“The hope is still alive”: Columbia Students and Faculty Gather in Support of Palestinian Student Facing Re-imprisonment
(Photo/Silent Vigil attendees/Megan Vidovich)
By Megan Vidovich
On Monday, September 29, 2025, a crowd of over one hundred people lined the gates of Columbia University’s 116th Street and Broadway entrance in opposition to the Trump administration’s apparent attacks on free speech. Their rallying cry was silence.
This “silent vigil” was the first of upcoming weekly demonstrations organized by Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) Stands Up to protest the politically-targeted detention and deportation of students. Their focus on Monday was the pending appeal trial for Mohsen Mahdawi, a student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Palestinian activist who was detained by immigration officers earlier this year.
A legal U.S. resident and green-card holder, Mahdawi was arrested in April after appearing at a Vermont Citizenship and Immigration Services office, where he was scheduled to interview as part of his pathway to U.S. citizenship. He was held in detention for two weeks before being released.
The United States government is now attempting to repeal the conditions of Mahdawi's release. On Tuesday, September 30, Mahdawi appeared downtown before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as oral arguments began.
CUIMC Stands Up organized Monday’s event as an opportunity for Columbia students, faculty, and community members alike to gather in opposition to the appeal, which could result in Mahdawi’s re-imprisonment. Demonstrators understood the detention of Mahdawi to be not just a political attack following his activism against Israel’s war in Gaza, but an attack against international students and a violation of students’ First Amendment rights to free speech.
Participants held images of community members they claimed to have been targeted by the Trump administration for “unjust and unlawful deportation.” Signs with QR codes linked to an information sheet about the different individuals shown. Other signs included photos of Ranjani Srinivasan, described as a “Columbia student forced by ICE to flee the country over political speech,” and Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia SIPA student, described as a “Columbia graduate held by ICE for four months, still a target for attempted deportation for his political speech.”
Mahdawi, whose upcoming trial was the catalyzing force behind Monday’s demonstration, was described on posters as a “Columbia student held by ICE, now freed, still a target for attempted deportation for his political speech.”
The mood of the demonstration was somber. Columbia faculty members choked back tears as they read remarks defending the character of Mahdawi, who has been described as a “terrorist-sympathizer” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Jessica Collins, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, was one of three faculty members who made a statement before the silent vigil commenced. She described Mahdawi, her former student, as a “gentle, intelligent young man” who is “committed to nonviolence and the belief that love is more powerful than hate.”
Collins was not the only participant striving to defend Mahdawi’s character. The Morningside Post spoke to demonstrators after the vigil’s conclusion. One demonstrator, a Jewish PhD student at Columbia, shared that he has been a good friend of Mahdawi’s for four years. Having been raised in a Zionist community that feared Palestinians, the student said his friendship with Mahdawi has “taught him a lot and opened up his perspective.” Speaking of the origins of his friendship with Mahdawi, the student claimed, “[Mahdawi] was not antisemitic, and he is [still] not antisemitic.”
As the vigil came to a close, Mahdawi stressed that the federal government’s attacks on pro-Palestian activism were bigger than himself. “This is about all of us and about the future of our humanity.” Mahdawi then called on the Columbia community “to stand up for justice, to stand up for humanity, and to stand up for democracy.”
Mahdawi also recognized the vigil as a moment to mourn the over 60,000 Palestinians who have lost their lives in the ongoing war in Gaza.
Taking the mic after Mahdawi was Mahmoud Khalil, who made headlines earlier this year after he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March for his pro-Palestinian activism. “We are not being silenced,” Khalil stated. “We are continuing to speak up just to show that no matter what they do, we will not be silenced.”
As the crowd mourned the lives lost in Palestine and lamented the erosion of democratic ideals, Mahdawi offered a bit of light. “Our gathering, I wouldn’t call it just a vigil, because a death has not occurred within us. The hope is still alive.”