I spent decades at Columbia. I’m withdrawing my fall course due to its deal with #Trump
Rashid Khalidi

from #TheGuardian #Guardian
Fri 1 Aug 2025 06.00 EDT

Columbia’s capitulation has turned a #university that was once a site of free inquiry and learning into a shadow of its former self, an-anti university, a gated security zone with electronic entry controls, a place of fear and loathing, where faculty and students are told from on high what they can teach and say, under penalty of severe sanctions. Disgracefully, all of this is being done to cover up one of the greatest crimes of this century, the ongoing genocide in #Gaza, a crime in which #Columbia’s leadership is now fully complicit.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/01/columbia-historian-rashid-khalidi-open-letter?CMP=share_btn_url

#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#DueProcessForAll
#StopTheDeportations
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Israel #Palestine #DefendAcademicFreedom
#news #press @palestine

‘It Felt Like Kidnapping,’ #MahmoudKhalil Says in First Interview Since Release

The #Columbia graduate and pro-#Palestinian activist returned to #NewYork after more than three months in detention. The #Trump administration is seeking to deport him.

from #NewYorkTimes #NYT
[gift article - link can be shared. Expires in 30 days.]
By Jonah E. Bromwich
June 22, 2025 Updated 8:10 p.m. ET

"But Mr. Khalil ... rejected the idea that protesting against #Israel is inherently #antisemitic.

“I was not doing anything antisemitic,” he said. “I was literally advocating for the right of my people. I was literally advocating for an end of a #genocide. I was advocating that the tuition fees that I and other students pay don’t go toward investing in weapons manufacturers. What’s antisemitic about this?”"

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/nyregion/mahmoud-khalil-interview-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.RE8.W3ql.CuoCeiOqmC59&smid=url-share

#NoDeportationOfMahmoudKhalil
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#repression
#StopTheDeportations
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Palestine #Gaza
#news #press @palestine

Video of Mahmoud Khalil's return to Newark Airport on Saturday, June 21

from #NewYorkTimes #NYT

"Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist detained for his role in protests at Columbia University, returned to the East Coast on bail after 104 days of imprisonment in Louisiana."

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000010242499/mahmoud-khalil-detention-return.html?smid=url-share

#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#NoDeportationOfMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationOFRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationOfMohsenMahdawi
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

#ICE Says It Has No Immediate Plans to Release #MahmoudKhalil

A federal judge ruled this week that the government cannot hold the #ColumbiaUniversity graduate under the rarely invoked law it used to detain him.

from #NewYorkTimes #NYT
By Jonah E. Bromwich
June 13, 2025, 11:04 a.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/nyregion/mahmoud-khalil-trump-detention.html

https://archive.ph/o4Lvd

#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#repression
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#DueProcessForAll
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

Judge says US effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil on foreign policy grounds is likely unconstitutional

from #AssociatedPress #AP #APNews
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 6:58 PM EDT, May 28, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge said the #Trump administration’s effort to deport #MahmoudKhalil because of his pro-#Palestinian activism at #ColumbiaUniversity likely violates the #Constitution.

In a lengthy order issued Wednesday, Judge Michael Farbiarz wrote the government’s primary justification for removing Khalil — that his beliefs may pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy — could open the door to vague and arbitrary enforcement.

https://apnews.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-doj-dhs-columbia-university-f802564cf42c31b11fec99730d53ee5b?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#ReturnKilmarAlbertoGarcia
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics
#news #press @palestine

#Georgetown scholar recalls terror and ‘mockery of due process’ in immigration jail

from #AssociatedPress #AP #APNews
By OLIVIA DIAZ and BEN FINLEY
Updated 6:34 PM EDT, May 23, 2025

"Then Khan Suri had to use the plane’s bathroom. He said the guards refused to unshackle his wrists.

“They said, ‘No, you have to use it like this or do it in your trousers,’” #KhanSuri recalled of the trip, taking him to a Louisiana detention center. “They were behaving as if we were animals.”"

https://apnews.com/article/badar-khan-suri-georgetown-immigration-case-65e9a9675c29ebe91b39eb647d1d6f18?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression #ICE
#NoDeportationForBadarKhanSuri
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw #GeorgetownUniversity
#BadarKhanSuri #Palestine
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

#ProjectEsther: #NYT Details Right-Wing Plan to “Rebrand All Critics of #Israel” as #Hamas Supporters

from #DemocracyNow
Interview with-
Katie J.M. Baker
investigative reporter for The #NewYorkTimes

Stefanie Fox
executive director of #JewishVoiceForPeace.

