Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own.

Since January, university students across the United States have reckoned with the possibility of facing consequences for their free speech.

We watched it happen at Tufts University in Massachusetts, where the federal government revoked a student’s visa for advocating in support of Palestine. The government did the same in New York in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University alum and Palestinian activist who is still in the middle of a deportation legal battle. 

These kinds of federal actions against students for their protected First Amendment speech are dangerous. That’s why The Diamondback on Wednesday signed onto an amicus brief in support of The Stanford Daily’s lawsuit that challenges U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s use of two immigration laws to revoke student visas for protected speech. 

The amicus brief, which is also known as a “friend of the court” filing, signals The Diamondback’s support for The Stanford Daily’s lawsuit. We’re among more than 50 other student publications and editors who signed. 

The Diamondback staff takes our role as an independent student newspaper seriously. We have a role in telling the stories of our community at the University of Maryland, in College Park and across Prince George’s County. This includes protecting our sources, reporters and community members in any way we can from retaliation for their speech.

And since January, we’ve seen an influx of community members concerned about speaking with the media. Other student newspapers, like The Stanford Daily, have seen students nervous to write opinion columns and report the truth. Nobody should be scared to voice their opinion or unwilling to use their free speech rights out of fear for being deported or having a visa revoked — that’s a constitutional protection in the U.S., and one we are responsible for upholding. 

That’s why we signed on to this brief, and why we’ll continue to monitor federal action and how it affects our community. As this is a friend of the court brief, The Diamondback is not involved in active litigation. But we’ll continue to pledge our support, and want to assure our readers that this is a problem we take seriously.

To read more about the brief, visit the Student Press Law Center’s site here. And to learn more about The Stanford Daily’s lawsuit, visit here.

Lizzy Alspach is The Diamondback’s 2025-26 editor in chief. She can be reached at diamondbackeditor@gmail.com.