Students chant ‘Free Mahmoud’ at Columbia University graduation

There was one notable — and loudly noted — absence on Wednesday at Columbia University’s graduation ceremony: detained pro-Palestinian student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil.

“Boo… Shame on you!” students chanted when Clare Shipman, interim president of the prestigious New York City school, took the podium.

Columbia has been the site of demonstrations calling for an end to violence in Gaza for the past 18 months, and more recently, has seen student protesters arrested by the Trump…