Professors describe fear amid Trump pro-Palestine activism crackdown
Source: The Hill
07/07/25 4:31 PM ET
Two green card-holding professors at U.S. universities took the stand Monday to detail how they grew fearful and less willing to publicly criticize the Trump administration as it began targeting pro-Palestinian campus activists. The testimony came during a bench trial in federal court in Boston over the government’s crackdown, namely a policy that has led to arrests and efforts to deport foreign-born students and faculty members linked to campus demonstrations.
After the arrest of former Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, Megan Hyska texted a colleague that she felt like she was “climbing the walls,” a way to describe the “extremely stressed out, scared [and] maybe a bit trapped” feelings she was experiencing.
A Northwestern University philosophy professor and Canadian citizen, Hyska testified that Khalil’s arrest and the arrest of Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk rang alarm bells that she could be similarly singled out.
“It became apparent to me after I became aware of a couple high-profile detentions of student activists … that my engaging in public political dissent would potentially endanger my immigration status — that I risked detention and deportation for being publicly politically critical of the Trump administration,” Hyska said.
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/5388445-professors-testify-trump-administration-campus-activism/