{"id":929,"date":"2025-03-27T16:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/27\/at-columbia-university-trumps-crackdown-chills-a-fervent-campus-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:04:06","slug":"at-columbia-university-trumps-crackdown-chills-a-fervent-campus-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/27\/at-columbia-university-trumps-crackdown-chills-a-fervent-campus-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"At Columbia University, Trump’s crackdown chills a fervent campus – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The protests at Columbia University last spring were dogged: Students galvanized by the war in Gaza staged demonstrations<\/a> for weeks on end, erected tent cities on campus lawns and annexed a university building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But nearly a year later, as the university again finds itself at the center of unprecedented controversy, the student revolt that captivated the world appears to be largely absent.<\/p>\n

Students say that amid the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on international student protesters<\/a>, the harsh punishment of some of last year\u2019s participants and the university’s new rules<\/a> restricting campus demonstrations, speaking out simply isn\u2019t worth the risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/picture>
A quieter Columbia campus on March 4, nearly a year after large-scale protests.<\/span>Hiroko Masuike \/ New York Times via Redux file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A freshman Columbia engineering student said\u00a0he felt \u201cproud\u201d last year as he watched the protests from his home in Texas. But the student, who asked NBC News not to publish his name because of the sensitivity around the war in Gaza, said that while he\u2019d like to join protests this year, he won\u2019t.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s too dangerous, frankly,\u201d the 18-year-old student said. \u201cNot every family of the people that will go out to protest have the financial capabilities to be able to afford a lawyer in the event that you\u2019re pressed charges.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sebastian Javadpoor, a senior who leads the university\u2019s student-led Democratic club, agreed. Students are avoiding protests by choice, he said: \u201cYou have students who are not participating in protests because they\u2019re terrified.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

