Second Columbia University student arrested amid rising tensions over pro-Palestinian protests

Protests over last year’s war in Gaza have sparked national conversations, and Columbia University has emerged as a flashpoint, with the government citing the institution’s alleged failure to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence.

Kordia’s arrest, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, stems from her participation in campus protests and her overstay of a student visa that was terminated over a year ago. She was previously detained by New York City police in April 2024 for her role in a demonstration at Columbia.

Members of Columbia University’s student workers union and their supporters protest the detention of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. (AP photo)

The recent arrests have roiled Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus in New York City, where students have expressed growing frustration with what they perceive as the university’s acquiescence to government pressure. On Friday, more than 200 students gathered outside Columbia’s iconic gates to protest the arrests, chanting “Free Mahmoud” and “I.C.E. off our campuses,” while holding Palestinian flags and banners.

The demonstration reflected a broader outcry against federal immigration agents’ presence on campus and the perceived crackdown on student activism.

Student self-deports after visa revocation

Meanwhile, federal officials have signalled that the scrutiny of Columbia is far from over.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday released a video showing another student, identified as Ranjani Srinivasan, walking through LaGuardia Airport with a small suitcase. Srinivasan, a doctoral student from India, was reportedly preparing to enter Canada after her student visa was revoked by the Department of State earlier this month.

In the video, posted to social media platform X, Noem stated that Srinivasan had used a US Customs and Border Protection app to notify the government of her intention to self-deport.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” Noem said in a statement accompanying the video, which has drawn significant attention online. Srinivasan’s dorm room had been one of two searched by federal agents earlier this week, her lawyer confirmed, though she was not present during the search.

Trump’s crackdown

The Trump administration’s escalating actions at Columbia come as part of a broader effort to clamp down on what it describes as rising antisemitism on college campuses.

Protesters rally in support of detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil outside Columbia University in New York. (AP photo)

On Thursday, the administration delivered an ultimatum to the university, demanding that it implement a series of sweeping reforms to its student discipline and admissions policies or face the immediate cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts.

In a letter sent to Columbia’s leadership, officials from the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services called for changes that included formalizing the university’s definition of antisemitism, banning the wearing of masks at protests, and placing Columbia’s Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under academic receivership.

The federal officials justified their demands by accusing the university of failing to safeguard Jewish students from what they described as widespread harassment and violence during last year’s protests.

“Columbia has fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment,” the letter read.

Columbia University has responded cautiously to the administration’s letter, with a spokeswoman saying that the university was reviewing the federal demands. “We are committed at all times to advancing our mission, supporting our students, and addressing all forms of discrimination and hatred on our campus,” the spokeswoman said in a statement on Thursday evening.

In a separate move on Thursday, the university announced a range of disciplinary actions against students who participated in a building occupation last spring as part of the pro-Palestinian protests. The actions, which included multiyear suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions, were reportedly among the steps the Trump administration had called for in its letter.

Reacting to the incidents, Joan Scott, a historian and member of the academic freedom committee of the American Association of University Professors told news agency AP that “this is an escalation of a kind that is unheard of”. “Even during the McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done.”

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