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 administration.

Khalil, one of the most visible leaders of nationwide campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza, has been detained by US authorities for more than two months following his campus activism.

Even though he is a permanent US resident, he has been marked for deportation.

Before Wednesday's graduation ceremony, attendees were warned over loudspeakers that any interruption was prohibited and those who didn't follow the rules could be asked to leave.

That didn't prevent chants of "Free Mahmoud."

Some students wore keffiyehs as scarves or in lieu of........

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