New Delhi:
Ranjini Srinivasan, the 37-year-old Indian PhD student in the US who self-deported to Canada after her student visa was revoked for allegedly being a “terror sympathizer”, opened up about her ordeal today. She even said that she feels ‘betrayed’ by her alma mater – the renowned Columbia University.
Ms Srinivasan has been accused of being a supporter and sympathizer of Hamas – a designated terrorist organisation in the Palestinian region of Gaza. She was pursuing her doctorate in public planning, and was on the verge of completing her PhD, when the Trump administration revoked her student visa for her alleged involvement in propagating and aligning with Hamas.
Her student visa was renewed in December – just a month before Trump’s inauguration to the White House. She is now pinning her hope on Columbia University to consider her appeal and reinstate her enrollment. But she feels equally betrayed by Columbia for the treatment met to her so far.
“I spent five years at Columbia University, working, I don’t know, maybe 100 hours a week sometimes. I never expected the institution to let me down. But it did,” she told Al Jazeera in an interview.
Ms Srinivasan was a Fulbright recipient at Columbia University.
“I hope Columbia comes to its senses and re-enrolls me,” she said, hoping for fairness and justice from an institution of global repute. She went on to say that she has made all her academic submission and completed all the university’s requirements needed to complete her PhD – hinting that it is now just a formality for the institution to award her her due.
“All the requirements for my PhD are complete, and whatever is left, I don’t even need to be in the US for it,” she said, adding that “So, I’m trying to appeal to Columbia” for them to do their bit.
THE ORDEAL AND THE ESCAPE
Speaking about her ordeal, Ms Srinivasan recalled how she got an email from the US Consulate in Chennai on March 5 which stated that her student visa had been revoked indefinitely. Within a matter of a few hours, while she was still trying to understand what had happened by contacting officials at Columbia and her PhD group, agents from the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed up at her doorstep, possibly to detain her in order to deport her from the country. She didn’t answer the door.
The next evening, while she was not at home, the agents returned, asking for her. Her roommate had to deal with them. Hours later, another Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil was detained on campus, which led to unrest between students and authorities.
Ms Srinivasan, now fearing arrest, managed to escape with a bag containing her documents, essentials, and a few items of value. Agents were on a constant lookout for her while she was on the run. On March 11, after evading officials, she somehow managed to fly out of New York on a flight to Canada, where she touched base with her relatives and friends who came to her rescue. CCTV footage from New York’s LaGuardia Airport showed her lugging a bag with her belongings. The footage was shared widely on social media.
Ms Srinivasan recalled how she feared being arrested in the US. Four days later, Kristi Noem, Secretary of US’ Department of Homeland Security labelled Ms Srinivasan a “terrorist sympathiser” in a post on X.
There has still not been a word on the incident by Columbia University. Their stand on the issue is not known. Even at the time of this report, there has been no official statement issued by Columbia University. Whether or not the institution will investigate the matter and deal with it fairly is not known.
It is also not clear whether she was targeted only for her political views on Israel-Palestine issue, or if she was actually involved in any way for the charges made against her. It is also not known if, as a student of Columbia, she had entered into an agreement with the institution which forbids her from even speaking about her political views.
Though the US Government has labelled her a “terror sympathiser”, no evidence of her actively being involved has been shared publicly, nor the grounds for the charges been clarified. “I’m fearful that even the most low-level political speech or just doing what we all do – like shout into the abyss that is social media – can turn into this dystopian nightmare, where somebody is calling you a terrorist sympathizer and making you, literally, fear for your life and your safety,” Ms Srinivasan has said.
Ms Srinivasan, currently in Canada, now lives with uncertainty and hope.