Many graduates of Columbia University Saturday ripped up their diplomas instead of taking part in the yearly Alumni Day celebrations denouncing the position the school took in Donald Trump administration’s assault on foreign students. As movies of their opposition went viral, MAGA observers said the joke is on them as they would still have Columbia in their LinkedIn information. The demonstrators were just tearing the copies of their certifications and not meaning any damage to their job, social media users commented.
The opposition came after ICE arrested Mahmoud Khalil from his Columbia-owned house on March 8. Another PhD scholar, Ranjani Srinivasan, left for Canada after her pupil visa was revoked. Both of them blamed the solitude of the school for what happened to them.
Saturday’s show was organized by SIPA Alumni for Palestine and those who took part in ripping certificates said they are never happy of Columbia at all. They want to have with the kids, with the Palestinians and with the international individuals who are being rounded up and harassed. The demonstrators held up signs and chanted” Clean Palestine” and” Free Mahmoud Khalil” throughout the day.
” Nothing says” I’m smart “like paying$ 200K for a degree and then tearing it up because President Trump hurt your feelings. Pure Ivy League brilliance”, one wrote.
” These birds ripping distinct photocopies is hilarious”, another wrote. ” I bet you all of them will however put Colombia on their resume”, a fourth person added.
” Demo it’s awesome because they are only destroying the printed type of their certificates like it’s the same as throwing away their certification as a token forever. They may all keep those levels on their begins I guarantee you”, another wrote.
Columbia targeted me for my advocacy: Khalil
In his first speech after being arrested, Mahmoud Khalil said he was targeted by the school for his engagement. ” Columbia targeted me for my engagement, creating a fresh authoritarian administrative office to pass due process and solitude pupils criticizing Israel. Columbia surrendered to national stress by disclosing student files to Congress and yielding to the Trump government’s latest threats. My imprisonment, the eviction or suspension of at least 22 Columbia individuals — some stripped of their B. A. levels only weeks before completion — and the expulsion of SWC President Grant Miner on the day of contract agreements, are obvious examples”, Khalil wrote.
Columbia let me down: Ranjani Srinivasan
In an appointment with Al Jazeera from Canada where she fled to escape ICE arrest, Ranjani Srinivadsan said the ICE officials were on the school where a learner is supposed to be healthy. The school made little effort to assist her, she said, adding that they did not try to touch her while she was on the verge of completing her PhD. ” I spent five years at Columbia, working – I don’t know – maybe 100 days a week often”, she says. ” I never expected the organization to let me down. But it did”.
