STORY: :: May 21, 2025:: Students boo Columbia's acting president as she mentions detained protester Mahmoud Khalil:: The international student was a leading pro-Palestinian voice at the university and was detained by ICE in March:: New York:: Claire Shipman, Acting President, Columbia University “Let me also say that we firmly believe that our international students have the same rights to freedom of speech as everyone else… (Unintelligible… Booing) And let me also say that I know many of our communities today are mourning the absence of our graduate, Mahmoud Khalil.”Speaking to graduating students outside Butler Library, Columbia University acting President Claire Shipman was met with boos.The booing got louder when she talked about international students and, in particular, Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian student protest movement who was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March.Earlier in May, Columbia University suspended more than 65 students for their role in a pro-Palestinian demonstration that forced the shutdown of the main campus library, according to a school official.The demonstration came amid negotiations between Columbia's board of trustees and the Trump administration, which announced in March it was penalizing the university over previous pro-Palestinian protests by canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants.