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It’s a lesson colleges should heed. We are being tested.

Columbia’s lesson should terrify everyone who believes in free speech, terrify us enough to double down on non-negotiable principles.

Columbia, in New York City, created a bogus disciplinary committee called the Office of Institutional Equity. It was established purportedly to tamp down on antisemitism. But its definition of antisemitism is so broad and absurd, it amounted to a crackdown on any speech that could conceivably be construed as critical of Israel or in favor of the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel’s military after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack Hamas committed against Israel.

The committee has targeted students who wrote a column calling for divestment from Israel, and others for co-hosting an art exhibit in a private building — acts that are well within any commonsense definition of free expression on and away from college campuses. Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was also brought up on charges before the committee, which operates in secret, and demanded Khalil sign a non-disclosure statement.

Khalil helped lead student protests at Columbia at the height of the war in Gaza, protests that spread to numerous college campuses around the country. And he helped negotiate between college officials and protesters. Those were his supposed crimes, along with social media posts he said he wasn’t even involved in.

For that, the committee brought him up on 13 charges. The Trump administration followed up over the weekend by taking him into custody. Khalil came to the U.S. on a student visa, married a U.S. citizen and last year became a legal permanent resident, according to the .

Not even Khalil’s wife knew his whereabouts. It’s a dystopic turn of events, jackbooted well-armed government officials effectively disappearing a young man here legally for exercising basic rights that are supposed to be shared by us all.

Columbia has not said how involved it was in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that led to Khalil’s detainment, or if it allowed the agency onto campus without a warrant, something it is not required to do. It is clear Columbia’s response to the protests opened the door to this abuse of power, which is designed to chill speech during a time robust debate and discussion are more important than ever.

I taught at Columbia a couple years ago. I was impressed by the people I met and worked alongside. That’s what’s so unnerving, that this could happen at a place like that, with so many resources and well-connected people dedicated to their educational goals.

It shouldn’t be surprising. I’m worried the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill would give in the same way, given recent events.

The Trump administration recently warned 60 colleges and universities, including UNC, that it may do to them what it has done to Columbia, cut its funding over its version of discrimination enforcement.

Others may follow Columbia’s lead given the federal dollars at stake that can potentially cripple colleges and universities that don’t comply with the Trump administration’s immoral and unconstitutional demands. And it should be noted that South Carolina became the first state a decade ago to make law an anti-free speech provision also aimed at silencing critics of Israel. It followed up with another anti-free speech law last year.

Davidson College, where I teach in North Carolina, has yet to give in. That mustn’t change.

Columbia gave in. And the Trump administration still says it will withhold at least $400 million of federal funding because it doesn’t believe Columbia has done enough to meet the administration’s anti-antisemitism mandate.

That’s how Columbia lost a big chunk of money, but more importantly its reputation, a stain that won’t be easy to wipe away.

Though he and those who give into him can do a lot of damage over the next four years, President Donald Trump won’t be in office forever.

How we respond now won’t soon be forgotten. And it shouldn’t be. It's one thing to teach our students about American values, quite another to model them in real time.