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/5/19/project_esther

#StopGazaGenocide
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

Graduates Boo #Columbia’s President at Commencement After a Fraught Year

Claire Shipman, the university’s acting president, noted the absence of #MahmoudKhalil, a graduate who continues to be detained by immigration authorities.

from #NewYorkTimes #NYT
[gift article - link can be shared. Expires in 30 days.]

By Sharon Otterman
May 21, 2025 Updated 4:08 p.m. ET

"The celebrations at smaller graduation ceremonies on Tuesday were also punctuated by anger directed at Columbia administrators. At the graduation for Columbia College, the university’s main undergraduate school, some students repeatedly interrupted Ms. Shipman’s remarks with loud jeers. At one point, they chanted “Free Mahmoud.”"

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/nyregion/columbia-president-booed-commencement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I08.AmRJ.IRfBvbjPRrlA&smid=url-share

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Gaza
#news #press @palestine

Freed from #ICE custody, Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi graduates from Columbia to cheers

from #AssociatedPress #APNews
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 5:46 PM EDT, May 19, 2025

"NEW YORK (#AP) — Less than three weeks after his release from an immigration jail, the #Palestinian activist #MohsenMahdawi strode across the graduation stage at #ColumbiaUniversity on Monday morning, savoring a moment the #Trump administration had fought to make impossible.

Draped in a keffiyeh, Mahdawi, 34, paused to listen to the swell of cheers from his fellow graduates. Then he joined a vigil just outside #Columbia’s gates, raising a photograph of his classmate Mahmoud Khalil, who remains in federal custody."

https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-graduation-mohsen-mahdawi-b17b3d7514d760af8835eaf909fb83ac?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

In #Graduation Speech, #NYU Student Condemns U.S.-backed #Israeli War in Gaza

University Withholds Student’s Diploma, in Latest Flashpoint over Free Speech on U.S. Campuses

from #WorldOutlook
May 16, 2025

[contains transcript of his speech]

“We commend Logan for using this opportunity to demand an end to the bloodshed in #Gaza,” said Afaf Nasher, executive director of CAIR-NY, a Muslim civil rights organization. “We demand that NYU formally release Logan’s diploma, which he rightfully earned, and suspend any disciplinary proceedings against him.””

https://world-outlook.com/2025/05/16/in-graduation-speech-nyu-student-condemns-u-s-backed-israeli-war-in-gaza/

#StopGazaGenocide
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#Israel #Palestine #MiddleEast #WestAsia
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

NYU withholds diploma of student who condemned Israel in graduation speech

University says it ‘strongly denounces’ commencement speech by Logan Rozos, who called out ‘atrocities’ in Gaza

From #TheGuardian
Maya Yang
Thu 15 May 2025 14.19 EDT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/15/nyu-withholds-diploma-israel-gaza-speech?CMP=share_btn_url

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

#Indian academic held over pro-#Palestinian views released from #ICE jail

Georgetown postdoctoral fellow Badar Khan Suri had visa revoked and was arrested by immigration officials in March

from #TheGuardian #Guardian
Marina Dunbar and agency
Wed 14 May 2025 17.47 EDT

"US district judge Patricia Giles ... said that the ruling was effective immediately with no conditions and no bond. She added that #KhanSuri’s release was “in the public interest to disrupt the chilling effect on protected speech” during the hearing."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/14/judge-order-release-khan-suri-ice?CMP=share_btn_url

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#NoDeportationForBadarKhanSuri
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

#Tufts student returns to #Massachusetts after release from immigration custody

from #Reuters
By Nate Raymond
May 10, 202510:12 PM EDT

[article contains 5 nice photos :-) ]

** Summary**
* #Öztürk returns home after release from immigration detention center
* Judge in #Vermont grants bail, citing substantial claims her rights were violated
* Ozturk urges public to remember detained women in Louisiana

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tufts-student-returns-massachusetts-after-release-immigration-custody-2025-05-11/

#EndBlockadeOfGaza
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw #RümeysaÖztürk
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

