Photo: Rally at Columbia University’s encampment
Columbia University has just expelled, suspended, or revoked degrees of over a dozen students involved in the pro-Palestine student movement.
These disciplinary decisions came just days after the Trump administration froze $400 million in federal research funds to Columbia. Hours before students were expelled, Columbia received an email from the Trump administration outlining “next steps” to get back into good graces with the administration and restore funding. Among the requirements was disciplining student protestors through “expulsion or multi-year suspensions”.
Among those who were expelled was Grant Miner, the president of the student workers union at Columbia, UAW Local 2710. Miner was fired the day before new contract negotiations between the union and the university are slated to begin.
This blatant act of political repression and violation of free speech rights follows the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a leading student activist at Columbia. By strong-arming universities into punishing students, the Trump administration seeks to instill fear and silence a growing wave of resistance. But history has shown that repression only fuels movements, and this will be no exception. The struggle for Palestinian freedom and the right to protest will not be crushed—it will only grow stronger in the face of these attacks.
