The Eagle’s editorial board is composed of its staff but does not represent every individual staffer’s views. Rather, it provides an insight into how The Eagle, as an editorially independent institution, responds to issues on campus.
On March 20, the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. sent a letter to American University and seven other D.C. universities urging their administrations to take definitive stances against two of President Donald Trump’s seemingly unconstitutional executive orders and actions. These actions include threatening to revoke visas from people the administration deems “Hamas sympathizers” and another demanding that campuses eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programming.
American University has championed strong rhetoric surrounding progressive change, inclusion and justice over the years, so when federal crackdowns threaten students, the University needs to take action. The current silence and inaction from the University are unacceptable. They need to take action to protect international, undocumented and minority students who are most likely to be targeted by these orders. Silence signals complacency.
If the University wants to claim that “Free expression and the creation of a safe and welcoming community for all are bedrock principles of American University,” it needs to do more than maintain baseline legal compliance. AU has often prided itself on being a progressive, change-making institution. However, this identity is faltering under the threat of federal retaliation and donor disapproval.
Instances of students being targeted and deported are not hypotheticals that the University can claim it can’t react to. In fact, recent events have already shown the consequences that international students may face. Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University professor and postdoctoral scholar with a valid J-1 visa, was detained after the Trump administration attempted to deport him for protesting Israel’s actions in the Israel-Hamas war. Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student, was arrested for similar reasons. The cases of Suri and Khalil are just two instances that show how the Trump administration is attempting to politicize free speech. We cannot allow that to happen on our campus.
AU’s record on student free speech in recent years has been dismal. While President Jonathan Alger reversed former President Sylvia Burwell’s controversial Jan. 25, 2024 directives that barred indoor protests on campus, Alger and the administration have taken no concrete action to strengthen free speech since this reversal or create protections for vulnerable students. For example, AU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine remain on probation for actions taken taken under Burwell while the directive was in place, and has had at least one event canceled over vague safety assessments.
Separate from the ACLU of D.C.’s initial letter to the University, the ACLU of AU and the Washington College of Law National Lawyers Guild sent its own letter to Alger, which calls for AU to:
- Publicly commit, in a statement and a community forum, to protecting the community’s right to free expression and academic freedom.
- Inform the community what threats AU has received from the Department of Education.
- Release information about the University’s data collection processes, remove information that might indicate students’ immigration status, refuse to share information with federal law enforcement unless required by law and find alternatives to referring student misconduct cases to the police.
- Declare AU a sanctuary campus for immigrants and non-citizens and prioritize protections for other groups targeted by the Trump administration, such as pro-Palestinian protesters and transgender and gender non-conforming people.
- Update policies to proactively protect students’ free speech and bar law enforcement from campus protests.
- Commit to due process, including the presumption of innocence, in policy violation and misconduct proceedings.
- Rescind any invitations for Department of Homeland Security agencies to attend career fairs or events and refuse to invite them in the future.
AU has not responded to any of these demands.
Other universities have begun to step up. Boston University, for example, created a public resource guide for international students and faculty. This guide outlines BU’s commitments to protecting its community and offers clear resources, including legal support. While it may not address every concern the ACLU has expressed, BU shows that proactive and transparent leadership is possible at the university level.
On Apr. 14, Harvard University went a step further, outright rejecting the Trump administration’s demands with Harvard President Alan Garber saying in a statement “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” Lawyers representing Harvard responded to a threatening letter from the Trump administration — directed at the university — with their own statement, saying that “neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”
In contrast to Boston University and Harvard, American University has not committed to rejecting these attacks on academic freedom and student rights. In an April 14 statement to NPR’s 1A radio, which is affiliated with AU through WAMU, the University administration said:
“American University is working every day to effectively advance our educational and research endeavors within the federal policy environment. We are guided by our academic mission and our community values, and focused on supporting our students, faculty, and staff. We engage with other universities and higher education associations to assess federal policy developments and collaboratively support the vital work that is only possible at universities, including groundbreaking research and discoveries and educating the future workforce that will drive competitiveness and economic growth.”
This kind of noncommittal and vague language falls extremely short of what students need. AU needs to follow the examples of Boston and Harvard because, although the University administration may not think so, AU is in a position of strength. We have a top-rated School of International Service, a politically active student body and a self-imposed reputation as changemakers. We have core values that should compel the administration to act in the best interest of its students and, specifically, not to remain neutral while changemakers in their own right are deported, detained or silenced.
Students are already organizing. The student governments of Georgetown, Temple University, George Mason University, Howard University and American University have already banded together to demand that the federal government keep its hands off our schools. The AU administration needs to start doing the same.
AU needs to publicly commit to defending students’ rights to protest, speak and assemble without any qualifiers or delays. The ideal of freedom of speech needs to begin on our campus. We can’t demand rights from the government when the University has continued to silence members of our own community for outdated and revoked directives.
The campus should be declared a sanctuary campus, especially since the student body voted to approve this in the recent AUSG elections. We have to stand as a community and refuse to hand over sensitive data or comply with unconstitutional orders. Additionally, the University needs to revise how and what student data is collected. What information do we really need, and how is that information protected from government overreach?
AU is afraid of threats and retaliation, but remaining silent means abandoning the students it claims to empower. If Boston and Harvard can take the initiative, we can too. At minimum, AU should publish a public guide outlining how it will protect international and undocumented members of its community. Neutrality is not enough when we are under attack, and the University needs to stand with its students and choose to support us.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that a letter was sent to the University by the ACLU of AU and the Washington College of Law. It has been updated to reflect that the letter was sent by the ACLU of AU and the Washington College of Law National Lawyers Guild.
This piece was written by Alana Parker and edited by Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Emma Brown and Nicole Kariuki.
