Ranjani Srinivasan, the former Columbia University (CU) PhD scholar from Chennai, has refuted media reports and US homeland security secretary Kristy Noem's claim that she self-deported from the US. Speaking to Alt News from an undisclosed location … Read on blog or Reader Alt News Read on blog or Reader Ex-Columbia scholar Ranjani Srinivasan refutes US' 'self-deportation' claim; uni head resigns amid Trump crackdown By Indradeep Bhattacharyya on 29th March 2025 Ranjani Srinivasan, the former Columbia University (CU) PhD scholar from Chennai, has refuted media reports and US homeland security secretary Kristy Noem's claim that she self-deported from the US. Speaking to Alt News from an undisclosed location in Canada, Ranjani said, "I did not self-deport. It is a false claim. Self-deportation is an official process which I was not even aware of till a few days back. I just left the US in panic because my legal status as a student was illegally revoked one fine morning. I realized I was facing detention if I stayed on." Incidentally, on March 29, a few days after Alt News spoke to Ranjani, CU interim president Katrina Armstrong resigned from her post. Armstrong's resignation comes a week after the Ivy League university, facing President Donald Trump's ire and a massive $400 million cut in federal grants for allegedly failing to combat antisemitism on campus, brought in a slew of policy changes. These included restrictions on demonstrations and tougher action against protesters. Ranjani was accused of advocating violence and terrorism by homeland security secretary, Noem. On March 15, Noem shared a video of the Columbia student at an airport and wrote, "When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege (to live & study in the US)  should be revoked and you should not be in this country. I'm glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self deport." It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live & study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country. I'm glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers… pic.twitter.com/YTYXJgYFcp — Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) March 14, 2025 The CBP Home app that Noem refers to in her post was relaunched by the Trump administration earlier this month. Originally created to facilitate immigrants seeking asylum appointments and asking undocumented migrants to use it to 'self-deport', the app lets immigrants submit an 'intent to depart' request, which, according to US Customs and Border Patrol, offers them a chance to leave voluntarily without being arrested and/or subjected to deportation. "I am challenging the narrative of self-deportation. I did not use that app; I just left normally from the La Guardia airport in New York and went to Canada, for which I have a visitor visa," Ranjani said. Even as the scholar, enrolled for a doctorate programme in urban planning at CU's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), was undergoing this ordeal, at least two other international students of Columbia University were arrested for participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations. The university has been the center of campus protests since Israel's military attack in Gaza on October 7, 2023. But earlier this year, the Trump administration moved to cancel student visas of pro-Palestinian protesters in the US and the US President signed an executive order to deport international students who took part in pro-Palestinian protests. "I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before," the US President had said. Columbia was the first college to suffer a funding cut as part of Trump's ultimatum to cut federal funding to colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war. What happened in the days before Ranjani's departure from the US is public knowledge by now. Below is a brief chronology of the events, which Ranjani called a "dystopian nightmare". After Noem's post, the Indian media widely reported that Ranjani self-deported. Here are a few examples: This slideshow requires JavaScript. Ranjani says the baseless accusations levelled against her have only one purpose: "to silence those speaking up for human rights". "I am not a terrorist sympathizer nor have I ever advocated for violence. I have only called for peaceful mediation, a ceasefire, and an end to the genocide in Gaza." So, how much of an activist is she? Alt News asked Ranjini, who was just six months away from completing her PhD when the entire thing struck her, like the proverbial bolt from the blue. "I won't even call myself an activist. I never participated, let alone led, any major protest or demonstration. At best, I walked in a few low-key marches that hardly garnered any attention. I also signed a few online petitions because talks were being arbitrarily cancelled, professors were being targetted. On social media, I would only reshare some posts that raised concerns about human rights violation in Palestine and killing of civilians. Sometimes I would share posts on what was happening on the campus. That's all." "I was mostly active on X and Instagram. But in panic, I deactivated both my social media accounts on March 7," she added. Ranjani shared with Alt News screenshots of four of her social media (X) posts, which were reshares of others' original posts. Note that Alt News was unable to access her social media timelines since these accounts are now deactivated. This slideshow requires JavaScript. Ranjani strongly rebutted the accusation in a section of media that she had deactivated her social media handles because of the political nature of the posts. "There is no need for a student in the US to be apolitical. Every student in the US has an inalienable right to political speech. Though the fact remains that I was never politically visible at all. I never made a public speech anywhere." Ranjani's only run-in with the administration was on April 30 last year, the day of the Hamilton Hall occupation, days after she returned to the US from India, where she was for a research field-work trip since August 2023. On that day, Columbia students protesting against Israel's war on Gaza laid siege to the building on the university's Manhattan campus. "I was not participating in the protests. I found myself accidentally caught in the standoff on the campus and I was briefly detained. I received two summonses—one for failing to disperse and one for obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic. Both the charges were subsequently dismissed by the court and there was no case against me. In December 2024, my visa was extended for four more years, which is why all of this comes as a rude shock to me," Ranjani told Alt News. 