Overview

• Students at Columbia University chained themselves to a campus gate to protest the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a former student and Syrian-born U.S. permanent resident, by ICE in March 2025.
• Protesters demanded the university disclose the names of trustees allegedly involved in reporting Khalil to ICE, which Columbia has officially denied.
• Public Safety removed the protesters for violating university conduct rules, but the demonstration continued outside the gates with linked arms and anti-Israel slogans.
• The protest, organized by Columbia's Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, reflects broader tensions over free speech, anti-Semitism, and university policies on activism.
• Columbia faces scrutiny over its leadership instability, federal funding cuts, and ongoing campus unrest tied to national debates on Palestinian rights and institutional accountability.