A Tale of Two Seasons at Columbia, and Two Responses to Student Arrests

Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT A Tale of Two Seasons at Columbia, and Two Responses to Student Arrests When Mahmoud Khalil was detained by immigration agents last year, the university’s response was restrained. It was different with Elmina Aghayeva this week. Listen to this article · 9:02 min Learn more Share full article By Troy Closson Sharon Otterman and Luis Ferré-Sadurní Feb. 28, 2026, 3:00 a.m. ET It was last March. A graduate student at Columbia University had been detained by immigration enforcement agents in the lobby of his university-owned apartment building. Within 24 hours, the arrest — done without a warrant — became a national story and drew widespread outrage. But Columbia’s reaction to the detention of the student, Mahmoud Khalil, was restrained. “There have been reports of ICE around campus,” the university wrote in an unsigned public statement one day after Mr. Khalil’s arrest. “Columbia has and will continue to follow the law.” Nearly one year later, the university landed on a far different approach after Elmina Aghayeva, a 29-year-old senior from Azerbaijan, was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from her university-owned apartment on Thursday. Before the morning was over, Columbia had sounded the alarm to the campus in an urgent letter. The university’s leaders began dialing up influential elected officials to raise concern. And its acting president, Claire Shipman, later denounced the behavior and conduct of federal agents. “This was a frightening and fast-moving situation and utterly unacceptable for our students and staff,” she said in a recorded address Thursday night, describing in detail how immigration officers had asked for entry into the building to search for a missing child. “Let me be clear — misrepresenting identity and other facts to gain access to a residential building is a breach of protocol.” In the worlds of academia and law, some observers who have closely followed the unive...