Pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses in the United States are raising concerns about the limits on free speech imposed by university authorities. The protests began in response to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the subsequent Israeli military campaigns in Gaza. Demonstrators have called for their universities to sever financial ties with Israel, accusing it of engaging in disproportionate military actions. These protests have resulted in arrests and police intervention, leading some students to criticize university authorities for what they perceive as infringements on their free speech rights under political pressure [fee4f4bd].
The U.S. Congress has been scrutinizing Ivy League schools like Columbia University, which has led to the resignation of the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. Some students have faced administrative penalties, and universities have implemented revised policies to restrict protests. While some politicians have labeled the protests as antisemitic, the protesters argue that advocating for the human rights of Palestinians is not inherently antisemitic. However, there have been incidents of hostility and antisemitic acts against Jewish students during the protests. The University of Southern California canceled a graduation speech by a Muslim student expressing pro-Palestinian beliefs after accusations of antisemitism. The American Association of University Professors has criticized politicians for pressuring university officials to resign, likening it to a new form of McCarthyism. Student protests on U.S. college campuses trace their roots back to the Free Speech Movement of 1964 at the University of California, Berkeley [fee4f4bd].
In a recent development, 500 Jewish students at Columbia University have made a significant stand against antisemitism on American campuses. In a letter, these students publicly expressed their support for Zionism and rejected the antisemitic attacks targeting them. The letter, signed with their full names, marks a bold declaration against the growing ideological regime of antisemitism in American universities. This movement is seen as a potential turning point in the struggle for the future of American Jewry, with hopes that it will inspire similar actions at other universities [0f52378e].
Federal intervention in campus protests has become a topic of concern. The Department of Education settlements with protest-wracked colleges threaten censorship by bureaucracy. The agreements indicate official dissatisfaction with how the schools managed responses to the protests and require stronger action in the future. Federal bureaucrats seem to want the university to treat expression by students, whether or not it's coordinated, as contributing towards some critical mass of bad vibes. Requiring 'climate assessments' of schools to determine if campus discourse has passed some invisible hostility threshold that necessitates official intervention goes too far. Government officials have a terrible track record when it comes to monitoring speech and protests. Government action risks turning protesters who might be rightly called out by peers for bad causes and hideous statements into martyrs joining the ranks of dissidents surveilled by the state. The protests, by and large, have alienated Americans. Job-searching college students and graduates who were pro-Palestine activists had job offers rescinded due to their activism. Sometimes, when you use your right to free expression to say horrible things, other people don't want to be associated with you. Many colleges created their own problems by failing to consistently protect speech in the past and to clarify the point beyond which legally actionable harassment and actual violence would not be tolerated. The University of Chicago's principles on free speech are a good place to start. Letting federal officials impose censorship by bureaucracy is not the solution [adc983e4].
Columbia University is set to fire law professor Katherine Franke after an investigation linked to an interview she gave to 'Democracy Now!' in January. In the interview, Franke claimed that Israeli students who come to Columbia University after their military service have been known to harass Palestinian and other students on campus. Franke, who is Jewish, has made six trips to Israel and has criticized Israel's human rights practices. She believes that the university is using the attack against her as a pretext to clamp down on peaceful protest by other students. Franke expects to be sacked after 22 years of teaching at Columbia. The investigation gained attention when Columbia's president, Minouche Shafik, disclosed it during her Congressional testimony in April. Franke was detained and deported from Israel in May 2018, and she believes that her criticism of Israel's policies played a role in the investigation against her [e2d7f1f0].
A letter to the editor written by Jeremy Bendik-Keymer in response to a previous letter arguing that concern about the intimidating speech of protesters at Case Western Reserve University was misguided. Bendik-Keymer disagrees and argues that using loaded and intolerant language is not conducive to achieving peace. He gives an example of someone shouting a sexist expression, knowing it could affect people negatively, and argues that this behavior is sexist. He applies this logic to the protests at CWRU, stating that expressions like 'From the river to the sea,' 'intifada,' and 'you can't hide' are not necessary to make the moral point of the protests and have a history involving violence. He suggests using alternative expressions like 'Confederation!,' 'Two state solution!,' 'Human rights for all,' and 'For justice! For peace!' instead. Bendik-Keymer emphasizes that peace requires consistent respect [6aeb40a6].