Less than three weeks after his release from an immigration jail, Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi strode across the graduation stage at Columbia University on Monday morning, savoring a moment the Trump administration had fought to make impossible.
Draped in a keffiyeh, Mahdawi, 34, paused to listen to the swell of cheers from his fellow graduates. Then he joined a vigil just outside Columbiaβs gates, raising a photograph of his classmate Mahmoud Khalil, who remains in federal custody.
βItβs very mixed emotions,β Mahdawi told The Associated Press. βThe Trump administration wanted to rob me of this opportunity. They wanted me to be in a prison, in prison clothes, to not have education and to not have joy or celebration.β
Mahdawi, a 34-year-old legal resident of the US, was detained during an April 14 citizenship interview in Vermont, part of the widening federal crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.Β
He was released two weeks later by a judge, who likened the governmentβs actions to McCarthyist repression. Federal officials have not accused Mahdawi of committing a crime, but argued that he and other student activists should be deported for beliefs that may undermine US foreign policy.Β
For Mahdawi, who earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Columbia's School of General Studies, the graduation marked a bittersweet return to a university that he says has betrayed him and other students.Β
βThe senior administration is selling the soul of this university to the Trump administration, participating in the destruction and the degradation of our democracy,β Mahdawi said.Β
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He pointed to Columbiaβs decision to acquiesce to the Trump administrationβs demands β including placing its Middle Eastern studies department under new leadership β as well as its failure to speak out against his and Khalilβs arrest.Β
He said Columbia's leadership had denied his pleas for protection prior to his arrest, then ignored his attorney's request for a letter supporting his release from jail.Β
A spokesperson for Columbia University did not return an emailed inquiry.Β
Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organised campus protests, led a Buddhist association and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Khalil.
Khalil would have received his diploma from a Columbia masterβs program in international studies later this week. He remains jailed in Louisiana as he awaits a decision from a federal judge about his possible release.Β
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As he prepares for a lengthy legal battle, Mahdawi faces his own uncertain future. He was previously admitted to a master's degree program at Columbia, where he planned to study βpeacekeeping and conflict resolution" in the fall. But he is reconsidering his options after learning this month that he would not receive financial aid.Β
For now, he said, he would continue to advocate for the Palestinian cause, buoyed by the support he says he has received from the larger Columbia community.Β
βWhen I went on the stage, the message was very clear and loud: They are cheering up for the idea of justice, for the idea of peace, for the idea of equality, for the idea of humanity, and nothing will stop us from continuing to do that. Not the Trump administration nor Columbia University,β he said.Β
The School of General Studies graduation comes two days before Columbia's university-wide commencement, as colleges across the country are bracing for possible disruptions.Β
Last week, New York University announced it would withhold the diploma of a student speaker who criticized Israelβs attacks on Palestinians in his graduation speech.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)