On March 8, immigration authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>, a Columbia graduate student who helped lead pro-Palestinian protests last year. Khalil, who was born in Syria and is of Palestinian descent, was living in university housing on a student visa with his American wife, who is eight months pregnant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mahmoud<\/picture>
Mahmoud Khalil, pictured by the gates of Columbia in April, was detained this month. <\/span>Olivia Falcigno \/ USA Today Network file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the days that followed, another one of the university\u2019s international students was arrested<\/a> and a third fled to Canada, according to the Department of Homeland Security. And on Monday, a fourth student who has lived in the country since she was 7 years old sued the Trump administration<\/a> after, she said, immigration authorities tried to deport her.\u00a0The crackdown goes far beyond <\/strong>Columbia. In recent days, immigration authorities have arrested students at Georgetown University<\/a>, Tufts University and the University of Alabama<\/a>. NBC News obtained a video<\/a> of authorities detaining Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts student, on Tuesday. It hows several Department of Homeland Security officers in plainclothes surrounding Ozturk, a Turkish national, grabbing her hands and taking her away as she screamed out in confusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last Friday, threatened by the Trump administration with the loss of $400 million in federal research grants for \u201cinaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students,\u201d the university acquiesced to sweeping changes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Columbia agreed to ban masks at protests in most cases, enlist 36 new campus security officers \u2014 who, unlike previous security officers, will have the ability to arrest students \u2014 and hire a senior vice provost to oversee the Department of Middle East, South Asian and African studies, according to a document<\/a> the university said it shared with the federal government and posted on its website Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But students and faculty members protested the arrests and the changes in policy only a handful of times in recent weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unlike the sprawling demonstrations last year, a student protest on March 14 was confined to a small, tight space outside the university gates. It was surrounded by police barricades and lasted just a few hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/picture>
Demonstrators outside of Columbia University on March 14 protest the detention of Mahmoud Khalil.<\/span>Dave Sanders \/ NYT via Redux fle<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday, a few dozen faculty members held a vigil for democracy, which also took place off campus. A student activist group also encouraged students to sit out of classes and wear masks in defiance of the partial ban. Yet the response was muted, students said.\u00a0Most of the dozens of students NBC News approached in recent weeks declined to speak on the record. Many said they feared speaking out would get them in trouble with the university. (Earlier this month, the university announced that it suspended or expelled some of the students who participated in the takeover of Hamilton Hall<\/a> last year.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others said they feared that voicing their opinions would draw the ire of federal authorities. And some said they were simply fatigued by the controversies engulfing the university.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Allie Wong, a Ph.D. student who was arrested while protesting on campus in April, said the Trump administration\u2019s actions and the university\u2019s response have had a \u201ctremendous chilling effect\u201d on a campus known for challenging authority.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1968, Columbia students similarly took over Hamilton Hall<\/a> to protest the U.S. government\u2019s involvement in the Vietnam War, prompting more than 700 arrests. Not including last year, students blockaded or occupied the university academic building again at least four more times since then, according to the university\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this pride that this is the epicenter of constructive dialogue and social change,\u201d Wong said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/picture>
Demonstrators gather near a main gate at Columbia University in April 2024.<\/span>Craig Ruttle \/ AP file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But things are different now, she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not uncommon that people get arrested during protests,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is uncommon that in the aftermath of protests, a year later, that the president of the United States is going through and actively targeting individuals to make a spectacle out of it.\u201d\u00a0A Justice Department spokesperson said the department \u201cmakes no apologies for its efforts to defend President Trump\u2019s agenda in court and protect Jewish Americans from vile antisemitism.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union\u2019s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said the pressure put on Columbia by the federal government is an attempt to bring universities \u201cto heel\u201d and poses grave First Amendment concerns for other schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is not just to chill that kind of speech at Columbia, but to chill it everywhere,\u201d Wizner said, \u201cand to communicate to every university, public and private, that if you don\u2019t engage in these kinds of crackdowns on your own, we\u2019re going to impose them with the threat of crippling funding cuts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in interviews this week that <\/a>there was no timetable to restore the university\u2019s funding but that Columbia was \u201con the right track.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Columbia spokesperson said in a statement that the university intends to combat antisemitism while protecting free expression.\u00a0\u201cWe respect that there will be vigorous debate on campus about issues of academic freedom and protest, and we welcome that debate,\u201d it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement this week<\/a>, Dr. Katrina Armstrong, the university\u2019s interim president, reiterated her commitment to \u201cseeing these changes implemented with the full support of Columbia\u2019s senior leadership.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAny suggestion that these measures are illusory, or lack my personal support, is unequivocally false,\u201d she wrote \u201cThese changes are real, and they are right for Columbia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Todd Wolfson, the president of the American Association of University Professors, said he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d that Columbia didn\u2019t push back against the administration\u2019s demands. The AAUP, which defends the rights of faculty, sued several federal agencies<\/a> Monday, arguing that the actions violated the professors\u2019 right to free speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the university won\u2019t \u201cstand up and fight back\u201d against government incursions, he said, \u201cthen it\u2019s likely we won\u2019t have the kind of higher education which has been the engine of this country\u2019s economy and democracy for the last 100 years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Thaddeus, a professor of mathematics at Columbia who joined Monday’s protest, said the mood among the faculty is \u201cprofound alarm and dismay.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, to an outsider, life on campus might appear status quo, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cClasses are continuing, athletic competition is continuing, the libraries are open. I was watching a campus tour go by outside,\u201d said Thaddeus. \u201cIt\u2019s just a weird combination of normal and very abnormal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n

Matt Lavietes<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Matt Lavietes is a reporter for NBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n

Tyler Kingkade<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Tyler Kingkade is a national reporter for NBC News, based in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The protests at Columbia University last spring were dogged: Students galvanized by the war in Gaza staged demonstrations for weeks on end, erected tent cities on campus lawns and annexed a university building.\u00a0 But nearly a year later, as the university again finds itself at the center of unprecedented controversy, the student revolt that captivated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}