As the dust settles and the number of pro-Palestinian student camps dwindles, allegations of “outside agitators” among protesters are being put under the microscope, while colleges say those not affiliated with them caused most of the damage. of the problems, an accusation dismissed by critics as a fig leaf for ignoring students’ demands.
Some universities have reported that the majority of those detained during protests on their property were in no way affiliated with the institutions, but the “outside agitators” trope is met with skepticism as it has been used since the Civil Rights movement to discredit activists.
“From the Civil Rights movement to the George Floyd protests, this country has a long history of using ‘foreign influence’ or ‘outside agitators’ as a pretext to discredit protest movements and discourage people from speaking out. Instead of villainizing student protesters, our leaders should focus on ensuring that free speech and academic freedom are protected on campus,” said Brian Hauss, senior staff attorney at the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. .
The University of Texas at Austin (UT) said at one point that 45 of the 79 individuals arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest on campus were not affiliated with the school.
And the New York Police Department said during a series of arrests in Columbia before the Hamilton Hall takeover that 29 percent were not affiliated with the school. Meanwhile, at City College of New York, about 60% had no connection to the school.
“These numbers validate our concerns that much of the disruption on campus over the past week has been orchestrated by people outside the University, including groups linked to the escalation of protests at other universities across the country,” UT said in a statement to the announce the number of arrests. “So far, weapons have been confiscated from protesters in the form of guns, buckets with large stones, bricks, wooden boards reinforced with steel, sledgehammers and chains.”
Zainab Chaudry, who serves as director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Maryland office and has worked with students at John Hopkins University’s pro-Palestinian camp, told The Hill that students have reached out to advocacy groups for support, including providing food, publicizing events and obtaining assistance in negotiating with schools or dealing with the police.
“What I observed overwhelmingly were advocacy groups that just wanted to support students and make sure they weren’t alone as they moved forward with these actions,” Chaudry said.
The goal of CAIR, she added, is to help students establish themselves as leaders of these events and provide them with media training so they can understand the importance of the messages.
“For Hopkins, for example, the students created a press center” and dedicated individuals to speaking to the media, which showed that “they were the ones coordinating this,” Chaudry said, adding that “this may help dispel some of the rumours”. that were outside influences” running the show.
Experts say that, as with other aspects of anti-war protests, public and private universities have different options on the table.
For private schools, “it’s up to those colleges, but presumably any non-students who are involved in these protesters are technically trespassers,” said Neil McCluskey, director of the CATO Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom.
For places like UT, “if it’s a state university, the outsider, especially if they’re a state resident or taxpayer, has the right to say, ‘I should be able to be here to express my opinion.’ ” McCluskey said, adding that “there is broader protection of First Amendment rights at a state institution, even for people who are not students there.”
Student groups have vehemently denied that anyone unaffiliated with the respective school is leading the attack.
George Washington University’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter criticized the school after it declared the camp dangerous and co-opted by outside influence, saying GW President Ellen Granberg would “rather brutalize our community to please her Zionist donors from than confronting the university. complicity in genocide.”
Columbia Vice President of Communications Ben Chang said that following the arrests of those who took over Hamilton Hall, the school’s suspicions were confirmed that many of the individuals were not affiliated with the university.
Chang said 13 of the nearly four dozen people arrested were unaffiliated. But the New York Times said after a review of police records they found that only nine people had no connection to the school.
“It’s very telling that they’re counting the numbers to try to defend themselves,” said Justin Hansford, executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Center for Civil Rights at Howard Law School, adding that schools are trying to “limit the political damage of what they’re doing.” .”
On Tuesday, House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to the Treasury Department, asking it to investigate 20 groups they suspect. are funding “pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic and anti-American protests taking place on college campuses across the US”
CAIR condemned lawmakers on Thursday for the request for an investigation, saying “the request lacks any legitimate congressional purpose and echoes the witch hunt of the McCarthy era.”
The term “outside agitator” has its American roots in the Civil Rights movement, sometimes even being used against leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.
The term today is “used as a tool,” Hansford said, “because people know there is less political backlash if you decide to be violent or tough on outside agitators, as opposed to supportive teenage college students.”
And some point out that the natural goal of protests is to involve other people in their cause.
“I think it would be foolish” for schools in large metropolitan areas not to expect “people to come to [protests] who are not affiliated” with the school, said Bob Harrison, an adjunct researcher at the Rand Corporation who has had a career in policing for decades. “Like I said, pure curiosity leads some people to this. Someone who is not an affiliate but a sympathizer will come there to show their support.”
Chuck Rapp, professional criminal justice trainer at Penn State University’s Institute for Justice and Safety, emphasized that if a protest does not unduly burden the ability to pass through a given area, police have a role in protecting the free speech rights of people. all protesters.
And while the schools’ hope is to show that their students are not among those detained, the connotation that comes with claiming outside influence may not be worth it.
“As long as there is a fairly large portion of people who are students, I don’t know if it would make a big difference. I don’t think it would make a big difference to the school’s reputation,” McCluskey said.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
