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Tufts grad student’s detention betrays American values [1]
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Date: 2025-04-02
I have known Öztürk for more than a decade — first as her professor and adviser at a university in Istanbul, then as an academic collaborator, and eventually as a friend. In all that time, I have never once heard her raise her voice or speak ill of anyone, or seen her act in anything other than the most respectful and dignified way. Her character is quiet, steady, and unshakably kind — and it shines even in the now-infamous video clip of her being detained by masked, undercover ICE agents. They didn’t read her Miranda rights. They didn’t explain why she was being detained. They simply snatched her off a street in Somerville in broad daylight.
On March 26, I woke up for a predawn meal before my Ramadan fast. My phone was blowing up — messages from both the United States and Turkey. I was dumbfounded to see Rümeysa Öztürk’s name in the same sentence as “detention.” It felt surreal. Öztürk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University, is one of the kindest, most soft-spoken people I have ever met.
But it isn’t only her kindness that makes her exceptional. Öztürk is bright, creative, and intellectually rigorous. It was a privilege to have her as a student, a joy to coauthor research with her. Her work has focused on how children conceptualize tragic events and how the media portrays children — a topic she’s approached with both academic depth and personal commitment. She has volunteered with children, including refugee children, translating her scholarly passion into meaningful, hands-on service. It was an easy decision to write strong letters of recommendation for her Fulbright scholarship and graduate school applications. She is, quite simply, the kind of person who should be celebrated — not targeted.
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After the initial shock began to wear off, her friends and I struggled to understand the “why.” When I spoke with a colleague in Turkey, she mentioned that Öztürk had recently expressed fear about being doxxed. She was right to be afraid. Her photo and credentials were published on the Canary Mission website — a platform known for blacklisting individuals for expressing criticism of Israeli government policies.
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Her “offense”? Coauthoring an op-ed in the Tufts student newspaper — my alma mater — criticizing the university’s response to student senate resolutions regarding Gaza and urging Tufts to divest from companies with ties to Israel. The piece was reasoned, peaceful, and grounded in the values of academic inquiry and democratic participation. For this, she was blacklisted. One year after the op-ed, she was detained.
Öztürk is a Fulbright scholar — a program whose core mission is to foster cross-cultural dialogue and promote American values. Chief among those values is freedom of speech, enshrined in the First Amendment. Some may argue for limits on speech that incites violence, but nothing in Öztürk’s public record — including the coauthored op-ed — comes remotely close to that threshold. Her writing is an example of the kind of engagement and respectful dissent that makes American democracy vibrant.
That’s why her detention feels like a betrayal. Of her. Of Fulbright. Of Tufts. Of America.
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It also raises serious concerns about due process. American exceptionalism has long rested on the foundation of the rule of law. Even criminal kingpins fear extradition to the United States because they know they’ll face a legal system that, at its best, is transparent and fair. Yet that has not been true in Öztürk’s case. Her student visa was abruptly terminated, she was whisked off the street without warning, and then she was taken out of Massachusetts despite a judge’s order for her to be kept in the state.
I am confident that anyone who spends even a few minutes with Öztürk would recognize that she has nothing to do with “vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus” — actions that Secretary of State Marco Rubio generally cited as reasons to take away student visas. Such actions are entirely incompatible with her character.
Rubio stated that the federal government had revoked visas of at least 300 students. “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” he said. Öztürk is not a lunatic. She is an intelligent and deeply thoughtful individual.
A spokesperson the for the Department of Homeland Security also alleged that Öztürk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization” — an outrageous and defamatory accusation. Nothing in her public record supports such a claim. This appears to be little more than a politically motivated smear — and an abuse of power.
Our universities are not just global centers of learning. They are ambassadors of American ideals. Every year, the State Department issues hundreds of thousands of student visas. These international students become inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and artists. They enrich our economy and our communities. If we allow the random targeting of international students — based on fear, prejudice, or the whisper campaigns of shadowy online groups — then what happens to the values we claim to uphold?
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Öztürk’s detention is not just about one student. It’s about what kind of country we want to be.
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[1] Url:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/02/opinion/tufts-grad-student-detained-rumeysa-ozturk/
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