Independent student journalism exists to build a historical record and to keep institutions accountable. Once protected speech becomes a punishable offense, both our job and the virtue of our community is compromised.
It is with that understanding that The Sun joins 54 student news organizations and newsroom leaders in signing on to an amicus brief in support of The Stanford Daily in its free speech lawsuit, Stanford Daily Publishing Corporation et al. v. Rubio et al.
The Constitution establishes First Amendment protections for both citizens and noncitizens. Thus, the suit and amicus brief challenge the unprecedented repression of international and noncitizen student voices.
The Stanford Daily’s lawsuit centers on U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s use of Immigration and Nationality Act provisions to cancel the visas of and deport lawfully present noncitizens over speech at odds with the federal government. The Student Press Law Center-led brief underscores how recent immigration enforcement actions have created an atmosphere of fear, hindering the work of independent student newspapers.
In May, The Sun’s Editorial Board condemned the detainment of Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and Fulbright scholar at Tufts, with no warning and no identified crime, a year after Ozturk co-authored an op-ed urging Tufts to listen to student demands to end its connection to Israel. The editorial also denounced the detainment of journalists at Stanford and Dartmouth without institutional protection.
“Authoritarian regimes do not begin by silencing everyone — they start with students,” the editorial reads.
The signing of the amicus brief puts institutional action behind our words. It reflects The Sun’s longstanding values and the relevance of threats to free speech on Cornell’s campus.
In April, 17 current and former Cornell students saw their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System records revoked, and at least four of the 17 reported visa revocations.
Though all SEVIS records have since been restored, the message was clear. The federal government showed that students’ visa statuses, and thus their futures, are precarious.
In May, pro-Palestinian activist and then-international Ph.D. student Momodou Taal left the country after proclaiming that he believed the courts would no longer ensure his safety.
Taal had filed a lawsuit alongside Sriram Parasurama, a Ph.D. student in plant sciences, and Prof. Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, literatures in English, against the Trump administration for alleged First and Fifth Amendment rights violations with the implementation of two executive orders.
But Taal’s lawyers were sent an email requesting that he turn himself in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and his request for a temporary restraining order was rejected, leading him to leave the country and his lawyers to retract the lawsuit.
At a university whose very motto is “any person, any study,” international and noncitizen students’ diverse life experiences represent the core of Cornell. The Sun continues its coverage of protests, policies and processes impacting international and noncitizen students and the publication of columns on the aforementioned topics.
Still, we recognize that the unease international and noncitizen students face in speaking up today undermines The Sun’s capacity to procure the full breadth of perspectives in coverage of the campus.
With its signature on the amicus brief, The Sun reflects its strong support of its international contributors and sources. It backs The Stanford Daily and independent student journalism. And it honors The Sun’s 145-year-old legacy of bold and honest reporting.
The Sun refuses to back down in the fight for First Amendment rights.
Please read the full brief here.
Julia Senzon is a member of the Class of 2026 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is the editor-in-chief of the 143rd Editorial Board and was the managing editor of the 142nd Editorial Board. She can be reached at jsenzon@cornellsun.com or 908-672-3047.
