A fundraising campaign for detained Georgetown University postdoctoral researcher Badar Khan Suri has yielded over $8,500 to support his legal defense.
An anonymous Georgetown group organized the campaign on the social-impact crowdfunding website Chuffed, aiming to fund Khan Suri’s legal defense and support his family while he awaits trial in a federal detention facility in Alvarado, Texas. As of April 23, the campaign has attracted over 200 supporters, raising $8,526 of its $25,000 goal.
The Georgetown chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which advocates for Palestinian liberation, and Zeytoun, which advocates for decolonization in the Middle East, promoted the campaign on social media. Members of the Georgetown Jewish community who organized a public statement against Khan Suri’s detention also sent the donation link to signatories.
Ian Crowley (CAS ’28), a donor who encouraged others to contribute on social media, said the campaign allowed him to take individual action since he felt the university administration was not doing enough to support Khan Suri.
“Seeing the administration’s lackluster, spineless response to the abduction of one of their postdoctoral fellows was infuriating to me,” Crowley told The Hoya. “I want to do everything I can as a student to help support Dr. Suri materially, but also to campaign even harder for his release.”
Interim university President Robert M. Groves said in an email to community members March 25 that Khan Suri’s detention was “troubling” and he is “concerned” about the legality of the federal government’s actions.
An SJP media liaison said the campaign is a way for members of the Georgetown community to express solidarity with Khan Suri.
“We felt it was important to amplify this campaign because he’s a part of our Georgetown community,” the media liaison told The Hoya. “As always, we want to stand with members of our community that have amplified what’s happening, and we want to support him as much as we can.”
The media liaison added that the campaign was one of many ways for students and faculty to support Khan Suri and his family.
“Right now, he and his family are seriously struggling,” the media liaison said. “The situation that he’s in is just incomprehensible and this is just one way for us to support him as much as we can, considering that he’s a part of our community.”
SJP and other student and faculty groups have also organized protests demonstrating against Khan Suri’s detainment and advocating for his release.
Crowley said donating to Khan Suri’s legal defense helps safeguard against what he said are illegal actions taken against Khan Suri.
“There is no basis for him to be convicted or for his legal status to be stripped anyway and for him to be taken from his family,” Crowley said. “That’s going to set a precedent not only on Georgetown but across the country of who the Trump administration can go after.”
Arik Levinson, an economics professor who contributed to the campaign, said he donated because he believes Khan Suri has a right to political expression and fair judicial procedure.
“I may or may not agree with the content of Suri’s speech, but I wholeheartedly support his right to that speech,” Levinson wrote to The Hoya. “If he or anybody else has committed a crime, there should be consequences that follow from established procedures.”
“Nobody in the USA should have to worry about being detained or deported without due process,” Levinson added. “Certainly not by representatives of the federal government wearing face masks.”
The SJP media liaison said the fundraising campaign shows how large portions of the Georgetown community are rallying around Khan Suri.
“This campaign isn’t from Georgetown University,” the media liaison said. “It shows how students and faculty members are willing to create something like this and are willing to amplify his situation and are trying to raise awareness and support what’s happening.”
“It really does just speak to how strong the Georgetown community is in wanting to support him as much as we can,” the media liaison added.
Crowley said he hopes the fundraising campaign shows Khan Suri that the Georgetown community supports him and the protection of his rights.
“Having thousands of dollars of support pour in from your colleagues, from your students, from your coworkers, could be really moralizing to Dr. Suri,” Crowley said. “It’d show that even though there’s voices in the administration who are reluctant to come out and speak on his behalf and for his rights, there are people here at Georgetown who want to support him and want to fight for justice.”
