For Laila Abumahfouz, president of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) and senior, raising awareness for the Palestinian struggle has been a priority ever since the Israeli offensive in Palestine began on Oct. 8, 2023. As Palestinian civilians became caught in the crossfire, Abumahfouz began planning awareness efforts to shed light on those people. However, she said she was anxious how the student body would respond to her efforts.

“Our call out meeting (for the PSC) in February last year was nerve-wracking,” Abumahfouz said. “Although our organization was deemed controversial, I was surprised to see so many students, Arab and non-Arab, showing up for our cause.”

However, with the Trump administration doling out punishments to universities with liberal initiatives and pro-Palestinian protesters, the consequences of student activism have become much more severe. At 8:30 p.m. on March 8, officers working for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) detained Mahmoud Khalil in the lobby of his apartment building. Khalil, a green-card holder attending Columbia University, was central to pro-Palestinian protest movements and negotiation efforts with Columbia administration. After senior Laila Abumahfouz heard about Khalil’s detainment, she said she immediately felt more fearful as looming dystopian curtailments of free speech became a reality.

Abumahfouz said, “When I first heard that he was arrested for links to protests supporting Palestinian rights, I was shocked. He had a family and was a contributing student. He was detained for his political expression and the possibility of him being deported raises fear when it comes to free speech and the constitutional rights that we have.”

Khalil’s arrest reflects a growing trend across the United States where over 113,000 individuals have been detained by ICE since January, including foreign student visa holders and student green card holders, both of which the Trump administration recently began cracking down on. Students detained by ICE include other notable Palestinian activists like Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was detained on March 25.

James Ziegler, sponsor of the Democrats Club and AP African American History and Culture teacher, said these policies are sure to have a chilling effect on free expression for both teachers and students, compounding existing pressures causing self-censorship in K-12 education.

“It’s just a really troubling precedent that’s being established, especially when you consider that no crime was committed (by Khalil),” Ziegler said. “Khalil has not been charged with a crime, yet is still being targeted for their speech and targeted for removal from the nation even as a legal green card holder. I know that there are some students who feel fearful of voicing their opinions. There’s even some staff members that are within our district that are just fearful to even broach certain topics because of fear of either community pushback or parental pushback.”

To Ziegler’s latter point, Abumahfouz said the recent detainment of Khalil and other student activists has made her fearful to speak out and has led her to take measures to protect members of this school’s PSC. 

“(The detainments) raise fear among students, so posting our members’ faces is now a risk,” Abumahfouz said. “We’ve taken action to remove everyone’s faces from social media to ensure that no one is at risk and that simply trying to freely speak does not affect their situations in the United States. Khalil’s detainment also causes me to question whether I should continue posting about Palestine. I’m definitely going to be more cautious when it comes to trying to express my political beliefs or kind of advocating for those who don’t have a voice.”

Ziegler said instances of self censorship, exhibited by Abumahfouz and others, run contrary to the spirit of education in the United States, and could have dire consequences.

“(Limiting activism) is also a dangerous position for schools in the United States because classrooms should be areas where we have difficult conversations, whether they’re politically oriented conversations or not,” Ziegler said. “Schools should be a setting where these conversations are taking place, where we’re fostering critical and creative thinking. We shouldn’t be trying to assimilate everybody to just one national message.”

Despite potential fears about future limits to free speech, Abumahfouz said she felt this school supported student activism and freedom of expression very well in the status quo, although she has received pushback from other students.

“Here at Carmel, I’ve been given the opportunity to freely express my opinions, which can be seen through starting the Palestine Solidarity Committee here,” Abumahfouz said. “I did not face any sort of struggle trying to begin the club, but we have experienced harassment from students at Carmel on social media. Overall it’s been a pretty smooth experience, especially at Carmel.”

Ben Auslander, member of the Jewish Student Union (JSU) and senior, concurred.

“Thanks to Carmel being very open and very supportive, of all people, I don’t feel like my protest efforts have ever really been dampened or suppressed, and I’d like to thank the administration for keeping such an open mind for all kind of political discussion, which can be really rare in other parts of the country,” he said.

Abumahfouz said free expression and regular PSC meetings have fostered cultural exchange, which is currently under threat.

“In the news, Palestinians are always victims,” Abumahfouz said. “I decided that starting a club would allow us to see the beautiful aspects of Palestinians from culture and food and that Palestinians are not only victims; they are people and they have a history.”

Yet despite threats against student protest movements, Abumahfouz said her activism efforts will continue.

Abumahfouz said, “Although I’ve questioned my activism because of the detainments, at the end of the day, there’s a constitution to lean back on. We have the freedom to express ourselves as we wish and go to a peaceful protest to make a statement. I’ll continue to do that because I have the right to do that.”