The Columbia Crackdown: How Alumni Are Secretly Pushing for Student Arrests and Deportations

Turns out, some Columbia alumni aren’t just reminiscing about their college days—they’re busy plotting ways to get students arrested and deported for protesting. Welcome to the dark underbelly of elite networking, where a WhatsApp group named "Columbia Alumni for Israel" is working behind the scenes to silence pro-Palestine voices on campus. 

The Digital Snitch Network 

When Trump issued an executive order threatening to deport international students involved in pro-Palestine protests, some Columbia alumni saw their opportunity. Instead of debating ideas or engaging in discourse, they resorted to doxxing, surveillance, and law enforcement tip-offs. According to leaked WhatsApp messages, group members weren’t just discussing politics—they were actively identifying protesters and forwarding their information to ICE, the FBI, and NYPD.

This isn’t speculation. Screenshots reveal members coordinating efforts to track student protesters using facial recognition tech, digging up their visa statuses, and reporting them through ICE’s tip line. One former Columbia professor, Lynne Bursky-Tammam, was particularly vocal, urging members to find and deport “Hamas sympathizers” at student protests. Another member, Victor Muslin, offered access to technology that could help identify students even if their faces were partially covered.

Columbia’s Silent Endorsement?

Columbia University hasn’t officially condemned these actions, despite evidence that school administrators, donors, and faculty members have been in contact with some of these WhatsApp group members. Students and faculty who have spoken out against Israel’s war on Gaza have faced disciplinary action, suspension, and harassment—both online and in real life.

The university’s inaction has effectively greenlit a modern-day McCarthyism, where speech critical of Israel is framed as dangerous, unpatriotic, and even criminal. The group members openly discussed leveraging Trump’s executive order to strip international students of their visas and labeled pro-Palestine faculty as terrorist sympathizers. 

The War on Free Speech

This is bigger than Columbia. Across the country, universities have been bending under pressure from pro-Israel lobbying groups, alumni, and donors, suppressing protests and stifling dissent. Legal groups like Palestine Legal have been warning for years that the "Palestine exception" to free speech is becoming the norm, and this latest alumni-driven crackdown at Columbia is just another chapter in that ongoing effort.

Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, put it plainly: “It’s a very dangerous precedent. This is about silencing people for expressing opinions that some find uncomfortable.”

The Bigger Picture

WhatsApp group members didn’t just stop at student activists. Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization, also found itself in their crosshairs. One member referred to JVP as "kapos"—a slur comparing them to Jews who were forced to work for Nazis in concentration camps. The group even discussed obtaining full membership lists to hold all JVP members “accountable.”

For all their talk about threats to Jewish students, these pro-Israel activists seem more interested in attacking Jewish students who disagree with their politics. And it’s not just Columbia—groups like Canary Mission and Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus at Columbia U are part of a growing effort to publicly shame, blacklist, and intimidate pro-Palestine students into silence. 

The Alumni’s Endgame

Columbia’s donors and high-profile alumni have been using their influence to pressure the university into taking a harder stance against student activism. Some group members claim to have had direct meetings with Columbia’s interim president, trustees, and high-level administrators to push for harsher disciplinary measures against pro-Palestine protests.

This isn’t just about campus politics. It’s about weaponizing institutional power to criminalize activism. Trump’s executive order was a gift to these alumni, providing a legal framework to label student activists as security threats. And with Columbia’s administrators already bowing to donor pressure, the university is complicit in this escalating campaign of repression.

What Comes Next?

If this group gets its way, students could be arrested, deported, and have their futures destroyed—all for speaking out against war. The university’s silence only emboldens these efforts. If Columbia wants to preserve any integrity, it must denounce this alumni-driven surveillance campaign and stand up for the free speech rights of its students and faculty.

Because if they don’t? The next protester expelled or arrested might not be a foreign student. It might be anyone the alumni network deems a problem.