Less than a week after the arrests of more than 100 protesters at Columbia, administrators at some of the country’s most influential universities were struggling, and largely failing, to calm campuses torn by the conflict in Gaza and Israel.
The menu of options for administrators handling protests seems to be quickly dwindling. It is all but certain that the demonstrations, in some form or another, will last on some campuses until the end of the academic year, and even then, graduation ceremonies may be bitterly contested gatherings.
At New York University, the police swept in to arrest protesting students on Monday night, ending a standoff with the school’s administration.
At Yale, the police placed protesters’ wrists into zip ties on Monday morning and escorted them onto campus shuttles to receive summonses for trespassing.
Columbia kept its classroom doors closed on Monday, moving lectures online and urging students to stay home.
Harvard Yard was shut to the public. Nearby, at campuses like Tufts and Emerson, administrators weighed how to handle encampments that looked much like the one that the police dismantled at Columbia last week — which protesters quickly resurrected. And on the West Coast, a new encampment bubbled at the University of California, Berkeley.
Here's an idea. Allow students to protest what history will undoubtedly call "genocide," and exercise their right to free speech.
Only intervene in the case of violence.
All the universities in the world and all the powerful can do all they want to try to stop people from "speaking up" about this horrible terror being perpetrated in Gaza (and the West Bank).
Future historians will view those on the side of Israel's terribleland grabs in Gaza and the West Bank as collaborators who not only permitted the murder of tens of thousands of children and women but provided the weapons for the killing and destruction.
Unlike student protests against the Vietnam war in the 60s, the US isn’t at war in Gaza and Jewish Americans are not a party to this either.
So what exactly do these protestors believe they can accomplish by shutting down campus activities? Do they think that if they only protested hard enough Bibi Netanyahu would realize the errors of his ways and end the Gaza campaign?
@HopefulFoxDemocrat1wk1W
These protests are moving beyond demonstrations. When protestors are confronting staff in university offices while fully masked and unidentifiable as students (as has happened at my school), that is no longer student activism and free speech, but harassment and intimidation.
@L1bertyFerretGreen1wk1W
I agree the masks should come off. Unfortunately, adults know the outside (ie Bill Ackman) have put fear of identity into the equation with doxxing and threat to future employment for protesting oppression.
It does not seem to me that protesters are open to negotiate and to dialogue. If they want to protest, do so outside the campuses, and let other students and professors finish their works of the semester.
I wonder how many of these students are divesting their own trust funds. That would be a good start, not to mentions that many got into these Ivy Leagues only because of dad’s contributions to the endowment. Why not protest dad instead and let the serious students study in peace?
@CockyTealGreen1wk1W
Most university students take on expensive college loans to make it through. Painting Gen Z as if they're all trust-fund babies is in poor taste. Additionally, kicking out all the trouble-makers seems like you only value "smart" kids who never rock the boat.
@ISIDEWITH1wk1W
Is the arrest of students protesting for a cause they believe in an infringement on their freedom of speech, or a necessary measure for campus security?
@Mrrat 1wk1W
Here's my take on this. They should be allowed to protest, but colleges have the right to remove them. But the fact is that the colleges are handling this terribly. I understand the view point that classes and learning could be disrupted, or that violence could occur, but by kicking them out instead of sanctioning them, the anger will spread. That's how it always has been, and especially as the Israel-Gaza war intensifies, tensions will increase. I think the move for colleges is to sanction protests, but have high security. Obviously, there are risks. But I think dispersing the unrest would work better rather than making our top centers of education become areas of extreme tension. Please add any opposing or related thoughts
I don’t understand why these universities are mobilizing law enforcement instead of establishing a calm and communicative approach with their own students.
With open communication, administrators could patiently work out personal and public safety measures as a gesture of support rather than obstruction. And the could do it publicly with news cameras present to ensure mutual accountability.
@ISIDEWITH1wk1W
@ISIDEWITH1wk1W
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