EPICENTER OF PROTESTS
Khalil’s case could ultimately test where courts draw the line between protected speech guaranteed to citizens and noncitizens alike under the US Constitution’s First Amendment, and the executive branch’s view that some protests in the US can undermine foreign policy.
Columbia, the epicenter of anti-Israel protests at dozens of US college campuses last spring, has become a prime target of the Trump administration, which has accused it of an inadequate response to antisemitism on campus and allowing Jewish students to be intimidated.
Protest organizers say criticism of Israel’s military assault on Gaza is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
Last week, the federal government canceled about US$400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia because of what it described as antisemitism.
On Thursday, Department of Homeland Security agents searched two student residences at Columbia pursuant to judicial warrants, its president said, though no one was arrested and no items were removed. The university has expelled some students who occupied a university building during a protest last spring.
