From JNU to Columbia: Umar Khalid and Mahmoud Khalil’s Arrests Expose the Global Attack on Dissent

In a stunning caving into governmental pressure, Columbia University on Friday, 21 March, announced a slew of measures that demonstrated that it had effectively given in to several of the demands made by the Trump administration eight days ago as a “precondition” for federal funding. The demands had been made six days after the government had announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal funding to Columbia.

Among the measures was the empowering of campus security to make arrests, punishing students for wearing masks during protests, and fundamentally altering the functioning of the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS) department.

The Trump administration did not publicly explain on what basis it was demanding a private university to censure a particular academic department as part of its supposed fight against antisemitism at university campuses. Yet, despite that extraordinary attack on the academic functioning of a private university, the Columbia administration agreed to the demand.

Columbia University has now stated that they are “appointing a new Senior Vice Provost this week with a focus on promoting excellence in Regional Studies.” The portfolio of this provost will include “a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East.”

In India, the government’s crackdown on JNU had a long-lasting impact on other institutions, such as St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, (which, like Columbia, is also my alma mater). The college would even hesitate to invite speakers who were critical of the government, to events and talks. This, at a college where Dr Binayak Sen had been invited after he was released from jail on trumped-up charges of sedition, where dissidents such as author Arundhati Roy and documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan were frequent visitors and speakers, screenings of films such as Final Solution and Ram Ke Naam were commonplace, and critics of extremist politics were welcome and not personas non grata.

But with the Modi government in power, and especially since the crackdown on JNU, all of that changed quicker than one could say “restrictions on academic freedom”.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), also long considered a liberal hub, similarly changed tack under the Modi regime. In 2024, it revised its honour code for students by banning participation in demonstrations which are “anti-establishment” and telling them to keep away from “unpatriotic discussions”.

Following widespread criticism, the controversial honour code was withdrawn, yet the changes in institutional outlook at TISS over the past several years under Modi have been significant. For instance, in April 2024, TISS had suspended PhD scholar Ramadas Prini Sivanandan for participating in a student-led protest rally in New Delhi. Sivanandan was accused of engaging in “political activities”. The institute reportedly called him “anti-national” after the rally criticised the BJP-led government’s National Education Policy.