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Nowhere has this been seen more clearly than in the pro Palestinian encampments and protests across American college campuses where over the last several weeks police departments, aided by campus police, have been called to quell the often combative confrontations with pro Israel supporters.
As of last week 2,400 arrests nationwide have been made.
The protests have centered on student demands that their universities divest from any investments that support the war in Gaza, much like earlier protests during the Vietnam war, and who later asked these schools to divest from companies that supported the apartheid government of South Africa in the 1980s.
Now for many students this has a new twist: they also don’t want to see their personal ethics compromised by the schools that educate them.
The protests while tamped down in some areas, and while there has been compromise at some universities, the questions it raises are varied: free speech as supported in the American constitution, the horrors of war, moral outrage, support for US allies who abridge the moral divide, to name but a few; but, in short, we are seeing an increasing level of awareness by a population that is claiming the future as their own.
The swift moving actions of some university administrators has been bemoaned by some student protestors who felt that there was some path forward, and for Northwestern University in suburban Chicago an agreement was reached, and a degree of transparency on the school’s investments was reached, but it left some, on both sides of the divide feeling betrayed, but in general, tangible results were achieved.
This has not been the case for DePaul University in Chicago, where its long running encampment was raided early Thursday morning and The Chicago Sun Times reported, “Chicago police cleared out a pro-Palestinian encampment at DePaul University’s Lincoln Park campus Thursday morning after school officials said they had reached an impasse with the protesters. The encampment has been in place since April 30 and had been the last remaining in the Chicago area and the longest-standing in the country.”
The pattern was the same as at the University of Chicago with an early morning confrontation, and school officials said that it was peaceful and that there was no credible threat ending, and that student protestors left quietly. Yet, there are reports that a Muslim student had her hijab torn from her head, during her arrest, and that another student, male, was pulled by his helmet by police to the ground.
Students were prepared for both the best outcome and the worst, said Simran Bains, senior to the Tribune a week ago, and was willing to get arrested if that was what it took to get school administrators to take their demands seriously, “I can’t pretend like things are normal, while other people are suffering,” she added.
DePaul President Robert Manuel had noted in an earlier statement that he hoped for a “timely resolution” to the encampment, but critics were doubting his sincerity, and now especially, in light of the police raid on the encampment.
He added a stronger police presence due to clashes between pro Israel counter protesters and said, “It was evident that the protest had become a magnet for others outside our community with nefarious intent.”
It should also be said that DePaul's campus, much like that of Columbia In New York City, sits in an open community with easy public access.
The Sun Times added that “During a news conference at DePaul, Chicago Police Patrol Chief Jon Hein told reporters that officers “assisted in the removal of the encampment” at the university’s request, "and the protestors departed quietly, and without incident.
“It became apparent that the student leaders did not have the ability to represent everyone or make decisions in our final meeting with the DePaul Divestment Coalition and their attorney on May 11,” Manuel said, adding, "... the student leaders demonstrated a complete lack of understanding or concern for the impact the encampment was having on the rest of the population in our university community.”
The university received more than 1,000 complaints about the encampment over the past 17 days and “took steps to address these concerns,” Manuel said.
“But we can no longer maintain this balance. We had no choice but to act, before we lost the ability to provide for the safety of the Jewish members of our community, to preserve the rights of all other students, and to maintain university operations,” Manuel said of the decision to clear the encampment.”
Accusations of anti Semitism abound but it’s certainly not clear that all of those that are seen offering the Hitler salute, or yelling racial slurs are students, and in fact New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams has blamed outside agitators for the unrest. Not reported in detail is the significant presence of Jewish students against the actions of Israel against the Palestinians, and, in fact, some have blamed certain media outlets for omitting this fact.
Media reports from the residential community surrounding the DePaul campus reported the following including the Sun Times:
"Brian Comer, president of the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, said the group became concerned about safety when counter protesters showed up at the encampment days ago and asked the university to take the encampment down.
Though that protest ended peacefully, Comer said he was worried about a different outcome of more clashes.
“It became very clear that this could be a tinder box for something besides free speech,” Comer said. “The second one person is injured, it’s too late.”
“The Anti Defamation League, praised the school’s action as did Metro Hillel Chicago, and noted that peaceful classroom discussions were their expected standard for protest.
“In a statement on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Anti-Defamation League Midwest Regional Director David Goldenberg said they “appreciate” that the university cleared the encampment.
Additional pro-Israel groups have also opposed the encampments across the country, including Metro Chicago Hillel, which has started a petition to call on university administrators to clear them.”
“Free speech and the respectful exchange of ideas in the classroom and in peaceful public protests are fundamental to a college education,” a petition from Hillel International read. “What is happening on too many college and university campuses today is not that,” the petition said.
Despite the fears of the neighborhood association, it seems, from student reports that their encampment was peaceful with book clubs, prayers and music.
Redolent of earlier campus protests, the sight of police brutalizing students in headlocks, and often in riot gear, has turned the tide of public opinion for some, but politics has entered the public arena, with some like Sen. Ted Cruz lobbing wholesale accusations at the feet of protestors, and the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported:
"U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz made a stop in Fort Worth Wednesday night to stump for Cheryl Bean, who is in a Republican Primary runoff for Texas District 97.
Cruz, a Texas Republican, spoke about his grievances with President Joe Biden’s White House, immigration and the protests that are ongoing at college campuses across the country opposing the war in Gaza .
Following the event, Cruz told the Star-Telegram he “absolutely” supports the deployment of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers across the state to the University of Texas at Austin’s campus.
