The Endangerment of American Academic Freedom

This post was authored by Future Librarians and Archivists for Palestine, a committee of Dominican University's Information Science Student Association.

As a student at an American University, it strikes me as essential that there is discussion surrounding the unlawful arrest and deportation of Mahmoud Khalil amongst the student body, staff, and faculty. Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia University, was a student leader of the school’s pro-Palestinian protests that unfolded with international media attention this past year. Despite legally living within our country, with a green card and permanent citizen status, ICE entered his university-owned apartment, questioned, and then arrested him in early March. He has since been awaiting trial as prosecutors seek his deportation. Khalil’s wife, an eight-month pregnant American citizen, was also threatened with arrest. 

When questioned for the reasoning behind this arrest, a spokesperson from the Homeland of Security confirmed that the unlawful seizure of this individual was directly related to his political engagement while on his university’s campus, stating that the arrest was “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.” 

Since this arrest, there have been several other efforts in line with Donald Trump’s efforts to arrest and deport peaceful protestors with lawful residence throughout American college campuses.  

Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student, was arrested in Massachusetts the same month. The incident, captured on video, shows masked ICE members surrounding and arresting the confused woman. “You want to take those masks off? Is this a kidnapping? Can I see some faces here? How do I know this is the police?" A bystander is heard asking in the video. 

In the Midwest, the University of Minnesota released a statement stating that one of their graduate students was arrested by ICE. The identity, status, and safety of this student remains unknown. 

Another Columbia University student, 21-year-old Yunseo Chung, was targeted by ICE. Chung, who moved to the U.S. at the age of 7 and holds permanent and lawful residence in the country, was the valedictorian of her high school, now finds herself involved in a legal battle with the Trump administration, fighting against her deportation. Chung’s lawsuit states that ICE agents searched for her at her college campus and her parents’ home.  

Much can be written about the unlawful and fascist nature of these actions by the Trump administration and ICE, which has operated against the American people without any pushback, checks, or limitations from any governmental level. The actions of these students clearly fall within the protection of the first amendment, and their targeted punishment from our government due to the expression of their political ideals in a peaceful manner is cause for concern for everyone.  

Notably, though, we wish to discuss the University’s cooperation with these arrests and attempted deportations. Not only did Columbia University allow for the NYPD to violently detain their students during the period of protest itself, their support for the government’s tyrannical campaign against these students has held steadfast. An effort that has been failing in their intended goal of preserving financial power; the Trump administration recently canceled 400 million in federal funding to the University, despite the institution’s cruelty to their own student body. Their response to the arrest of Khalil and this cancelation of funding was to cave to the demands of the Trump administration, promising the government sweeping retaliation against all pro-Palestinian support on campus. Despite this, the funding has yet to be returned to the University, and the institution is losing both their power and their soul. 

These actions are meant to strike fear in American Universities in the hopes of encouraging them to suppress the voices of their students; voices that, importantly, are in support of a vulnerable and endangered group of people as they suffer through an atrocity of imperial militaristic aggression. Although Dominican University has shown no indication of joining these efforts of punishment, the effect remains. The reverberations of these actions have stricken fear in students who wish to use their intellectual thought for the betterment of the world—actions that should be an encouragement for any valuable academic institution. We hope that as these events unfold around us, there is continued support for free-thought and expression within Rebecca Crown Library and Dominican University.  

Next Tuesday, on the 8th, FLAP (Future Librarians and Archivists for Palestine) will be hosting a guest speaker event with Laila Moustafa Hussien, a professor and librarian at the University of Illinois who specializes in cultural heritage preservation and North African and Middle Eastern Studies. We will be discussing the catastrophe that has occurred in Gaza and its implications for the Palestinian people and their cultural heritage. Please join us for this essential discussion, which will occur at Zoom at 6:00 P.M. The link can be found on ISSA or SAADUC’s EngageDU page. 

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