Vigil at Columbia UniversityNina Berman
Faculty and staff members from multiple universities gathered early this week in silent protest against the detention of three international students by the Department of Homeland Security, vowing to continue weekly vigils until all detainees are released.
More than 60 professors and staff at Columbia University stood in the rain for an hour, holding photographs of Palestinian Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, Indian Georgetown postdoctoral researcher Badar Khan Suri, and Turkish Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk. Simultaneous demonstrations were held at Georgetown and Tufts, with faculty at Boston University also organizing a solidarity vigil.
The three international students have been held in DHS custody for approximately two months. Advocates claim the detentions are related to their political speech regarding Palestine.
"We will not allow our communities to forget that members of our communities have been made into political prisoners by the Trump regime for speaking about the plight of Palestinians," said Columbia University Associate Professor of Classics Joseph Howley.
Jennifer S. Hirsch, Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia and member of the Columbia group CUIMC Stands Up, which helped organize the event, expressed frustration at university leadership's lack of response. "If the university won't act to protect our students, we will," Hirsch said.
According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Khalil, he has been detained for over two months and missed the birth of his first child. Bobby Hodgson, Assistant Legal Director of the NYCLU, called the detention "a clear violation of the First Amendment and due process."
Öztürk was reportedly detained by federal agents on March 25 and transferred to Louisiana, where she is being held alongside Khalil. A hearing in her case before an appeals court in New York is scheduled for May 6, regarding a federal judge's order to transfer her to Vermont.
Suri was detained outside his home in Arlington, Virginia on March 17 and is currently held in Texas. Hassan Ahmad, one of Suri's lawyers, emphasized that Suri came to the United States on a J-1 visa for scholarly exchange and focuses his research on peace building.
Nader Hashemi, Associate Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at Georgetown, noted that Suri "is not an organizer, nor was he politically active" and "didn't attend any of the Gaza encampment protests."
Faculty members drew parallels between their actions and other countries' traditions of protesting political detention. "There are many troubling resonances between what is happening in the U.S. right now and the abduction and detention of people for their political opinion in other historical contexts, such as parts of Latin America in the 1970s," said Nara Milanich, Professor of History at Barnard College.
The organizers plan to continue the vigils every Monday at noon until the students are released. "Trump and his friends in University leadership are counting on a quiet summer to advance their assault on higher ed. But we'll be out here for as long as it takes," said Howley.
