AIt is the number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza increases, pro-Palestinian student-led camps on American college campuses are spreading. Despite disciplinary measures and police involvement, the demonstrations show no signs of stopping. The camps started in at least a dozen campuses, while student protesters demand that their universities divest from companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation.
On Monday morning, police arrested at least 45 Yale University students on trespassing charges. A similar scene played out at Columbia University last week, when school officials called on police to arrest more than 100 protesters. Columbia University and Barnard College later suspended dozens of students, citing safety concerns. The NYPD maintained that the protesters were peaceful in arresting them. Barnard College students, including Ilhan Omar’s daughter – Isra Hirsi – have lost access to on-campus housing and meal plans.
“I really am in limbo. We don’t know when we will be able to return”, says Hirsi. She has felt overwhelmed and sad about being “stuck outside,” but she notes that she was aware of the risks. “I felt like I needed to take a stand,” she says. Hirsi is also inspired by the many universities starting camps. “It’s not a Columbia moment. It’s a moment for everyone,” she says. “It’s important for all of us, as students at prestigious universities, to really clarify what’s going on.”
The White House condemned anti-Semitism on college campuses in a declaration about Easter on Sunday, but did not elaborate on specific institutions or incidents. “Even in recent days, we have seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews,” President Joe Biden said. “This blatant anti-Semitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”
Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student organizations leading protests, rejected the allegations of anti-Semitism. “We are frustrated by media distractions focused on inflammatory individuals who do not represent us,” they said. “We firmly reject any form of hatred or intolerance and remain vigilant against non-students who attempt to disrupt the solidarity being forged among students – the Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, black and pro-Palestinian classmates and colleagues they represent all the diversity of our country.”
The camps are the latest in a wave of disruptive pro-Palestinian protests that draw attention to what they see as genocide. Previous demonstrations have temporarily closed bridges, railway stations and airports in protest against Israel’s continued attack on Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7. (Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry; over the weekend, officials said airstrikes in Rafah killed 22 people, including 18 children. Gaza Civil Defense workers also recently reported one mass grave with almost 300 bodies in a hospital in southern Gaza. The Hamas attack killed around 1,200 people and took 240 hostages – of which more than 100 were released.)
Columbia University
On Monday, dozens of Columbia University professors walked out to protest the arrest and suspension of students. “While we, as faculty, disagree on the relevant policy issues and express no opinion on the merits of the protest, we are writing to urge respect for the basic values of the rule of law that should govern our University,” they said in a letter . .
Inside the gates of Columbia’s campus, the camp has been relatively quiet. On Friday, Jewish students led a Shabbat service. Later, protesters surrounded their Muslim peers with blankets as they prayed to give them privacy. They held lectures, including one on anti-Semitism. Students sang protest slogans, danced and watched films. Some brought their pets.
Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, stressed that the organizers “made it very clear” that their focus is “on the genocide and the actions of the Israeli government”. Generalizing the protests as anti-Semitic is also “disrespectful” to the many Jewish activists who are part of the movement, she says. “There are people who will intertwine their identity with that of the government and there’s not much we can do about that,” she says. “All I saw on that field were beautiful acts of solidarity.”
Shiri Gil, a 25-year-old Jewish Columbia University student from Israel who moved to New York as part of the university’s dual degree program with Tel Aviv, says the camp makes her feel unsafe. She is unfazed by protesters raising concerns about Israel’s conduct in Gaza, but blames Hamas for the violence. “There is no recognition of the hostages,” she says.
The chants calling for an intifada are shocking to her because she has lost family members to some of the violence, she says. (Both intifadas led to the deaths of more than 5,000 Palestinians and about 1,400 Israelis.) For many pro-Palestinian protesters, an intifada broadly refers to Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation.
Occasionally, tensions flared outside the university gates. Videos on social media showed individuals making anti-Semitic statements, but their identity and relationship to the student protesters remains unclear.