'Utterly Dismayed at CU's Role in the Entire Episode' The Columbia scholar says she was utterly dismayed at the role the university played in all this. "When ICE came knocking on the first day (May 7) I was on a zoom call with a representative of the international students office (ISSO) of the varsity discussing the visa revocation mail I had received the previous night. The ISSO simply gave me a list of lawyers that I could contact." "I was still hoping that the university will intervene and all of this would end soon. However, on March 9, CU arbitrarily de-enrolled me. The dean of student affairs at GSAPP paid me a visit to confirm that I had received the letter of de-enrolment. After that, the varsity stopped all contact with me," Ranjani added. Interestingly, we found a page on GSAPP, Columbia's official website which asks students with F1 visa to "remember that you must take full responsibility for maintaining your status with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). That is, you are responsible for finding out, knowing, and following pertinent regulations." "If you take time early on to familiarize yourself with your obligations to the Department of Homeland Security, you should find it easy to maintain your legal status. If, however, you allow yourself to fall "out of status", it may be extraordinarily difficult to be reinstated to legal F-1 status," it adds. Anonymous sources at Columbia explained to us that universities did not have the ability to reinstate an I-20 that is terminated and/or an F-1 student visa that was revoked by the government. Alt News reached out to the GSAPP asking what led the university to de-enrol Ranjani Srinivasan and whether CU had any record of Ranjani acting/behaving in a way that was contrary to how F-1 visa holders were supposed to act/behave. We also asked if Ranjani was given a chance to represent herself in any kind of hearing/disciplinary proceeding before action was taken against her and what steps the university had taken to support a student facing a crisis that had the potential to adversely affect her entire career, considering she had only six months left to complete her PhD. A spokesperson from Columbia University, Matthew Vuono, responded with the following statement: "Columbia will always follow the law and takes great care to ensure our legal compliance with all applicable rules and obligations so that our students can participate in the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). Consistent with our longstanding practice, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including residential University buildings. Columbia has taken and will continue to take all necessary steps to ensure our international students and scholars know they are welcomed on our campus and in our community. We are proud of our long history of welcoming students and scholars from around the world to learn, teach, and grow with us." The Big Picture: Toeing the Trump Line? It is pertinent to add that On March 21, Columbia University "announced a series of new policies, including restrictions on demonstrations, new disciplinary procedures and immediately reviewing its Middle East curriculum... following President Donald Trump's revocation of $400 million in federal funding over campus protests. The Trump administration had demanded several changes, including the university enforce its disciplinary policies, implement rules for protests, ban masks, announce a plan to hold student groups accountable, empower its law enforcement, and review its Middle East studies programs and its admissions." The reforms included the Ivy League institute hiring 36 new campus police officers specifically trained to deal with protests and with powers to remove or arrest protesters, appointing a new senior vice provost to conduct a "thorough review" of its curriculum in courses about the Middle East, giving the office of the provost new authority to deal with disciplinary action against students involved in protests, among other measures. The new policy document spelt out how the university was applying "consistent, rigorous, and effective disciplinary actions," citing how Columbia had expelled, suspended or temporarily revoked the degrees of students who occupied Hamilton Hall in April 2024, according to CNN. "The wearing of face masks on campus will also be banned for the purpose of concealing identity during disruptions...Columbia will also adopt a formal definition of antisemitism, something many universities have shied away from even as they, like Columbia, faced pressure to do so amid protests on their campuses over the war in Gaza... Taken together, the administration's plan... reflected a stunning level of deference to the Trump administration from a top private research university," reported The New York Times. On March 25, the federal agencies issued a statement welcoming Columbia's proposed reforms. The department of health and human services, department of education and the general services administration called the moves the "first step in rehabilitating its relationship with the government, and more importantly, its students and faculty." University president Katrina Armstrong, who stepped down on March 29, will be replaced by Claire Shipman, co-chair of the university's board of trustees making her the third person to lead the institute in eight months. Armstrong took over as interim president in August last year after the previous president, Nemat Minouche Shafik, stepped down over her handling of campus protests against Israel's war on Gaza. "Threatened with losing $400 million in federal funding, Columbia has chosen to give up its academic independence and roll back protections for its students. The move is only going to deepen the distrust between the university administration on one side, and students and faculty," Ranjani said. Despite the ordeal that she has been through and the uncertainty regarding her future, Ranjani does not believe she should have done anything differently as far as raising her voice for a cause is concerned: "Though it has come at a great cost for me, I don't think I should have done things differently even in hindsight." "There is one path where you hide who you are and you don't speak up and you make yourself as invisible as you can so that you are not targeted. But I think its important for us to stand up for what we believe in, especially if that is related to human rights and their violation," she told Alt News.

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