6 d. ago Columbia alumni rip up diplomas to protest activist Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest

Group of Sipa graduates demonstrate against government’s jailing of graduate student, who spoke up for PalestiniansA handful of alumni from Columbia University’s school of international and public affairs (Sipa) ripped their diplomas in a show of protest against the federal government’s jailing of graduate student Mahmoud Khalil’s over his activism for Palestinians.On Saturday, instead of participating in the university’s annual Sipa alumni day, a few dozen alumni and students gathered outside campus as part of a protest organized by Sipa’s and Barnard Alumni for Palestine groups. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Judge rules Columbia protester can’t be detained as she fights deportation

White House blocked from deporting Yunseo Chung, green card holder and student who sued Trump administrationA federal judge in Manhattan blocked immigration officials from detaining Yunseo Chung, a Columbia University student and legal permanent resident the Trump administration is trying to deport for taking part in Gaza solidarity protests.The 21-year-old green card holder, who has lived in the US since she was seven years old, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, arguing the government is “attempting to use immigration enforcement as a bludgeon to suppress speech that they dislike”. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Tensions bubble on elite college campus as students fume over Trump's free speech move

On the already tense Upper West Side campus, discomfort is simmering. After over a year of protests, the young students are incandescent with renewed rage.

Politics

1 week ago Columbia student protester can't be detained for now as she fights deportation, judge rules

A federal judge New York has ruled that a Columbia University student who is facing potential deportation for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest cannot be detained by immigration officials for now

Events

1 week ago University professor lawsuit claims Trump administration deporting pro

Lawsuit comes after multiple U.S. permanent residents and visa-holding academics have faced deportation in recent weeks

Politics

1 week ago ‘Shocking overreach’: Trump administration aims to deport Columbia student with green card for appearing at Palestine protests, says lawsuit

Administration has targeted multiple non-citizen activists for deportation in recent weeks, prompting lawsuits

Events

1 week ago Columbia student protester sues Trump administration for trying to deport her

Yunseo Chung, who partook in university’s pro-Palestinian protests, called government’s actions ‘shocking overreach’A Columbia University student who took part in pro-Palestinian protests at the university is suing Donald Trump’s administration for attempting to deport her.Attorneys for Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old who has legally resided in the US since childhood, filed a complaint on Monday describing the government’s actions as “shocking overreach” and an “unprecedented and unjustifiable assault” on her rights. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Columbia student protester who came to the US as a kid sues to stop deportation order

Another Columbia University student says that the Trump administration has targeted her for deportation over her pro-Palestinian views, accusing immigration officials of employing the same tactics used on Mahmoud Khalil and other college activists

Events

2 w. ago Trump White House could let federal agents search homes without warrants under Alien Enemies Act

Justice Department official says ‘terrorists don’t get to hide behind closed doors’ as legal experts sound alarm

Events

2 w. ago Detained Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil appears in immigration case

Detained Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil has appeared briefly in immigration court at a remote Louisiana detention center

Culture

2 w. ago Judge tells Columbia and Barnard to refrain from turning over student disciplinary records for now

A federal judge has ordered Columbia University and Barnard College to refrain from complying with a Republican-led House committee’s demand for student disciplinary records, at least until he holds a hearing next week on a request by Mahmoud Khalil and other students for a temporary restraining order

Events

2 w. ago US universities face choice to surrender or fight back against Trump’s takeover

‘Extraordinary fear’ takes hold at universities as Trump campaign threatens investigations or loss of federal fundsThe Trump administration’s unprecedented pressure campaign on American higher education – which is forcing major universities to bow to its demands or risk investigations and the loss of millions of dollars in federal money – is so far facing little pushback from the schools affected.That campaign escalated earlier this month, when the US government cancelled $400m in federal contracts and grants to Columbia University. In a subsequent letter, representatives of three federal agencies said they would reconsider that freeze only if Columbia agreed to conditions including more aggressively disciplining students who engage in pro-Palestinian disruptions, planning “comprehensive” reform of the school’s admissions policies, and placing one of school’s area studies departments under “academic receivership” – meaning under the control of an outside chair. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘I could be next’: international students at Columbia University feel ‘targeted’ after Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest

