Big Thought: Trump comes for the universities, students, and the First Amendment
By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS
This past Friday, the federal government served Columbia University notice that they’d be shutting off $400 million in already-approved grants. The freeze came just five days after the announcement of a review of Columbia’s federal contracts for its alleged failure to curtail campus anti-semitism.
You may recall that former Columbia president Minouche Shafik did quite a lot to satisfy the demands of congressional anti-antisemites during last spring’s wave of protests against the war in Gaza. Unlike many campuses, Columbia called in city police and allowed arrests on campus property. Shafik ultimately lost the confidence of university administrators and faculty and resigned just before the beginning of the fall term.
Funding freezes were only the beginning. This past weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Mahmoud Kahlil, a former student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs set to graduate this May. Khalil had been a visible spokesperson for campus protestors and a negotiator with the university. He’s married to an American, and is a legal permanent resident of the U.S. — a green card holder. Reportedly he’d feared arrest or worse and had asked the university for help, but had received none; ICE officers were allowed access to his on-campus apartment.