Columbia Alumnus Credits Campus Protests for Shifting US Political Landscape

Mahmoud Khalil, a 31-year-old Columbia University graduate, returned to the New York campus on Tuesday to discuss his new book, No Land to Stand On: Notes from Detention. The event marked his first visit to the university since his arrest by immigration authorities on March 8, 2025. Approximately 100 people attended the session, which Khalil described as a victory for the Palestinian voice on campus.

Khalil became a prominent figure in the 2024 campus protests that spread across the United States. Those demonstrations centered on Israel’s war in Gaza and led to a federal crackdown on foreign student activists. Despite holding permanent US residency, Khalil was detained for three months without criminal charges. He was released from immigration custody on June 20, 2025, though the Trump administration continues to seek his deportation.

In an interview with the AFP news agency, Khalil argued that the student movement has changed public perception in the United States. He stated that the American public is finally looking at Palestinians as equal human beings. He connected this shift in social attitude to political gains, noting that more progressive candidates are winning elections to Congress and other positions of power.

Khalil cited specific political figures as evidence of this change. He pointed to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for the US Senate in Michigan, and Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City. He described these figures as part of a generation of leaders who are questioning their views on Israel due to the advocacy he and his peers conducted.

The return to Columbia was not without controversy. Some Jewish groups on social media opposed Khalil’s presence on campus. A Columbia spokesperson said the university is committed to rigorous debate and respectful dialogue. The university maintained that it supports faculty members’ right to organize academic events. The spokesperson clarified that an invitation to speak does not signify university endorsement of a speaker’s views.

Khalil accused university leadership of trying to erase Palestinian voices from campus. He criticized the administration for authorizing the New York Police Department to clear protesters from the Manhattan campus in 2024. He also said the university failed to protect him from harassment before his detention. Columbia had previously stated that the demonstrations presented a safety threat.

The next step in Khalil’s case involves the ongoing legal battle over his deportation. He said his fight is about more than his personal status in the country. He framed the issue as a test of whether people in the US can speak their minds. He expressed a desire to return to normalcy, including going to the park with his son and wife without being bothered.