Jewish institutions on campus are divided on messages to students. Columbia/Barnard’s Orthodox rabbi, Rabbi Elie Buechler, recommended that students return home until the campus calms down. “It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus,” he wrote in a WhatsApp group chat including many Jewish students. The Columbia and Barnard chapter of Hillel, the university’s largest Jewish organization, issued a statement Sunday saying they will remain open. “This is a time of genuine discomfort and even fear for many of us on campus,” said Brian Cohen, executive director of the Jewish group. “Columbia University and New York City must do more to protect students.”
Columbia University President Nemat Shafik said in a note to the school on Monday that classes would temporarily be held virtually. “To ease bitterness and give all of us a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday,” Shafik said in a note to students.
Yale University
At Yale University, police arrested about 45 students shortly before 7 a.m. Protest organizers say that on Sunday night more than 600 people came to protect more than 40 tents. They say law enforcement authorities only gave protesters one arrest warning, despite saying they would receive three warnings.
Craig Birckhead-Morton, a pro-Palestinian Yale student who was arrested, says the Columbia camp motivated them to increase their activism. “We had the idea (of a camp) before Friday… but I think Columbia was O event that encouraged people,” he says. They set up tents later that night.
Birckhead-Morton, a black Muslim, says protesters sang chants and songs as they were arrested. “We don’t know what the school subject is, but we anticipate it,” he says.
At around 8am, the protests resumed, according to New Haven police. Law enforcement officials say they have “no current plans to arrest non-violent protesters.”
O Yale Daily News the campus newspaper reported that students performed a traditional Filipino dance amid counterprotests and provocations.
Yale University President Peter Salovey said in a statement on Sunday that many students protested peacefully, but that he was “aware of reports of egregious behavior such as intimidation and harassment, pushing into crowds, removing the flag from the square, and other harmful acts.”
Vanderbilt University
The Vanderbilt University camp is the oldest. It began more than three weeks ago, along with a demonstration at the entrance to the chancellor’s office in one of the main administrative buildings.
Twenty-seven students participated in the demonstration, which lasted almost 24 hours – and ended with the expulsion of three students. The university accused students of forcibly entering the building and allegedly injuring a community service officer. Jack Petocz – one of the expelled students – says he had nothing to do with the fight and that Vanderbilt “created a completely inaccurate representation from a minute-long interaction he had with a member of the chancellor’s staff upstairs.”
“You can arrest students under false pretenses, you can suspend them from campus, you can try to silence the movement, but you will never succeed because we have had a thriving camp outside of Kirkland Hall for over 500 hours,” Petocz says. who is known for his organizing on LGBTQ issues. “We are on the 26th day of continuous protests.”
Vanderbilt University did not respond to a request for comment, but previously said in a statement that “the gravity of this situation and these results weigh heavily on those of us charged with fulfilling our responsibility as leaders; We fully understand that students’ choices and decisions can lead to serious and costly consequences.”
Protesters rejected Chancellor Diermeier’s statements in the New York Times who are “not interested in dialogue”; they say he avoided talking to them.
New York University
Pro-Palestinian students at New York University began a camp on Monday morning. “In solidarity with Palestinians facing more than 75 years of occupation and 198 days of ongoing genocide, we at NYU refuse to remain complicit,” they wrote in a statement. statement posted on Instagram. Protesters demand that NYU end its relationship with Tel Aviv University and close its Tel Aviv campus, in addition to divestment.
Protest organizers say that on Monday afternoon, NYU administration told students and faculty that if they do not leave Gould Plaza by 2:45 p.m., students will face “serious consequences” and “everything is at stake.”
NYU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other faculties
The camps also spread to the following colleges: UNC Chapel Hill, Washington University in Saint Louis, University of Michigan, The New School, MIT, Emerson College, Tufts University and the University of Maryland.
Harvard University closed its courtyard in anticipation of pro-Palestine protests, according to the Harvard Crimson.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
