At Columbia University, Trump's crackdown chills protests from a fervent campus

At Columbia University, Trump's international student protest crackdown chills a fervent campus

The protests at Columbia University last spring were dogged: Students galvanized by the war in Gaza staged demonstrations for weeks on end, erected tent cities on campus lawns and annexed a university building. 

But nearly a year later, as the university again finds itself at the center of unprecedented controversy, the student revolt that captivated the world appears to be largely absent.

Students say that amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on international student protesters, the harsh punishment of some of last year’s participants and the university's new rules restricting campus demonstrations, speaking out simply isn’t worth the risk. 

A quieter Columbia campus on March 4, nearly a year after large-scale protests.Hiroko Masuike / New York Times via Redux fileA freshman Columbia engineering student said he felt “proud” last year as he watched the protests from his home in Texas. But the student, who asked NBC News not to publish his name because of the sensitivity around the war in Gaza, said that while he’d like to join protests this year, he won’t. 

“It’s too dangerous, frankly,” the 18-year-old student said. “Not every family of the people that will go out to protest have the financial capabilities to be able to afford a lawyer in the event that you’re pressed charges.” 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/columbia-university-protests-trump-crackdown-rcna198016

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