Tensions bubble on elite college campus as students fume over Trumps free speech move

On the already tense Upper West Side campus, discomfort is simmering. 

After over a year of advocating for Palestine and flouting the fears of their Jewish classmates, Columbias protesters are now incandescent with renewed rage. 

This time, their wrath is aimed at faculty who have, under threat of losing funding, agreed to the Trump administrations demands. 

The list of requirements was, for the most part, straight-forwards; define antisemitism, ban masks on campus to clamp down on anonymous agitators, empower police and - most controversially - throw out anyone on a student visa who doesnt tow the line. 

One request - namely receivership of the Middle East department - was universally balked at.  

Older generations were quick to agree to most. But to the Gen Z future classes, it was a step too far. A survey of students yielded staggering results. 

Seventy-four percent voted against defining antisemitism. Nearly 80 percent voted against empowering law enforcement. Two-thirds voted against enforcing existing policies against students who had already broken the rules. 

While the protesting students rage, more moderate voices are also feeling the heat. 

International students especially are starting to afraid to speak their mind publicly, says Rob Mungo, a Navy Veteran now studying at the school. 

After over a year of advocating for Palestine and flouting the fears of their Jewish classmates, Columbias protesters are now incandescent with renewed rage 

He believes most of the Trump administrations requirements are in line with other schools. 

Others, he says, go too far to encroach on academic freedom. 

Some students say that donning masks is a direct reaction to what they see as the criminalization of free speech. 

One student, a post grad researcher in English says she feels the administration is is kowtowing to the idea that Columbia students are an out-of-control group of anti-Semites. 

The majority of students feel that masks are crucial in protecting the freedom of protestors to free speech without fear of punishment – a sentiment which they feel has gathered validation following the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a post-graduate student who was detained and deported last week. 

The Trump administration says Khalil was guilty of not disclosing membership to certain foreign groups when he applied for his visa. 

His attorneys and supporters say hes the victim of racism and oppression. 

Even before the Trump administration put deportation onto the table, students have been afraid of showing their faces due to doxing.

One masters student declined to be named but says she is happy to show her face.

I stand strongly in my opinions because I am proud of what I am standing for, she says.

If you are just a regular international student here on a visa or green card and everything you are doing is legal, then you have nothing to worry about. 

Central to the students complaints is Mahmoud Khalil, an activist and post-graduate student who has been detained 

People who are advocating for and supportive terrorism against this country should be worried. 

If you are not advocating for terrorism you have nothing to worry about, she says.

Another veteran who served in the navy, who declined to be named, says he is grateful the administration stepped in and used their leverage to enact change. 

If these policies were implemented by Columbia earlier there would be less pushback.

Speaking for many of the veterans perspective who volunteered years to make the world a safer place, it’s difficult for us to comprehend how this group’s actions are helping the situation in any way.

They turned Veterans Day into Martyrs Day on Campus this year. Last year the IDF mistakenly took out a vehicle that was delivering aid to Gazans with four retired US and UK special forces soldiers inside. 

These students have the time and resources to skip classes all semester long but not to go volunteer, he said. 

Trump has gone full-throttle on college campuses with students he considers to be a risk 

Yunseo Chung is on the run from ICE after being threatened with deportation. Mahmoud Khalil was has been detained 

A task force from August 2024 found that students stopped wearing markers of their Jewish identity to avoid being targeted. One student says the atmosphere has become abhorrent, noting one WhatsApp group chat in particular.

‘It’s the same 10 to 15 students in this specific group chat who are constantly saying things that I would never have thought would be directed at me or any other Jew.”

Regardless of their views, students are saying that the university is extremely tense. One first year student at SIPA , who decided to leave after experiencing hostility and bullying, saying that the university is to blame for allowing students to go unchecked for so long.

Other students say that the unsavory feel of the campus means many other potential candidates are choosing to go elsewhere.

Jewish students say anti-Semitic imagery, graffiti and calls to globalize the intifada have become a part of life on campus.

Others say that they have felt peer pressure to confirm to a view on Israel and face ostracism from student affinity groups or clubs if they appear to hold pro-Zionist views.

As tensions bubble on campus and Khalil fights for his freedom, another student has come into the government’s sights.

Yunseo Chung, 21, is on the run from ICE for fear of deportation.

Despite living in the US legally since she was 7 after moving to America from South Korea, the Trump administration says she is now a hindrance to foreign policy agenda.

She is suing to block their attempts to remove her from the country.