Student Union
- By Esha Sarai
Grad Weaves Mumbai With Main Street
Budistički sveštenici veslajku u čamcu ispred statue Bude tokom poplave u gradu Vat Satue u pokrajini Ajuthaja, severno od Bangkoka (Foto: AP/Nathathida Adireksarn)
Sitting in the still, sunny courtyard of Tower Hill private school in Delaware, Zara Ali talks about her favorite city in the world: Mumbai.
“I love going to the city and seeing so many different types of people,” she said. “It’s like sensory overload.”
India's commercial capital Mumbai -- crowded, dynamic, colorful -- is 13,324 kilometers and cultures away from Wilmington, Delaware -- a historic American town with fewer than 100,000 people. This month, among rolling hills and lush gardens, Ali graduated from the small private school of 700 students.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to feel like you have a global outlook” when ensconced in the leafy Brandywine region of the mid-Atlantic U.S. But her teachers and friends at Tower Hill “have a very global outlook,” said the 17-year-old.
This global outlook is something she will carry to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville this fall, where she will study public policy, economics and philosophy on a full scholarship. When she’s done with that, Ali says, she hopes to go to law school and pursue immigration law, like her attorney mother.
Ali sees the world broadly because her family roots are wide, she said.
Her mother is Indian Hindu. Her father, Pakistani Muslim, who works for JP Morgan Chase. Those two cultures have not been traditional allies because of religious, political and territorial disputes.
“You couldn’t find two families that were more different and put them together,” Ali said.
“And in some weird way it all just kind of blended together and worked out. And I think in that sense, it’s always just kind of showed me that even if you think two people are so diametrically opposed from each other, we all have these commonalities and similarities.”
She visits Mumbai frequently to see her mother’s family, as well as manage a non-profit she started with her sister at the age of 12.
The non-profit Zumantra buys and sells handmade goods such as jewelry, scarves, and bags from women in Mumbai and Karachi, giving them money to send their children to school. Her organization has turned $250 of seed money into roughly $25,000 in sales. But Ali is modest about this accomplishment.
“I don’t really talk much about this non-profit just in terms of my daily interactions because I guess I’m not looking for people to give me a pat on the back for it,” she said.
Ali has also worked with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as well as the state of Delaware’s Department of Justice.
“I helped prosecutors with their cases, combing for evidence, listened to prison calls, making summaries for the prosecutors for their cases and I saw a different side to it very different from what TV shows show,” Ali said.
But for now, Ali is focused on her move to Virginia this fall, where she will study on a prestigious merit scholarship, the Jefferson scholarship, which provides for tuition, fees, room and board, and even a travel stipend.
“I graduated last Friday. It’s kind of crazy I don’t know why I just never really thought the day would come for some reason it seemed very slow and then suddenly the last four years just happened so fast,” she said.
“But I will be going to Virginia in a few months to the University of Virginia. ... I’m really excited about that.”
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Trump administration opens antisemitism inquiries at 5 colleges, including Columbia and Berkeley
The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.
It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.
In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.
Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.
"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.
An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."
House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."
Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.
Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.
The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.
"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."
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