From NC State to the rest of the U.S, here are just a few of the biggest news stories from this summer.
Mahmoud Khalil released from custody
Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident who U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained, was released from custody on June 20, 2025.
On March 8, ICE agents arrested Khalil due to his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia University’s campus. On X, formerly known as Twitter, The US Department of Homeland Security said the arrest aligned with the Trump administration’s executive orders against antisemitism.
The U.S.’s argument relies on a controversial Cold War-era law authorizing the US Secretary of State to deport people who they think act outside of the country’s foreign policy.
Marc Vanderhout, one of Khalil’s lawyers, challenged that. “What is the antisemitism? It is criticizing Israel and the United States for the slaughter that is going on in Gaza, in Palestine. That’s what this case is about,” he said.
Khalil spoke about his arrest in an interview with NPR. “It felt like kidnapping, to be honest. You have plainclothes agents in unmarked cars, not identifying themselves, claiming to have an arrest warrant that they did not show. At no point did I know where I was going. I only knew that I was flying to Louisiana the moment we boarded the plane,” he said.
Khalil also spoke about missing his son’s birth while in captivity in an interview with MSNBC. “I’m now dealing with the fact that I lost one of the divine moments with my wife and my son,” Khalil said.
The Trump administration intends to challenge Khalil’s release in court. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said they “look forward to removing Khalil from the United States.”
Trump administration shuts down LGBTQ+ suicide hotline
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced plans to shut down the official US LGBTQ+ youth suicide hotline after July 17, 2025. The hotline previously allowed people calling 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline, to press three to be redirected to counselors trained to deal with LGBTQ+ youth up to 25 years old.
SAMHSA said the change would help it “focus on serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the Press 3 option.” However, the White House Office of Management and Budget spokesperson Rachel Cauley gave a different reason. She said taxpayer money shouldn’t go towards “a chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by ‘counselors’ without consent or knowledge of their parents.”
The program was introduced in 2022 as an amendment to legislation that made 988 the official national suicide hotline number. The amendment mentions that LGBTQ+ youth are over four times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers, and that more than one in 3 transgender youth attempted suicide. The hotline was run by seven contractors, including The Trevor Project.
The Trevor Project’s CEO, Jaymes Black, criticized the decision. “The administration’s decision to remove a bipartisan, evidence-based service that has effectively supported a high-risk group of young people through their darkest moments is incomprehensible. The fact that this news comes to us halfway through Pride Month is callous – as is the administration’s choice to remove the ‘T’ from the acronym ‘LGBTQ+’ in their announcement.
Transgender people can never, and will never, be erased,” he said.
Kelly Crosbie, director of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services, said that North Carolina has worked to train its hotline call takers.
State Congress Overrides Vetoed Laws
North Carolina lawmakers overrode several vetoes from North Carolina Governor Josh Stein on July 29. This includes a bill repealing Duke Energy carbon emission goals, a bill requiring local sheriffs to cooperate with ICE and a bill restricting birth certificate sex designation changes.
While the Republicans have a veto-proof majority in the North Carolina Senate, they do not have one in the House of Representatives. Despite this, several Democrats worked with Republicans to help pass these laws.
The Democrats who flipped their votes include Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed of Mecklenburg County and Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe County.
Cunningham, who voted for the ICE bill, went as far as to say that “if you ask me to line up behind another group of people to raise awareness about their plight, I will unapologetically say ‘no.’” Meanwhile, Majeed cited “moral issues” when explaining his support for the bill restricting birth certificate sex designation changes.
NC State International Students’ Visas Restored
Two NC State international students had their Student and Exchange Visitor Information Records (SEVIS) records restored after they were revoked by the US State Department, meaning the students can continue their education at NC State.
NC State first confirmed the visas were revoked on April 1, 2025. The US State Department did not directly notify NC State of the revocation. These students were not part of any pro-Palestinian protests.
The students’ records, along with other international students’ whose visas were revoked, were restored after the Department of Justice announced it would restore student visas that it had revoked.
One of the students’ roommates, Phillip Vasto, a fourth-year chemical engineering student, wrote a letter to the editor of Technician about the revocation. “While graduation is a time when we should be joyful, I’m anything but. I am angry and saddened that the University and this country have failed them,” he said.
Poe Hall Investigation will Continue
NC State confirmed that federal investigations into Poe Hall will continue. This comes after former Chancellor Randy Woodson announced the investigation was paused due to federal budget cuts.
The investigation began after high levels of PCBs, a cancer-causing chemical, were found in Poe Hall. The investigation was paused in April 2025 after the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health informed NC State that the evaluation would close due to budget cuts.
NC State Policy Changes
NC State released policy updates for the 2025-2026 school year based on the NC State Mental Health Task Force’s findings. These updates include changes to the term withdrawal process and the drop/revision deadline.
The course withdrawal deadline was extended to the 60% point of the term, “which is the maximum allowed by UNC System Regulation 400.5.1[R] Fostering Undergraduate Student Success (“FUSS”).”
NC State introduced an undergraduate leave of absence policy. Undergraduates can request up to two concurrent semesters’ (which the policy lists as fall and summer) absence. NC State also updated existing leave of absence policies, extending the deadline to withdraw and added details about how taking leave can impact students.
