A Palestinian student arrested as he was about to finalize his U.S. citizenship accused Columbia University on Thursday of eroding democracy with its handling of campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led anti-war protests at the Ivy League school in New York in 2023 and 2024, spent 16 days in a Vermont prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. He spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, a day after pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with campus security guards inside the university’s main library. At least 80 people were taken into custody, police said.
