Student Union
College Campuses Weigh Free Speech vs. Anti-Semitism
A recent presidential executive order declaring Judaism a nationality has further divided campus groups that either support or denounce Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
While the Trump administration says its Dec. 11 order targets anti-Semitism on campus, critics say it threatens free speech and the right to protest against the Israeli government. Anti-Semitism is hostility to or prejudice against Jews.
"If the government thinks it can sanction educational institutions for permitting students to say things like, 'I oppose Israel's West Bank settlements,' or 'Israel's treatment of Arabs is racist,' and say that the students who say those things are discriminating against Jews as a race, color, or national origin group, well, then the government is nuts," said Don Herzog, First Amendment expert and professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor School of Law.
Herzog was referencing student and campus movements that oppose Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and Israeli settlements, such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS). SJP started at the University of California-Berkeley in 1993, and has more than 80 chapters in the U.S. and Canada. BDS was started on the West Bank in 2007 and has spread to college campuses in the U.S. and worldwide.
Those who support the executive order lauded U.S. President Donald Trump.
"We appreciate @realDonaldTrump's decision to give the @usedgov the authority to counter discrimination against Jewish students," the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobbying group in the U.S., said in a Dec. 11 tweet.
The order will "recognize the importance of the problem" and gives "the Jewish people and the land of Israel large-scale recognition and acceptance, something President Trump should be commended for," said Syracuse University student Katie Berman.
Student Sari Leff, a senior at the University of Georgia, saw it differently.
"It may end up inciting more hatred and violence than we are already seeing. … The executive order feels incredibly inauthentic," Leff said. "The intention appears to be to criminalize criticism of Israel rather than protect the safety of American Jews on college campuses."
On college campuses, hate crimes increased from 862 to 1,070 between 2015 and 2016, a 25% increase, and continues to climb, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which analyzed FBI data of hate crimes on college campuses.
Increased awareness
Some people, including Trump, say the BDS movement has led to anti-Semitism because it has increased awareness about the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. On its website, the Anti-Defamation League, an international pro-Jewish and Israel nongovernmental organization, said, "The founding goals of the BDS movement and many of the strategies used by BDS campaigns are anti-Semitic."
An Indiana University fraternity was suspended Dec. 15 because of anti-Semitic and racist slurs. The Intrafraternity Council stated it is investigating the "disturbing increase of alleged anti-Semitic incidents," according to University of Indiana's student-run newspaper Indiana Daily Student.
Syracuse University suspended a fraternity's social activities Nov. 20 because of anti-Semitic events, including swastika graffiti.
BDS supporters push back on these depictions.
"The purpose of BDS is to fight for human rights, and is not about hostility or discrimination against the ethnic or national identity of the people of Israel," said Ramin Zareian, a junior at the University of Georgia and a campus BDS organizer.
"We want to use BDS and explain what it is, and talk about how it can be used to protest Israeli goods, lobbyists and right-wing supporters," said Jojo Darazim, vice president of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at University of Georgia.
Cut contracts
Shelby Shoup, president of SJP at Florida State University, said the group is "pressuring Florida State University to cut contracts with companies that profit from Israeli occupation" and that they "fight for Palestinian dignity and freedom" with BDS.
The liberal nonprofit Jewish advocacy group J Street, however, said in a statement it believes "the prime driver of anti-Semitism in this country is the xenophobic, white nationalist far-right" and called the order "misguided," "harmful" and "cynical."
"If President Trump truly wanted to address the scourge of anti-Semitism he helped to create, he would accept responsibility for his role emboldening white nationalism, perpetuating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and repeating stereotypes," said Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America in the organization's press release, which also called the order "the height of hypocrisy."
The executive order could allow the U.S. Department of Education to deny funding to schools that receive federal funding if they are perceived as discriminating "on the basis of race, color, and national origin," as stated by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The U.S. State Department's example on their website for anti-Semitism says "manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel."
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US college students face muted graduations amid Gaza war protests
Commencement ceremonies are being scaled back or canceled at U.S. universities because of security concerns over pro-Palestinian student protests. While some campus demonstrations have resulted in concessions, others have led to violent confrontations. VOA’s Tina Trinh has the story from New York.
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Police arrest 33 at George Washington University protest encampment
Police in Washington cleared out a pro-Palestinian encampment protest at George Washington University early Wednesday, arresting 33 people, authorities said.
Arrests were made for assault on a police officer and unlawful entry, the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department said.
