Chicago – April 20, 2025
Brown University has witnessed a surge of pro-Palestinian protests over the past year, with rallies, a hunger strike, and two major protests in an administration building, which led to the arrest of 61 students for trespassing. However, this year, many students report a growing sense of fear following disciplinary actions against demonstrators, including the suspension of the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
This atmosphere of fear has intensified in response to actions by the Trump administration, such as revoking the visas of members of the campus community, launching a civil rights investigation into the university, and threatening to withdraw $510 million in federal funding.
International students, in particular, feel the brunt of these crackdowns. Lifta, a Palestinian-Canadian doctoral student, shared her concerns about the heightened vulnerability of international students, particularly after the deportation of Brown Medical School professor Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who was detained at Boston Logan Airport after revealing her participation in the funeral of a Hezbollah leader.
Other international students at Brown have reported increasing fears over their academic and professional opportunities, with some experiencing challenges in securing funding for conferences or language training.
Amid these growing concerns, hundreds of Brown professors signed an open letter to the university’s president, Christina Paxson, urging her to use the school’s $7.2 billion endowment to shield it from what they see as an unprecedented assault on higher education. It remains uncertain whether the university will comply with the federal government’s demands.
