Pro-Palestinian activists have launched camps on more than 70 campuses to draw attention to Israel’s months-long military assault on the Gaza Strip and to demand that schools divest from companies that do business with the country. The nationwide movement has led to clashes with police and the arrest of more than 2,300 protesters in recent weeks, according to an NBC News tally.
Now, as many students face legal and disciplinary action and universities reevaluate graduation plans, school communities are expressing frustration with administrators’ handling of campus protests.
On Wednesday, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters formed an encampment at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus in New York City. The school asked the New York Police Department for help, and police arrested 15 protesters.
In a statement addressed to the school community released later that evening, Fordham President Tania Tetlow characterized the encampment inside the Leon Lowenstein Academic Building and the protest directly outside as “different” from events previously held on the university campus, and added that “hundreds of protesters came from other places.”
“We limit intrusions into a classroom building, especially by people who are not members of our community. (There is a difference between free speech and people coming into your house to scream.),” she wrote.
In a letter shared exclusively with NBC News, two Fordham faculty members presented an analysis of what they consider to be Tetlow’s “inaccurate and misleading statements” to the Fordham community.
Assistant Professor Leo Guardado and Associate Professor Carey Kasten provided a detailed timeline of May 1 events to the Fordham Faculty Senate on Friday. They also presented a compilation of photos and videos taken by docents who chose to serve as camp observers.
The evidence was used to dispute nearly 10 claims Tetlow made in his letter. NBC News has not independently verified either side’s claims.
One of these allegations includes an exaggeration of the size of the inner camp. The professors claim that, based on eyewitness accounts and video evidence, about 20 people were part of the encampment when Tetlow said “several dozen people were pushed into the lobby.”
Guardado and Kasten also alleged that the language of Tetlow’s letter suggested that most of the individuals involved in the encampment and protest were not affiliated with Fordham.
“The arrested protesters were students and former students. Many of the people outside were students, teachers and alumni,” Kasten said. “This is our community.”
Tetlow said the university remains committed to allowing peaceful protests, but the faculty letter to the Fordham Faculty Senate argued that the camp was nonviolent and that “all participants remained peaceful in their protests throughout the day.”
Danie Taylor, a professor in the Fordham theater program, said she was disheartened by the university’s failure to “uphold its own mission statement,” which includes “promoting justice” and “protecting human rights.”
“We must hold our institution accountable to its stated values of social responsibility and ethical conduct,” he said.
Fordham University did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
School administrators face resistance
University administrators are facing pushback and criticism for their decisions to use police to crack down on encampments and protests.
Last week, following the start of a pro-Palestinian encampment on the Emory University campus, police arrested 28 individuals – 20 of whom were members of the Emory community.
Following the incident, the Faculty Senate of the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, one of the university’s nine schools, passed a vote of no confidence in President Gregory Fenves, with 75% of members voting in favor of his approval, according to Laura Diamond, assistant vice president of university communications.
In response to the vote, the university said in a statement: “While we take seriously any concerns expressed by members of our community, there are a wide range of perspectives being shared.”
On Friday, the NYPD arrested 43 individuals as the New School encampment was cleared. Later that afternoon, more than 200 faculty and staff from all five colleges at the university called an emergency meeting.
The meeting, organized by the New School chapter of the American Association of University Professors, held three votes, including a vote of no confidence in President Donna Shalala and the board of trustees. More than 90% of members voted in favor.
The vast majority of the group also voted to drop all charges and disciplinary actions against students.
“The results of this emergency meeting are simply a first step, initiated by workers at The New School deeply angered and distressed by the administration’s treatment of our students,” the group said in a statement Friday. “President Donna Shalala’s decision to invite police to campus under the most fragile facilities, to arrest students involved in non-violent protests, at a time when there was no faculty support, is intolerable.”
At the University of Texas at Austin, where police arrested 57 pro-Palestinian protesters on April 24, more than 600 university faculty members signed an open letter claiming they do not trust President Jay Hartzell.
“The president has shown himself to be indifferent to the pressing concerns of faculty, staff and students. He violated our trust. The University is no longer a safe and welcoming place for the diverse community of students and scholars who have until now called this campus home,” the letter stated.
It was sent to Hartzell on April 29 after some faculty members refused to complete class assignments or grades earlier in the week to protest the university’s response to the camp.
Faculty members in Columbia University’s history department condemned the use of police force against students and referred to similar anti-war protests that occurred on campus in 1968.
“Since the last time police were called in large numbers to this campus in 1968, Columbia has worked hard to restore the community, build shared governance, deal peacefully with protests, and maintain a culture of respectful debate. We must maintain this legacy,” the department said in a statement.
Students are also taking action against the university administration following the crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism.
At the University of Southern California, the undergraduate student government sent a letter to President Carol Folt expressing disappointment with the administration’s use of force after the Los Angeles Police Department arrested nearly 100 people on April 24.
“The escalation of police violence on our campus is an experience we never imagined – much less led by our university,” stated the letter, released April 28.
USC students called for no further “retaliatory actions” to be taken against them for participating in peaceful assemblies.
“We hope that the university’s disproportionate response to the April 24 demonstration will never be repeated on this campus,” the letter continued. “For the administration, we hope for better.”
At Columbia University, students completed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate discrimination against Palestinian students and their allies.
In addition to efforts by teachers and students to demand accountability from administrators, organizations like Palestine Legal are intervening.
In Florida, a coalition of seven organizations — including the state chapters of the ACLU and NAACP — delivered a letter to Florida college and university presidents on Friday to express concern about “the unnecessary use of force by law enforcement and the raids to First Amendment rights.” citing universities’ responses to peaceful protests as “concerning and dangerous.”
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