Police started to shut down the tent encampment after dozens of protesters marched to GWU President Ellen Granberg's home Tuesday night. Demonstrators carried signs that read "Free Palestine" and "Hands off Rafah." Police were called, but no arrests were made then.
Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, is where much of the territory’s population has clustered. The area is also a corridor for bringing humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, while shutting off the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups. Israel said Wednesday it had reopened Kerem Shalom.
GWU officials warned students that they could be suspended for engaging in protests at the school’s University Yard, an outdoor spot on the campus.
"While the university is committed to protecting students' rights to free expression, the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations," a GWU statement said.
Event organizers said police used pepper spray to contain the crowd of protesters on Wednesday.
Police said they dispersed demonstrators because "there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest."
A congressional committee canceled a hearing on the university encampment Wednesday. District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith had been scheduled to testify about the city’s handling of the protest before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
More than 2,600 people have been arrested on 50 campuses in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, according to The Associated Press.
The nationwide campus protests started in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza that began after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel warned it could "deepen" its operation in Rafah if cease-fire talks fail to secure the release of the hostages.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.
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Pro-Palestinian protesters break through barricades to retake MIT encampment
Pro-Palestinian protesters who had been blocked by police from accessing an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday broke through fencing, linked arms and encircled tents that remained there, as Columbia University canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests.
Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group has been at the encampment for the past two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing of thousands of people in Gaza.
"Specifically, our encampment is protesting MIT's direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defense," he said.
Protesters also sat in the middle of Massachusetts Avenue, blocking the street during rush hour in the Boston area.
The demonstrations at Columbia have roiled its campus and officials said Monday that while it won't hold it's main ceremony, students will be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.
The decision comes as universities around the country wrangle with how to handle commencements for students whose high school graduations were derailed by COVID-19 in 2020. Another campus shaken by protests, Emory University, announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its Atlanta campus to a suburban arena. Others, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northeastern, have pulled off ceremonies with few disruptions.
Columbia's decision to cancel its main ceremonies scheduled for May 15 saves its president, Minouche Shafik, from having to deliver a commencement address in the same part of campus where police dismantled a protest encampment last week. The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said it made the decision after discussions with students.
"Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families," officials said.
Most of the ceremonies that had been scheduled for the south lawn of the main campus, where encampments were taken down last week, will take place about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north at Columbia's sports complex, officials said.
Speakers at some of Columbia's still-scheduled graduation ceremonies include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames and Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia's green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.
Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere as universities struggled with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.
The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony. Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.
Other universities have held graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security. The University of Michigan's ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times Saturday. In Boston on Sunday, some students waved small Palestinian or Israeli flags at Northeastern University's commencement in Fenway Park.
Emory's ceremonies scheduled for May 13 will be held at the GasSouth Arena and Convocation Center in Duluth, almost 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of the university's Atlanta campus, President Gregory Fenves said in an open letter.
"Please know that this decision was not taken lightly," Fenves wrote. "It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors and other agencies — each of which advised against holding commencement events on our campuses."
The 16,000-student university is one of many that has seen repeated protests stemming from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Student protesters are calling on their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
Hamas on Monday announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its "core demands" and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
"Cease-fires are temporary," said Selina Al-Shihabi, a Georgetown University sophomore who was taking part in a protest at George Washington. "There can be a cease-fire, but the U.S. government will continue to arm the Israeli military. We plan to be here until the university divests or until they drag us out of here."
At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.
The University of California, Los Angeles, moved all classes online for the entire week due to ongoing disruptions following the dismantling of an encampment last week. The university police force reported 44 arrests but there were no specific details, UCLA spokesperson Eddie North-Hager said in an email to The Associated Press.
Schools are trying various tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to get protestors to take down encampments or move to campus areas where demonstrations would be less intrusive.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago said in a Facebook post Sunday that it offered protesters "amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges" if they moved.
"Many protesters left the premises of their own accord after being notified by the police that they were trespassing and subject to arrest," the school said. "Those that remained were arrested after multiple warnings to leave, including some of whom we recognized as SAIC students."
A group of faculty and staff members at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the administration for amnesty for any students who were arrested and suspended during recent protests. UNC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said in a media advisory that it would deliver a letter on behalf of more than 500 faculty who support the student activists.
Other universities took a different approach.
Harvard University's interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those participating in a pro-Palestinian encampment in Harvard Yard could face "involuntary leave." That means they would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and may not be able to take exams, Garber said.
