Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, says she has been left with nowhere to go and no access to food after being suspended from Barnard College for participating in anti-Israel protests at neighboring Columbia University.
The 21-year-old Hirsi was among over 100 arrested for trespassing during the protests last week.
She said the suspension has also resulted in her eviction from campus housing and restriction from the dining hall.
“I was a little bit frantic, like, where am I going to sleep? Where am I gonna go? And also all of my [expletive] is thrown in a random lot. It’s pretty horrible,” Hirsi said. “I don’t know when I can go home, and I don’t know if I ever will be able to.”
While reaching out to administrators, Hirsi says she did not hear back for 48 hours, when told she could only pick up a prepackaged bag of food.
The suspension came after Omar questioned Columbia leaders about anti-Israel activism on campus during a congressional hearing.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman suggested Hirsi’s suspension was political retaliation for Omar’s questioning.
“The day after @IlhanMN questioned Columbia leadership’s commitment to free academic expression, the school suspended her daughter?” Bowman wrote online. “It’s clear what is happening here. Our educational institutions should not be in the business of political reprisals.”