Turkish #TuftsUniversity student released from Louisiana immigration detention center [#RümeysaÖztürk]

from #AssociatedPress #AP #APNews
By KATHY McCORMACK
Updated 8:33 PM EDT, May 9, 2025

'“Despite an 11th hour attempt to delay her freedom by trying to force her to wear an ankle monitor, Rumeysa is now free and is excited to return home, free of monitoring or restriction,” attorney Mahsa Khanbabai said.'

https://apnews.com/article/ozturk-tufts-mahdawi-columbia-students-detained-034d97a7e280c68a7d1fb6aa879ce87c?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share

#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

Rümeysa Öztürk, Tufts student held by Ice, released from Louisiana jail

PhD student arrested in March for political speech released on Friday after federal judge’s ruling

from #TheGuardian #Guardian
Maya Yang and Noa Yachot in New York and agencies
Fri 9 May 2025 19.32 EDT

"#RümeysaÖztürk, the #Tufts University student arrested in March for her political speech, has been released from the Louisiana detention center where she was being held in what she and her lawyers had argued was a breach of her constitutional rights."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/09/trump-tufts-student-deportation-rumeysa-ozturk?CMP=share_btn_url

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationOfRümeysaÖztürk
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

Tufts student released from US immigration custody after judge's order

from #Reuters
By Nate Raymond
May 9, 20258:09 PM EDT

***Summary***
* #RumeysaOzturk ordered released immediately from Louisiana detention center
* Ozturk was detained after pro-#Palestinian campus advocacy
* Judge said her detention chills free speech of non-citizens

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tufts-student-detained-by-us-immigration-authorities-must-be-released-judge-2025-05-09/

#NoDeportationForRümeysaÖztürk
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#NoDeportationForMohsenMahdawi
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

#Michigan AG Drops Charges Against Pro-Palestinian Campus Protesters

"Our First Amendment rights should never be criminalized. Speaking up against genocide should be lifted up, not slammed with felony charges. #Palestinians deserve safety and dignity," said Rep. #RashidaTlaib.

from #CommonDreams
Jessica Corbett
May 05, 2025

Jessica Corbett
May 05, 2025

"Advocates for student protesters and other critics of the U.S.-backed #Israeli assault on the #Gaza Strip celebrated on Monday after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped all charges against seven people arrested last year at the #UniversityOfMichigan amid allegations of bias that the #Democrat rejected. "

https://www.commondreams.org/news/university-of-michigan-gaza

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#ReleaseRümeysaÖztürk
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

#NYPD shared a Palestinian protester’s info with #ICE. Now it’s evidence in her deportation case

from #AssociatedPress #AP #APNews
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 8:31 PM EDT, May 2, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — #NewYorkCity’s police department provided federal immigration authorities with an internal record about a #Palestinian woman who they arrested at a protest, which the #Trump administration is now using as evidence in its bid to deport her, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press.

https://apnews.com/article/nypd-ice-leqaa-kordia-trump-palestinian-protests-90c6f446f431e8cec23a93172e1eb0b8?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share

#ReleaseLeqaaKordia
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#ReleaseRümeysaÖztürk
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Gaza #Palestine
#news #press

Detained #Columbia student #MohsenMahdawi speaks from prison
[on April 29, before he was freed on April 30]

from #NPR #NationalPublicRadio [USA]

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5377484

#StopGazaGenocide
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#ReleaseRümeysaÖztürk
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#ICE
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #Trump
#news #press @palestine

Michigan's #Democratic AG Under Fire After Armed Agents Raid Homes of Palestine Defenders

"We are totally convinced that, but for their viewpoints, these students would not have been targeted," said one attorney.

from #CommonDreams
Brett Wilkins
Apr 23, 2025

" Federal and local law enforcement officers smashed their way into the #Michigan homes of pro-#Palestine student organizers on Wednesday in what the state attorney general's office said was a vandalism probe—but critics called an attack on dissent against #Israel's genocidal assault on #Gaza. "

https://www.commondreams.org/news/michigan-raids-palestine

#DefendAcademicFreedom
#ReleaseMahmoudKhalil
#repression
#ReleaseMohsenMahdawi
#ReleaseRümeysaÖztürk
#StopTheDeportations
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#DefendRuleOfLaw
#StopGazaGenocide
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics #DanaNessel #Trump
#news #press @palestine