Students react as Columbia University's acting president Claire Shipman speaks during the commencement ceremony on the main campus, in Manhattan, on May 21. AP Photo
Students react as Columbia University's acting president Claire Shipman speaks during the commencement ceremony on the main campus, in Manhattan, on May 21. AP Photo
Students react as Columbia University's acting president Claire Shipman speaks during the commencement ceremony on the main campus, in Manhattan, on May 21. AP Photo
Students react as Columbia University's acting president Claire Shipman speaks during the commencement ceremony on the main campus, in Manhattan, on May 21. AP Photo

Graduating Columbia students boo university president who noted Mahmoud Khalil's absence


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Columbia University held its graduation ceremony on Wednesday, a year after pro-Palestine protests rocked the New York institution.

Acting university president Claire Shipman gave a commencement speech in which she acknowledged the absence of student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was due to receive his diploma this week but is in a jail facing deportation for his role in the campus protests.

The brief address drew loud boos and chants of “free Palestine” from some graduating students angry that students were not being protected by the university.

Ms Shipman also alluded to the crackdown on foreign students by US President Donald Trump's administration.

Past and present Columbia students and faculty protest against the university's investments in Israel, outside the commencement ceremony on the main campus in New York on May 21. EPA
Past and present Columbia students and faculty protest against the university's investments in Israel, outside the commencement ceremony on the main campus in New York on May 21. EPA

“We firmly believe that our international students have the same rights to freedom of speech as everyone else and they should not be targeted by the government for exercising this right,” Ms Shipman said.

Campuses across the US last year were the sites of protests against the war in Gaza. Demonstrators demanded an end to the war and their universities' divestment from Israel and Israeli companies.

Mr Khalil, a legal permanent US resident and graduate of Columbia who was a student liaison with the administration during the protests, is being held in an immigration detention centre in Louisiana. Federal immigration authorities denied his request last month for a temporary release from detention to attend the birth of his first child.

An immigration judge ruled this month that the US government can proceed with efforts to deport Mr Khalil, who authorities consider to be a national security risk.

As Ms Shipman spoke, some students walked out while others booed and jeered. The acting president, who took over in late March, received a similarly icy reception during a smaller graduation ceremony on Tuesday.

The protest outside Columbia University's graduation ceremony. EPA
The protest outside Columbia University's graduation ceremony. EPA

Dozens of people protested across the street from the university's main gates on Wednesday, and at least one person in a blue Columbia graduation robe was detained by New York City police. Other students waiting to receive their diplomas wore keffiyehs and emblazoned their caps with Palestinian flags and pro-Palestine slogans.

Columbia has become a lightning rod for criticism of what Mr Trump and Republicans have called rampant anti-Semitism on university campuses.

The Trump administration froze $400 million in funding for Columbia over claims of anti-Semitism, demanding policy changes at the institution to restore funding, including banning masks on campus, empowering security officers to remove or arrest people and taking control of the department that offers courses on the Middle East from its faculty. Columbia acquiesced to the demands in March.

Some students and faculty have accused Columbia’s leadership of giving in to the Trump administration’s demands at the expense of protecting foreign students.

Speaking before the Senate on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to revoke more visas of students involved in campus pro-Palestine protests. He said the number of students who have lost their visas because of campus protests was “probably under 1,000”.

Scoreline

Swansea 2

Grimes 20' (pen), Celina, 29'

Man City 3

Silva 69', Nordfeldt 78' (og), Aguero 88'

It’ll be summer in the city as car show tries to move with the times

If 2008 was the year that rocked Detroit, 2019 will be when Motor City gives its annual car extravaganza a revamp that aims to move with the times.

A major change is that this week's North American International Auto Show will be the last to be held in January, after which the event will switch to June.

The new date, organisers said, will allow exhibitors to move vehicles and activities outside the Cobo Center's halls and into other city venues, unencumbered by cold January weather, exemplified this week by snow and ice.

In a market in which trends can easily be outpaced beyond one event, the need to do so was probably exacerbated by the decision of Germany's big three carmakers – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – to skip the auto show this year.

The show has long allowed car enthusiasts to sit behind the wheel of the latest models at the start of the calendar year but a more fluid car market in an online world has made sales less seasonal.

Similarly, everyday technology seems to be catching up on those whose job it is to get behind microphones and try and tempt the visiting public into making a purchase.

Although sparkly announcers clasp iPads and outline the technical gadgetry hidden beneath bonnets, people's obsession with their own smartphones often appeared to offer a more tempting distraction.

“It's maddening,” said one such worker at Nissan's stand.

The absence of some pizzazz, as well as top marques, was also noted by patrons.

“It looks like there are a few less cars this year,” one annual attendee said of this year's exhibitors.

“I can't help but think it's easier to stay at home than to brave the snow and come here.”

Cry Macho

Director: Clint Eastwood

Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam

Rating:**

Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten

Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ

Price, base: Dh1,731,672

Engine: 6.5-litre V12

Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm

Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm

Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km

TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

Updated: May 22, 2025, 8:10 AM`