WASHINGTON – The UN special rapporteur urged Harvard students to uphold its commitment to free speech and safeguard international students from deportation threats posed by the Trump administration at a Harvard Law School Talk.
Gina Romero criticized how American universities have handled pro-Palestine protests at the talk on Tuesday that was moderated by law school professor Susan Farbstein and organized by the school’s International Human Rights Clinic.
She argued that changes to protest policies and the deployment of police to dismantle spring encampments at universities reflected a bias against Black and Arab students, according to the Harvard Crimson.
Romero highlighted that the fear of deportation, particularly among Harvard’s international student body, could limit students’ right to free assembly.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to deport protesters who violate laws but took it a step further last week by revoking the student visa and green card of former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who led pro-Palestine protests in the spring of 2024. A federal judge, however, blocked the deportation attempt on Monday.
Romero, who was appointed by the UN in April to examine global compliance with freedom of assembly and expression, stated that universities should resist the Trump administration in light of federal funding cuts.
“Use the power,” she said, at the talk that was described as a discussion on protest and freedom of assembly on university campuses.
“This is a very powerful institution. We are not talking about a very small, poor university in a small isolated place,” she said. “Universities need to figure out on what side of this power struggle they are going to be. Universities don’t exist without students. Without the students, universities are buildings.”
While Harvard President Alan Garber has issued statements on funding cuts from Washington, he has avoided directly criticizing the Trump administration or pursuing legal action against his executive orders, many of which have been subsequently blocked by the courts.
“I cannot see students that are afraid of doing or going to a protest because they don’t want to be deported,” Romero said. “Universities need to protect their own students from those threats and then resist the pressure from external actors.”
“Coming to the university shouldn’t be a traumatic experience for exercising your rights,” she emphasized.
Romero discussed her transition from the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy to the UN, where she was appointed special rapporteur to investigate potential human rights violations related to pro-Palestine protests.
She explained that reports to the UN showed organizations are applying “double standards” in their handling of protests, particularly by limiting pro-Palestine movements.
She pointed to issues like doxxing, physical violence and “administrative sanctions” at universities.
“Every time you restrict rights to young people, you are opening the door to actually silence a whole generation,” she said. -AA