Hundreds of college students, faculty members and others took to the streets of New York City and to the campus of Columbia University on Thursday to protest the federal detention of organizers of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and what they regard as an assault on higher education.
The protesters demanded answers about the fate of Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, Palestinians who had been involved in campus demonstrations over the war in Gaza.
Mr. Khalil, a Columbia graduate and legal permanent resident, was detained on March 8 at his New York City apartment, was sent briefly to a New Jersey detention center and has since been held at a facility in Jena, La. Mr. Mahdawi, who is finishing his undergraduate studies in philosophy at Columbia’s School of General Studies, was detained by immigration officials on Monday after arriving for an appointment in Vermont that he thought was a step toward becoming a U.S. citizen.
Thursday’s protest at Columbia, with about 300 demonstrators, rang with chants of “Free Mohsen, free them all — every fascist state will fall,” accompanied by the beat of drums. Organizers handed out medical masks to help students shield their identities, along with fliers promoting a planned student strike.
Demonstrators criticized Columbia’s leadership for failing to more aggressively challenge demands by the Trump administration over what the White House described as the school’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment. The federal government last month cut about $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia.
Faculty members turned out in solidarity, condemning what they said was a growing authoritarian crackdown on universities by the Trump administration.
Joseph Howley, a professor in Columbia’s classics department and an outspoken critic of the detentions by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, wore a red shirt that read, “Jews say ICE off our campus.”
Nearby, Kathryn Pope, a Columbia librarian, wore a “Hands Off Our Students” pin affixed to her jacket.
“I’m here for the students, especially our international students,” she said. “Columbia shouldn’t give in to the Trump administration. It should fight back.”
The university this week appeared to be adopting a tougher tone, with a note from the acting president pledging that the school would not allow the federal government to “require us to relinquish our independence and autonomy.”
Columbia’s philosophy department registered its “horror and dismay” over the detention of Mr. Mahdawi, a green card holder for the past 10 years, in a statement on its website. The department emphasized that Mr. Mahdawi had been “accused of no crime” and called on the university “to assist by all means, including through the provision of material and legal resources, any Columbia student targeted or detained — and seemingly only for having exercised their right to the free and peaceful expression of political opinion.”
After the midday rally at Columbia, some demonstrators headed south, where other protesters convened at Washington Square Park before marching to Foley Square in Lower Manhattan.
At Washington Square, Amelia Moranska, an international student studying forensic psychology at John Jay College, said she showed up because “we heard that they were actually going to stand up for international students.”
Ms. Moranska, who comes from Malta, said the events of recent weeks had left her feeling unsafe.
“It’s suffocating being here right now, as an international student,” she said, turning around and staring at the Washington Arch.
Ms. Moranska said she had wanted to stay in the United States but had decided to pursue a master’s degree in Athens at Mediterranean College.
Irena Grudzinska Gross, who has taught history and literature at Princeton University, said she came to the United States after participating in student protests in Poland in 1968.
“I was persecuted, in that I was kicked out of university,” she said. “I didn’t see the future for myself.”
Even though hundreds of people were at the protest, she thought there should be more.
“When I hear the call, I’m marching,” Ms. Grudzinska Gross said.
Many of the marchers were professors who stopped walking at each red light, waiting until the light turned green to continue. They kept mostly to the sidewalks and chanted: “Higher education under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back.”
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