A few weeks ago, following the arrest of recent Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, I wrote an essay that appeared in Slate objecting to the government’s outrageous detention of someone for having been involved in campus protests. “You don’t have to be a fan of Mahmoud Khalil’s politics,” I wrote, “to protest this egregious violation of fundamental American rights.”
“So, what next? Is everyone protesting the actions of Israel in Gaza going to be subject to arrest? Does having protested U.S. support for the bombing of civilians now put one at risk? Not a few Jewish students have participated in campus protests against the war in Gaza; will they too be deemed to be in violation of the president’s orders prohibiting antisemitism?”
In the last couple of weeks we have seen Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist at Brown sent back to Lebanon, and Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown professor, detained. Neither was accused of any crime. Kseniia Petrova, an Anti-Putin Russian scientist who had fled her homeland, has been detained and is scheduled to be sent back to a regime well-known for its state-sponsored brutality. And then this week we saw Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts student, abducted by federal agents.
I don’t have to agree with what this student wrote — that’s not the issue. You do NOT snatch someone off the street over an op-ed. That’s the kind of thing you see in China, Russia, or Iran — not in the United States.
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) March 27, 2025
Absolutely disgraceful.
pic.twitter.com/geNpYEBQez
These actions have nothing to do with protecting the security of the United States. They are efforts to silence the Muslim community, international visitors to the country, and institutions of higher education. Our government is running a campaign of fear, and we must resist it in the strongest possible terms.
Authoritarianism is on the march in America. We must not stay silent in the face of these efforts to spread fear and demand obedience. We must stand firm in our conviction that the freedoms of civil society—freedom of expression, freedom of inquiry, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion—are worth defending. Tyranny will prevail only if we stay silent and give in to these oppressive tactics. We will not do so.
I wish other leaders of American higher education would speak with your clarity and lack of ambivalence…. The problem is that they, in their attempt to “be sensitive” and/or “politically correct”, had stopped defending free expression as an absolute some time ago. And now a much more dangerous illiberalism from without is added to the illiberalism from within… Dark days for liberal education, but keep the flag flying!
Yes, authoritarianism is on the march here and now. It should not be normalized. One pro-Palestinian student kidnapped, detained incommunicado and deported is a tragedy. Ten thousand such students so treated is a statistic.
Time for Trump to be referenced only in true Panglosian terms, because that’s who he is. Everything for the best in this Make America Great Again world.
It’s time to be eternally candid.
Please demand that your colleagues who lead other academic institutions resist this authoritarianism!
Is it unclear that giving secret police the ability to detain and deport anyone without due process is dangerous and un-American?
Anyone thinking it’s fine because they “didn’t do anything wrong” won’t have to wait long to realize their mistake. Now it’s Latins and Muslims who are being targeted, soon the list of enemies of the people will expand. In a white Christian nationalist state, I don’t know how the rest of us will fare.
Thank you for your clear, courageous and principled stand. May many other university leaders – and faculty, staff, students and families – join you in this rallying cry.