The petition’s signers focused on Tufts President Sunil Kuma, who alerted the campus to Ozturk’s arrest in a statement late Tuesday night. The statement noted the administration “no pre-knowledge” ICE was intent on seizing Ozturk who was attending Tufts on a valid student visa.
“We are aghast at the Office of the President’s response to date,” the petition states. “To say that the incident took place without Tufts’ pre-knowledge strikes as willful ignorance, given the detention and threatened deportation of several international students, scholars.”
Patrick Collins, a spokesperson for Tufts, said the university is “actively working on behalf of Rumeysa Öztürk and all Tufts international community members, has dedicated significant resources to their support, and continues to work with government and political leaders to advocate for their needs.”
The petition also renewed some students’ calls for the university to divest from companies that do business with Israel. Collins said “the university’s position remains unchanged” regarding calls for divestment.
“We are opposed,” he wrote in an email.
The Trump administration has targeted pro-Palestinian activists as part of its stated effort to combat antisemitism on college campuses. Federal officials have not specified what triggered Ozturk’s arrest.
Her attorney said she knows of no charges pending against her.
Ozturk, 30, had co-signed an Tufts Daily editorial criticizing the university’s response to the Pro-Palestinian movement and efforts by members of the student body to sever the university’s ties to Israel. But she was not considered a high-profile activist on campus, her attorney and friends told the Globe.
The petition calls on Tufts to commit to a variety of steps to protect international students, including paying for immigration lawyers, making free housing available on campus for vulnerable community members to increase the protection the school can provide them, and publicly affirming that the school will protect the right to free speech on campus.
“The only approach – practical and ethical – is a full-throated commitment to resisting the US administration’s oppressive policies and to the maintenance of the rights and dignity of all persons,” the petition states. ”Tufts has an opportunity to take a principled and historic stance against this authoritarian crackdown on student free speech in general, speech regarding Palestine in particular, and on the rights of non-citizens in the United States as a whole.”
The petition asserts that Tufts’ longstanding connections to the international community will be risk if the administration does not defend Ozturk and the right to free speech.
“International students, scholars, and staff are and have been critical contributors to Tufts’ educational and research excellence,” the petition reads. “A failure to protect their rights, freedom and dignity in today’s political climate will be a betrayal to that legacy and do irreparable harm to the University’s international standing.”
Signers also signaled they would end financial support for Tufts and “cease recommending that prospective students attend” the university.
Nick Stoico of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
John R. Ellement can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @JREbosglobe.
