The case of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student at Columbia University, self-deporting from the US after her student visa was revoked for taking part in pro-Palestine protests, is the latest in the crackdown on US campuses by the Trump administration.
An atmosphere of fear and uncertainty has gripped international students in the country, and they are afraid to express their views openly or engage in social media dialogue. For many of these students, used to such crackdowns in their home countries, the US was the beacon of free speech and democracy.
Sadly, that is coming to an end under the new dispensation in the White House. President Donald Trump has vowed to punish those who joined anti-Semitic and anti-American protests on campuses around the US last year. His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has promised a more vigorous crackdown on campuses around the US.
The faculty and students fear this could extend to all forms of dissent and anyone who utters anything critical of the US government policy, be it the Ukraine-Russia war, the imposition of stiff tariffs on allies or the rise of right-wing parties in Europe, could face arrest and deportation.
The first such public arrest was of Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist and graduate student, by federal agents outside his apartment near the Columbia University campus. Though Khalil is a legal US resident with a green card, he is being held in a federal detention complex. His case is just the beginning, and universities fear that more such action is on the anvil.
Those who speak in favour of Palestine are not necessarily anti-Semitic, but such nuances are beyond the purview of the new US administration hell-bent on taking conclusive action against so-called wokeism and liberal thought. Civil rights advocates have expressed outrage over the arrest and crackdown on protestors, calling it an assault on free speech.
The upshot of such rigorous action against those who speak their mind is that most international students are now too afraid to express their views and have virtually stopped posting any political or critical content on social media for fear of revocation of their immigration status.
Universities themselves are advising their international students to be cautious in their utterances, the very antithesis to the open debate and discussion that was the hallmark of American universities.
Who can forget the campus unrest of the Vietnam War era? College students played a key role in disseminating anti-war ideas among the public. Campuses in the US were the harbingers of change and ushered in liberal thinking that made the US the leader of the free world.
American universities have always welcomed students from all over the world to provide fresh perspectives and new insights into many areas of critical research. Unfortunately, that era seems to be over. The next four years do not bode well for the America of free speech and liberal thought.
