As an old student of this Ivy League School, I am very proud of my association with this prestigious place of learning. In recent days and weeks, I have had many conversations with my friends from those days. We felt betrayed!

When Columbia University succumbed to political pressure and betrayed its students to law enforcement, many former students were shocked and bewildered at this selling of its students for money. 

Columbia University (CU) has an endowment of $15 billion. They are not poor. But the threat of losing $400 million was not very palatable, so they turned traitor. They sold their students.

CU in the heart of New York City is rather famous for its students protesting one issue or another. The most famous protest on Campus Walk was (I think) against the Vietnam War back in 1968.

As an old student of this Ivy League School, I am very proud of my association with this prestigious place of learning. In recent days and weeks, I have had many conversations with my friends from those days. We felt betrayed!

We relived all the protests we participated in when there was no fear of screaming our lungs off – our point of view must be heard. We protested, checked our time and hurried off to our respective lectures as the conscientious students we were.

There are several issues here that are threatening higher education and our rights and freedom as a nation.

First, did CU realize that “free speech” and the “right to protest” were under fire and perhaps it was the beginning of the demise of our democratic rights when they released the names of those students?

Second, did CU realize that turning those students over to law enforcement would put them in prison and get them deported?

Third, recently a judge found CU guilty of hate/bias crimes. Is it the university or the students that are guilty, and is this the future of “government” intervention in our liberty and justice?

Fourth, will American universities be prevented from enrolling foreign students? Does our ignorant, illiterate government realize the consequences of their brain-dead decisions?

There are two kinds of students at American universities. The first kind — like me — need government funds to finish a degree in higher education. I mean fellowships, Pell Grants, scholarships and the big money — bank loans, which take a lifetime to repay.

The second kind of students are those from foreign countries. Foreign governments pay for their students’ tuition, room and board, books, and pocket money. 

We, the American students, who had to beg, borrow and work for our pennies to go to CU used to watch our foreign friends spend freely with a little bit of envy. And then we gossiped about the “Brain Drain.” Yes, they got the best education and returned to serve their countries.

As I write this, more than 300 U.S. scientists are leaving this country and moving to countries where they can continue their research. Other countries are just gobbling them up. Can we afford this “Brain Drain?” Scientists and intellectuals do not come cheap. They are irreplaceable!

When politics and tyranny stagnate education, whether it is pre-k, grade school, university or science and research, we are in a downward spiral.  The U.S. is already behind the developed countries in language, math and science. We just cannot afford more government assassination of our already low academic standards.

Well, my friends and I have had a change of heart. We came to realize that CU being the first university on the government chopping block, was given no time to foresee the implications of what that detrimental decision would cause and the consequences for their students.

At present, there are protests all over this country. Let us hope that people power wins and preserve our rights to free speech and to protest our hearts out if we choose, especially on college campuses.

Our voices were heard. We had opinions and were not afraid to voice them. We had the power to agree or disagree.

It is on college campuses that tyranny, fascism, kingship and Gaza will play out and prove whether the U.S. Constitution will survive.

As Dr. Robinson said in his article in the Post on April 29, “… it’s not bullets that will kill and maim my students and me. It’s free speech.”

Columbia University will survive this tragedy. I am no longer angry at them. I just hope those unfortunate students caught in the web of money and tyranny and judged as the enemy of the government, are not punished or deported. They are innocent. 

And I hope that all our scholars and intellectuals who left this country return soon.

My biggest, brightest hope is that the students of today and the future continue to protest on Campus Walk at Columbia University.

Evelyn Uddin-Khan