For students who aren’t US citizens, a new reality includes feelings of surveillance, fears of being arrested and reluctance to visit familyIt was 4am and a Columbia University master’s student two months away from graduation lay awake in bed. His heart thumped so hard, his chest began to hurt. His hands got colder and colder; he was unable to speak. This had become an agonizing nightly routine for the 24-year-old from India since 8 March, when immigration officials handcuffed the Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil and took him into detention in Louisiana.“What scares me the most is that I would be fast asleep at home and I would hear a bang on my door and I’d be taken away in the middle of the night by Ice and nobody will ever know what happened to me,” said the student, who attended multiple protests to support Palestine around New York City. “It feels as if people are getting targeted for just speaking up for their political views last year.” Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Federal judge says Columbia student activist's case should be heard in New Jersey

A Columbia University student activist who was detained by the U.S. government over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations has the right to challenge the legality of his detention

Events

2 w. ago Judge rejects Trump administration’s attempt to throw out lawsuit from arrested Palestinian Columbia student

Mahmoud Khalil’s case is transferred from Louisiana to New Jersey

Events

2 w. ago FBI’s joint terrorism task force investigating latest arson attack on Tesla facility

An investigation into another arson attack on Teslas has been elevated to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, officials have revealed.

Events

2 w. ago Detained Columbia University student disputes government's 'bedbugs' claim in court papers

A detained Columbia University student says the subject of bedbugs never arose after he was arrested and flown to a Louisiana detention center by authorities who now say bedbugs helped force the long journey that made him fear he was being immediately deported

Politics

2 w. ago Deaths reported in Gaza as Israeli military conducts ‘extensive strikes’ despite ceasefire

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office blames Hamas’s refusal to release hostages for IDF strikes that are reported to have killed at least 30 peopleIsrael’s military said it was conducting “extensive strikes on terror targets” in Gaza early on Tuesday, with officials there reporting at least 30 deaths in the most intense airstrikes since the 19 January ceasefire began.An unnamed senior Hamas official told Reuters that Israel was “unilaterally” ending the ceasefire. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Trump spokesperson denies deportations were illegal and says White House ‘confident’ it will win in court – live

Karoline Leavitt also describes deportations as ‘counter-terrorism operation’ as judge orders officials to explain if they defied court orderWhite House denies violating judge’s order with Venezuela deportationsWhat is the Alien Enemies Act and how is Trump using it?The justice department says that Rasha Alawieh, a kidney specialist working in Rhode Island who was deported to Lebanon despite having a US visa, had “sympathetic” photos and videos of Hezbollah leaders on her phone, according to Politico.Alawieh’s deportation raised concerns because a judge had required 48 hours’ notice before being sent out of the country, and because she was detained despite having a valid visa and a job in the United States. Her lawyers have alleged that Customs and Border Protection ignored that order, and Massachusetts federal judge Leo Sorokin is expected to consider the matter this morning. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘The Palestinian exception’: Trump limits campus free speech with the complicity of Zionist Jews | Jeff Melnick and Jessie Lee Rubin

The promotion of Israel’s national narrative remains exempt from Trump’s wholesale attack on DEIOn 7 March, the Trump administration announced that it had cancelled $400m in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, saying the school’s “Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and antisemitic harassment on their campuses” and that “universities must comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding”.The “harassment” leveraged by the president and other pro-Israel ideologues was a reference to the paradigm-setting pro-Palestine activism that energized the campus over the past year. Columbia’s students became national leaders in the anti-genocide movement, and the Gaza solidarity encampment they established garnered international attention – including from the US Congress, which held hearings on so-called “campus antisemitism”. Continue reading...

Politics