US Expels Student Protesting Gaza, Upholds ‘Free Speech’ Double Standard
Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia grad student, was dealt a 'blow' in his fight against deportation, with a federal appeals court ruling his earlier release 'unlawful.' This narrative, presented without much introspection by mainstream outlets like Bloomberg, paints Khalil as a legal problem, not a political one. Missing from this sanitized account? The fact that demanding accountability for
actual alleged war crimes in Gaza can now get you expelled from American universities and expelled from the country. Apparently, 'free speech' only applies to opinions that don't challenge state-aligned narratives. One might wonder if similar legal zeal is applied to students protesting, say, climate policy, or if this punitive approach is reserved for opinions deemed 'unacceptable.' The casual
cruelty of potentially deporting a graduate student for exercising fundamental rights (at a university supposedly cherishing academic freedom, no less) suggests a government far more interested in managing dissent than upholding constitutional principles. It's not a blow to Khalil, it's a 'blow' to the idea of American liberty itself.