During a protest on Columbia University's Alumni Day, a group of graduates and students tore up their diplomas in defense of former student Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in anti-Israel demonstrations facing federal detention. The demonstration, filled with chants of 'Free Palestine', reflected a growing sentiment against recent university policies and actions influenced by the Trump administration. Graduates expressed solidarity with Palestinians and those oppressed, demonstrating the discontent amid the campus's ongoing turmoil and recent leadership changes following backlash against university responses to political pressures.
"It's not easy to do this, with none of us doing this lightly. There's no joy in this," said Amali Tower, a 2009 SIPA graduate who spoke at the protest and ripped up her diploma, to NBC News.
"I'm not a proud alumni at all, and instead I want to stand with the students, and I want to stand with Palestinians, and I want to stand with immigrants who are being rounded up and harassed, oppressed and deported as we speak," said Tower, who is herself an immigrant.
The demonstration came amid a period of prolonged turmoil at Columbia, which just saw its board of trustees push interim university President Katrina Armstrong from her post last week during a battle with the Trump administration.
While the university acquiesced to a list of demands put forth by the administration's new Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism last week - under threat of losing the $400 million in funding - Armstrong had privately downplayed the policy changes to faculty.
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