Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied at the University of Oregon Tuesday, following the arrest of an activist from Columbia University.
Last weekend, federal immigration enforcement detained Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card recipient and former Columbia grad student who participated in Pro-Palestinian protests.
As NPR reports, the move is part of the Trump administration's efforts to take action against what it calls “anti-Semitic harassment," and to deport those it deems pro-Hamas.
Now, Kaleigh Bronson-Cook with UO Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said she’s worried students at her university could be targeted as well.
Bronson-Cook said UO has charged some Pro-Palestinian protesters with conduct code violations. She said this type of action could create a paper trail for federal officials to follow.
“Many of the students who are involved in the Palestine solidarity movement and the labor movement on campus are international students," said Bronson. "And so we see this weaponization of the Student Conduct Code process against students who are speaking up for Palestine as increasing the risk.”
FERPA laws protect distribution of student records without an individual’s consent, but there are some exceptions involving federal agencies. UO has said it won’t cooperate with immigration officials without a warrant.
Meanwhile, Bronson-Cook said there's another way that UO's policies could put students at risk: by threatening protesters with expulsion that could upend their legal status in the U.S..
In an email to KLCC last month, UO spokesperson Eric Howald said the university had sent letters to participants in last year's student encampment that mention suspension or expulsion as potential consequences for their conduct code violations.
However, Howald said the university had told those students informally that those punishments were off the table. He said they could face a probationary period, in which further violations could result in suspension.
A student responds
Salem Younes, a Palestinian-American student at UO, is one of the protestors charged with student conduct code violations. They said their first reaction to Khalil’s arrest was fear.
"I'm privileged enough to have my parents be citizens when they birthed me," said Younes. "But I'm still scared of what this could mean as somebody who's just Arab at all in this country, somebody who's queer in this country.”
However, Younes said they don’t expect the arrest to dampen protest activity at UO. Instead, they said they foresee exactly the opposite.
“Today was a show of initial strength,” said Younes. “And as a popular movement, it's just going to keep coming.”
KLCC reached out to the University of Oregon for comment Tuesday, but didn’t immediately receive a statement in response.
