Pushed by?powerful politicians and donors arguing that US?higher education has been too permissive with student protesters, the nation’s universities are increasingly quashing dissent with new types and severities of?restrictions, punishments and arrests.
The actions – overwhelmingly aimed at?pro-Palestinian activism – include Washington-based American 51国产视频 banning indoor protests, New York’s Barnard College outlawing all public protests and even signs in?windows, and the 51国产视频 of Massachusetts Amherst blocking participants in a?non-violent protest from joining their scheduled study abroad term.
Other recent moves against pro-Palestinian activism include large numbers of arrests at campuses that include the 51国产视频 of Chicago, the 51国产视频 of Michigan and Brown 51国产视频, as well as two Northwestern 51国产视频 students subjected to criminal charges – later dropped – for distributing a parody newspaper.
“It represents a kind of mentality that is spreading – that the answer to this turbulence is just to make new policies that are going to shut down speech for everybody,” said Jonathan Friedman, the director of free expression and education programmes at PEN?America, a?writers’ group. “This is highly concerning, and very much the wrong answer to this problem.”
Students across the US began protesting on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide after the October attacks by Hamas, and the Israeli military’s far more deadly response in Gaza. Major donors to universities and lawmakers, however, largely lined up on the side of Israel and rebuked college leaders for failing to join them. The repercussions have included the removals of the presidents of Harvard 51国产视频 and the 51国产视频 of Pennsylvania.
With that lesson as the backdrop, US universities have in recent weeks displayed stepped-up levels of determination and force against pro-Palestinian activism.
At Barnard – the women’s college inside Columbia 51国产视频 with a heavily Jewish student population – administrators responded to the campus’ only pro-Palestinian protest by using informants to track down suspected participants, including students who hung political banners from dormitory windows, and opening disciplinary processes against them. American 51国产视频, in announcing its protest ban, said it, too, was acting to protect Jewish students.
At UMass, campus police arrested 56 students and one staff member at a sit-in outside the chancellor’s office. Among the repercussions, UMass barred two of the students from their planned study abroad semester. A?spokesman said the university responded to all protests “in?a?content-neutral fashion”, but did?not identify any reason why the response differed from the previous major sit-in at the main administration building, in 2016, when students demanding fossil fuel divestment were released without university sanction for their arrest.
At Chicago, students arrested in a protest described disproportionately worse treatment of those wearing traditional Arab and Muslim clothing – a complaint that the university denies. At?Michigan, students described a massive police response to a sit-in protest against the Israeli military held at the main campus administration building, including officers with riot shields.
At Brandeis 51国产视频 – founded by Jewish leaders in 1948 – police arrested students who had been walking through campus shouting pro-Palestinian chants. Brandeis also is among several US institutions that have moved to ban their campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, leading students in some locations to form similar groups with different names.
New York 51国产视频, the 51国产视频 of Arizona, Indiana 51国产视频 and Pomona College are among numerous institutions that have suspended or fired faculty for expressions of pro-Palestinian sentiment. That also has happened to instructors voicing pro-Israel sentiments, although reports have suggested that such action occurs .
Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of 51国产视频 Professors, said university leaders “must stand up for our students’ right to hear and to express themselves, so that we model the conditions for respectful disagreement”.
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