 "Quicksplained: Who is the Indian-origin student arrested in the US for anti-Israel protest?")
An Indian-origin female student studying at Princeton University in New Jersey is among two students who have been arrested and barred from the campus for staging pro-Palestine protests on the campus.
About 100 undergraduate and graduate students began a sit-in on McCosh Courtyard early Thursday morning, joining a wave of pro-Palestinian sit-ins nationwide, according to PTI.
The protesting students are demanding that colleges cut their financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the deadly Gaza conflict.
Some Jewish students say the protests have now become antisemitism and they are afraid to enter the campus. Urvi, a first-year PhD student, called the arrest violent and said zip ties were put around their wrists, the college alumni magazine wrote.
The two students, Achinthya Sivalingan GS and Hassan Sayed GS, were arrested within six minutes of the first tents being set up. Sayed is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the economics department at the institution, as per News18.
In a statement, Jennifer Morrill, a university spokesperson, said that pitching tents violated University policy, leading to the arrest of the two students for trespassing “(a)fter repeated warnings from the Department of Public Safety to cease the activity and leave the area.”
Morrill added that Sivalingan and Sayed “have been immediately barred from campus, pending a disciplinary process,” while noting that the remaining tents were “voluntarily taken down by protestors.”
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More ShortsHere’s all we know about the Indian-origin student.
Also read: Chaos on Campus: US universities turn into battle zones over pro-Gaza protests
Who is Achinthya Sivalingan?
Born in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, Achinthya Sivalingam was raised in Columbo, Ohio.
According to News18, she is pursuing a Master of Public Affairs (MPA) in International Development at Princeton.
She had previously interned at Harvard Law School and studied international politics and economics at Ohio State University, as per NDTV.
Sivalingan has worked in the legal system, politics, civil society organisations, movement building, and private charity, giving her an array of insights into policy matters.
The news channel reported that her prior positions at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation included policy and advocacy support for nutrition, agricultural development, and climate adaptation portfolios.
She has assisted with land rights and policy projects in India at the Centre for Policy Research and worked on a congressional campaign in Ohio’s third district.
The Daily Princetonian reports that student organisers have shared a document on Instagram, alleging that Sivalingam and Sayed have been removed from their campus housing and have only been given five minutes to gather their belongings. They are pressing the alumni and other members to contact the university and ask them to halt the disciplinary actions.
However, according to a statement from university spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss, no one has been “evicted” from the institution, as per News18.
“The University has not ‘evicted’ anyone today. Under University protocol, Public Safety may initially accompany students barred from campus (regardless of reason) to their University housing to collect whatever belongings they require in the short term until the specific terms of their bar from campus are determined by the designated administrator,” Hotchkiss said.
He added, “The students barred from the main campus today are permitted to remain in their University-owned housing, as the designated administrator determined that their bar does not extend to their non-dormitory residences.”
With inputs from PTI
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