Fear and Loathing in the Ivy League

Ideological deportations aren't official policy, but they strike at the heart of United States Ivies

- Pragya Singh

SHE wanted to be political. She came to the United States to study. She believed the two—politics and higher education—couldn’t be separated at a world-famous liberal institution. She’s in her mid-twenties, Indian, and studying at Columbia—a university now more often in the news for crackdowns on student protests than academic developments.

We'll call her K, though she could be any of the ten students and professors who spoke—off the record—for this story on Indians studying in the US and UK. All carried the same dread: What if the door closes before we finish what we came here for?

Among the Indian students interviewed, the response to changing US immigration policies has been consistent: worry, even fear—particularly at elite East Coast universities. Most of all, international students fear losing their visa status simply for being seen as connected to the protests that erupted after the Israel-Palestine war began on October 7, 2023—whether as participants, organisers, or even observers. They also fear that stating their position on gender and other issues considered “touchy” by the Donald Trump administration could become a tool of ideological enforcement against them.

Ranjini Srinivasan is one such student. Branded “pro-Hamas” in the media, she was forced to leave the US months before completing her PhD at Columbia. Officially, she “self-deported.” In reality, authorities swooped in and gave her no choice but to leave. Columbia quietly removed her from its rolls. India, too, remained mostly silent as students like her were forced out. The silence only deepened the sense of isolation among those facing the sharp edge of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.