Columbia Controversy

Alex Ellis ‘26

Editor

As Pro-Palestinian protests continue to rise from students at Columbia University, so does outrage as the University responds to the protests and threat of federal budget cuts by expelling students and allowing for two foreign students to face deportation for their involvement.

The protests are for Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas war. The protests have been ongoing and are happening at college campuses around the country. The Trump Administration is intervening through large federal budget cuts. 

Columbia University is responding to the protests and the Trump Administration by expelling and arresting student protestors, leading to the possible deportation of these protestors. The University’s reaction is driven by the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal budget cuts they will face if they do not fix their response to the protests and the “harassment of Jewish students” according to the student-run Columbia Spectator. The Columbia Spectator also claims that “federal funding accounted for $1.3 billion of the University’s annual operating revenue in fiscal year 2024.”

Cape Henlopen Junior Rylie Cathcart feels that federal intervention is affecting how the students exercise their freedom of speech. She believes that “the budget cuts are making Columbia have a bigger reaction than they need to. Everyone has the right to protest and it is being taken away because students are scared to be deported or expelled.”  

Columbia is not the only University facing budget cuts due to these war protests. According to AP News, over $1 billion of federal funding towards Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern University has been frozen. The schools also claim that the Department of Education sent letters to over 60 other universities warning them of government intervention if they do not protect Jewish students from harassment. 

Grant Miner is one of 22 students who were expelled from Columbia because of their involvement in a protest. Miner told thenation.com that these students, “who had been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, were either expelled, suspended for years, or had their hard-earned degrees revoked on the same day.” He was the President of the Student Workers of Columbia and a PhD student prior to his expulsion. He emphasized that the expelled students lose their “pay and health insurance, and…the immediate nonrenewal of their leases.”

Yunseo Chung is another Columbia student who is from South Korea and faced deportation. She was arrested at a “a sit-in at a library on the nearby Barnard College campus.” Her lawsuit detailed that “she was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing government administration” and her lawyer was told that “her permanent resident status was revoked and that the government was seeking to arrest her.” Ultimately, she was not detained. 

Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian Columbia student who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp and was detained on March 8. On March 18, he wrote a letter entitled Letter from a Palestinian Political Prisoner in Louisiana where he described his experience. He details that when he was arrested, the agents did not have a warrant. He claims that he was targeted by Columbia, who created “a new authoritarian disciplinary office to bypass due process and silence students criticizing Israel.” He also criticized the University for surrendering “to federal pressure by disclosing student records to Congress and yielding to the Trump administration's threats.”

An immigration Judge in Louisiana ruled on April 11 that Khalil can be deported as a national security risk. Judge James E. Comans ruled that the government’s belief that Khalil posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” is enough for deportation. 

Cape Sophomore Grace Heers agrees with Cathcart and believes that the reaction to the protests is unnecessary. She feels that “deporting people for protesting will make people scared to protest for issues.”

As protests rage on around the country and more student protestors face deportation, students will continue to be forcefully discouraged from protesting from the universities and the federal government. 

Columbia University Students get expelled after participating in Protests for Palestine