“Any radical who threatens the safety of another student should be arrested, should they be prosecuted they should be expelled and if they’re from another country, they should be deported,” Cruz said to the crowd, earning him a standing ovation
“Our country is based on everyone having the right to express themselves and worship like they are,” Bean told the Star-Telegram. “We keep forgetting that it wasn’t the Jews that went out and made the first strike. It was the Palestinians.”
The fact that many of these protests are being held at elite colleges, University of California Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other liberal institutions has not been lost on Republican lawmakers who see these protests as yet another example of “woke” ideologies, replete with their diversity, equality and inclusion departments.
To be fair, some university presidents are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place: if they come down too hard, they are being seen as authoritarian, if they don’t they are being branded as anti Semitic.
President Joe Biden has publicly condemned anti Semitism at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance reminding the audience of the history of Jewish struggles, and that anti Semitism, and antagonism towards Jews, “This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world, and it requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.”
The University of Chicago, known to be among the most committed of universities to free speech in the country, reported The Chicago Tribune, but noting that the Dean of Students Michelle Rasmussen said in an earlier statement that “protestors have had numerous opportunities to share their views during this encampment, and they may do so now, under the same rules that apply to others.”
This seemed to be a model for what happened at DePaul, and it was no surprise when news of their early dawn raid, when students were asleep, and as one Palestinian professor at UnChicago told the Tribune, “The point of the raid was terror, they waited for those kids to fall asleep and then they pulled tents from under them when they were sleeping,” said Eman Abdelhadi.
On Thursday, USPCN announced in a press release that they would protest at the university as they prepare for alumni weekend: “This Friday, hundreds of students, faculty, and community members organized by UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) will rally at the University of Chicago in protest of the University's continued involvement in the genocide in Gaza. This protest comes after the University swept a Gaza solidarity encampment on Tuesday, May 7, in order to clear space on the quad for Alumni Weekend, an annual event intended to reunite University alumni and encourage donations.”
In a further statement that shows that University of Chicago officials may have been caught out, they added the following:
"Ironically, the University removed our tents on the grounds that they were blocking students' access to common spaces like the quad," said one third-year undergraduate organizer with UCUP, "but now they’ve set up even bigger tents, as well as barriers which prevent students from accessing a large section of the quad. The administration's definition of 'disruptive' activity is so clearly arbitrary and non-neutral. They’re more than willing to block off common space as long as it lines their pockets."
In the aftermath of the breakup of the DePaul encampment there was sorrow, and regrets, and some bitterness on the part of student participants, but while some of these feelings have remained on campus, events began to take a precipitous turn, when the university began an effort to target eight BIPOC and Jewish-Led Student Organizations
In a statement released on Friday by Students for Justice in Palestine, they said that, “the DePaul University administration sent an email requiring eight student organizations to attend disciplinary meetings for their support of an encampment calling for divestment from Israel’s genocide in Gaza. These disciplinary measures come just weeks before graduation and days after DePaul President Robert Manuel authorized a Chicago police raid on the student encampment, during which a police officer removed the hijab off of a Muslim student bystander before arresting her.”
In addition to this they stressed that while "The DePaul Divestment Coalition is a network of over thirty student organizations supporting divestment, but the only student organizations the University is targeting are those led by cultural minorities, including all organizations that participated in the encampment negotiations with President Manuel. The University notified them that they were accused of violating unspecified policies in unspecified ways, and must arrange an initial meeting with the administration by Friday, May 31st.”
The notices target a wide variety of the school’s student population, “Palestinian, Jewish, Latino, South Asian, Native/Indigenous, and Black student leaders, including those who are regularly consulted and depended on by the University to provide input on University operations including the University budget, reviewing the Code of Student Responsibility, student safety, and other advisory matters. One of the organizations impacted by the DePaul administration’s disciplinary measures is the Student Government Association, which is considered part of the University’s governance structure. “
These moves seem to be a radical departure form the Vincentian values, the university espouses, as Student Government Association President Parveen Kaur Mundi noted by saying, “This will all have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and expression at DePaul not just for us, but for students who engage in activism on all kinds of issues.”
She also added, “Myself and the other organization leaders being targeted have immersed ourselves in advocating for improved student life at this campus as long as we have been students at the institution. The administration’s recent weaponization of the conduct process to suppress student freedom of expression of these same organizations is shocking and unprecedented,
Manuel seems to be getting ahead of any further student protests at DePaul with these actions, say some observers, and it certainly appears to be that way.
The targeted groups are the Student Government Association, Students for Justice in Palestine, Jews for Justice, the Black Student Union, Native American and Indigenous Student Tonight,
Adding fuel to fires of protest and disillusionment, was the news that “DePaul University alumni disrupted the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Reception—a high-level gathering of donors. Alumni protestors are calling on DePaul to divest from Israel’s genocide in Gaza, in which at least 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 15,000 children, in the span of eight months."
"Donations from alumni and others are the third biggest source of income for DePaul University. Alumni disruptors pledge to withhold donations to DePaul in solidarity with students and faculty in their demands for financial transparency and for divestment from human rights abuses," the statement added.
In their support of students they said, “As alumni, we are sending a strong message to DePaul that they cannot go on with business as usual during a genocide. We will not donate until DePaul clearly divests from human rights abuses,” said Leena Almasri, a 2019 DePaul graduate and a member of DePaul Alumni for a Free Palestine."
“DePaul’s actions against students protesting a genocide are reprehensible,” said Camila Mariana Barrientos, a 2022 DePaul LAS graduate. She continued, “Student repression at a university that claims to be liberal, progressive, and guided by Vincentian values of social justice is shocking to me. As an alumnus, I am ashamed that this is what my alma mater has become.”
Updated May 29 2024, 1:09 a.m. CDT
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