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After government officers detained the university student a student activist in his university residence, Jameel Jaffer understood a major battle lay ahead.

The director heads a university-connected center dedicated to defending free speech protections. The student, a permanent resident, had been involved in Palestinian solidarity protests on campus. Months earlier, the institute had organized a conference about free speech rights for immigrants.

"We felt this connection to the case, since we're at Columbia," Jaffer explained. "And we saw this detention as a serious infringement of constitutional freedoms."

Landmark Victory Challenging Administration

Last week, Jaffer's team at the Knight First Amendment Institute, together with the law firm Sher Tremonte, achieved a landmark victory when a district court judge in Massachusetts determined that the arrest and attempted deportation of Khalil and additional activists was unconstitutional and purposely created to suppress protest.

Government officials announced they'll challenge the decision, with White House spokesperson a spokeswoman describing the ruling an "unacceptable decision that hampers the safety and security of our nation".

Increasing Separation Separating Organization and University

This decision raised the profile of the Knight Institute, catapulting it to the frontlines of the battle with the administration over fundamental American values. However the victory also underscored the growing divide between the institute and the university that hosts it.

The case – characterized by the judge as "possibly the most important to ever fall within the jurisdiction of this district court" – was the first of multiple opposing Trump's unusual attack on universities to go to trial.

Court Testimony

Throughout the two-week trial, citizen and noncitizen scholars gave evidence about the atmosphere of fear and self-censorship caused by the arrests, while government agents disclosed details about their dependence on dossiers by conservative, pro-Israel groups to pick their targets.

A legal expert, chief lawyer of the academic organization, which filed the lawsuit along with local branches and the academic group, described it "the primary constitutional case of the current government currently".

'Institution and Institute Are On Different Sides'

While the legal success was praised by advocates and scholars across the country, the director heard nothing from Columbia after the ruling – an indication of the disagreements in the stances staked out by the organization and the institution.

Even before Trump took office, Columbia had represented the shrinking space for pro-Palestinian speech on American universities after it summoned officers to remove its campus protest, disciplined dozens of students for their protests and severely limited demonstrations on campus.

University Settlement

This summer, the institution negotiated an agreement with the federal government to pay millions to resolve discrimination allegations and submit to significant limitations on its autonomy in a action broadly criticized as "surrender" to the president's pressure strategies.

Columbia's compliant stance was sharply contrasted with the organization's principled position.

"We're at a time in which the university and the organization are on different sides of some of these fundamental issues," noted a former fellow at the free speech center.

Institute's Mission

The Knight Institute was launched in 2016 and is housed on the university grounds. It has received significant funding from the institution as part of an agreement that had each contributing substantial amounts in program support and long-term financing to establish the center.

"My hope for the institute in the long-term future is that when there is a time when the administration has gone in the wrong direction and constitutional protections are at stake and few others is prepared to step forward and to say, this must stop, that's when the this organization who will have stepped forward," stated the former president, a First Amendment scholar who helped create the institute.

Public Criticism

Following recent events, the university and the the organization were positioned on different sides, with the institute frequently objecting to the university's handling of pro-Palestinian protests both privately and in increasingly unforgiving official comments.

In correspondence to campus administration, the director criticized the decision to suspend campus organizations, which the university said had broken rules related to organizing protests.

Escalating Tensions

Later, Jaffer again condemned the university's decision to call police onto campus to clear a non-violent, student protest – leading to the detention of more than 100 students.

"Institutional policies have become separated from the values that are essential for the academic community and mission – including expression, scholarly independence, and fair treatment," he stated in that instance.

Student Perspective

Khalil, in particular, had appealed to campus officials for protection, and in an op-ed written from detention he wrote that "the reasoning used by the administration to target me and my peers is a direct extension of the university's suppression playbook regarding Palestinian issues".

The university settled with the Trump administration shortly after the trial concluded in court.

Institute's Response

Following the deal was revealed, the organization published a strong criticism, concluding that the settlement approves "a remarkable shift of autonomy and authority to the administration".

"Columbia's leaders should not have accepted these terms," the declaration stated.

Wider Impact

Knight has allies – organizations such as the civil liberties union, the free speech organization and additional civil liberties groups have opposed the Trump administration over constitutional matters, as have unions and other institutions.

Nor is it exclusively focusing on campus issues – in additional lawsuits to the Trump administration, the institute has filed cases on behalf of farmers and environmental advocates opposing government agencies over environmental datasets and challenged the suppression of official reports.

Special Situation

However its defense of campus expression at a university now associated with making concessions on it puts it in a particularly difficult position.

Jaffer expressed sympathy for the lack of "good options" for Columbia's leaders even as he characterized their decision to settle as a "major error". But he stressed that although the institute positioned at the other side of its host when it comes to addressing the administration, the university has allowed it to operate free of pressure.

"Especially right now, I don't take that freedom as automatic," he stated. "If Columbia tried to restrict our work, I wouldn't be at Columbia any longer."