacLeod, MintPress News. Educate! Columbia University, ICE, Israel, Palestine, Repression

The professor at the center of the Columbia University deportation scandal is a former Israeli intelligence official, MintPress News can reveal. The professor at the center of the Columbia University deportation scandal is a former Israeli intelligence official, MintPress News can reveal. Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of the university’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), was abducted by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Saturday for his role in organizing protests last year against Israel’s attack on Gaza. Khalil’s dean, Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo, head of the School of International and Public Affairs, is a former Israeli military intelligence officer and official at Israel’s Mission to the United Nations.

Columbia University’s Nazi Tradition

March 10, 2025 David Swanson, World Beyond War. Educate! Anti-Semitism, Columbia University, Germany, Higher Education, History, Israel, Nazism, Palestine, Repression

According to Columbia Magazine, published by Columbia University’s Office of Alumni and Development, but ultimately named for a brutal imperialist mercenary, in 1933 while Nazis in Germany were burning books by Jews, Columbia’s president — and future Nobel Peace Prize recipient — Nicholas Murray Butler “welcomed Hans Luther, the German ambassador to the United States, to Morningside Heights, insisting that he be accorded ‘the greatest courtesy and respect.'” Columbia’s Daily Spectator newspaper “denounced what it saw as Butler’s courtship of the German government and its universities.”

DHS Detains Lead Negotiator Of Columbia Gaza Solidarity Encampment

March 9, 2025 Meghnad Bose, DropSite News. Educate! Columbia University, DHS, Free Speech, Palestine, State Repression

New York City—On Saturday night, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents entered a student residential building at Columbia University in uptown New York and detained Mahmoud Khalil, one of the lead negotiators on behalf of pro-Palestine protesters at 2024’s Gaza solidarity encampment. In a sweeping attack on the First Amendment, the Trump administration said this week it would begin revoking visas of “Hamas sympathizers,” specifically citing Columbia University students. The detention followed a two-day targeted online campaign against Khalil by pro-Israel groups and individuals, including Columbia’s high-profile pro-Israel professor, Shai Davidai.

Columbia University Cracks Down On Pro-Palestine Student Activists

March 8, 2025 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Campus Movement, Columbia University, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Repression, Student Activism, Zionism

Students at Columbia University who expressed opposition to the US–Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza are being investigated by a secretive disciplinary body known as the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), which is targeting anyone involved in activities ranging from sharing social media posts supporting Palestinians to participating in “unauthorized” protests. Drop Site News reports that Columbia requires students under investigation for “discrimination based on their speech” to sign a non-disclosure agreement to access unredacted evidence against them, effectively blocking public discussion of the accusations and process.

Barnard Students Sit-In To Defend Right To Protest For Palestine

February 27, 2025 Samuel Karlin, Left Voice. Resist! Campus Movement, Columbia University, Israel, New York City (NYC), Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Student Activism

On Wednesday night, Columbia students staged a sit-in at the administrative offices of Barnard College in New York City. This comes as part of a week of action to protest Barnard College’s move to expel two students for engaging in pro-Palestine activism. Barnard College is part of Columbia University, the Ivy League university which has been an epicenter of the student movement for Palestine in the United States. The current protest comes after months of more subdued activity from the student movement, following the brutal repression that universities deployed against Gaza solidarity encampments last spring under Biden’s presidency.

Columbia Students Sue University For Attacks On Pro-Palestine Activism

February 4, 2025 Kavitha Chekuru, Drop Site. Resist! Columbia University, Israel, Legal System, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Repression, Student Activism

Three students from Columbia University filed a lawsuit on Monday morning against the school administration for their suspensions related to their pro-Palestine activism on campus. Among the claims in the complaint, the students state that the university violated its own policies during the disciplinary process, that the university targeted the students for their views, and that it violated New York’s landlord tenant laws when it evicted the students from university housing. “The university just pulled out all the roadblocks and threw out its rule book in an attempt to punish and silence the plaintiffs however they could,” James Carlson, an attorney representing the students, told Drop Site News.

Columbia President Resigns After Violent Crackdown On Students

August 15, 2024 Jake Johnson, Common Dreams. Educate! Campus Movement, Columbia University, Palestine, Resignation, State Repression

The president of Columbia University announced her resignation late Wednesday, months after she authorized a violent police crackdown on student demonstrators urging the school to divest from Israel over the country's devastating assault on the Gaza Strip. Minouche Shafik said in her announcement that recent months have been "a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community." Dozens of Columbia students were arrested and injured during a Shafik-approved police raid of a campus building in late April. "This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community," said Shafik, whose resignation was effective immediately.

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