Letters from an American - May 2, 2024

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

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May 2, 2024. More than 2,000 people have been arrested at protests on college and university campuses around the country opposing Israel's military strikes on Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and the subsequent humanitarian crisis there. It is unclear how many of the protesters are students, as many of those arrested have not been affiliated with the universities, or how many of the arrests will result in charges. Sometimes arrests at protests are designed simply to clear an area. The roots of today's protests lie in an investigation by the Republican-dominated House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Virginia Fox, a Republican of North Carolina. The committee announced the investigation on December 7,

two days after its members spent more than five hours grilling then-president of Harvard University Claudine Gay, then-president of University of Pennsylvania Liz McGill, and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sally Kornbluth on how their universities were handling student protests over Israel over its military response to Hamas's attack of October 7th. military response to Hamas's attack of October 7th. Led by Elise Stefanik, a Republican of New York, Republicans on the committee insisted that the universities were not protecting Jewish students. The university presidents responded that they deplored anti-Semitism, that students had the right to free speech, and that they took action against those who violated policies against bullying, harassment, or intimidation. But in their defense of free speech, they admitted both that hate speech against Jews and others is sometimes protected,

and that they had sometimes made bad calls. The Republicans' interest in protecting Jewish students on campus overlapped with their opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives that they associate with Democrats. Burgess Owens, a Republican of Utah, said DEI initiatives protect black students at the expense of others. I just remember a couple of years ago when we were dealing with Black Lives Matter, he said. Try to talk about Blue Lives Matter, Jew Lives Matter, Arab Lives Matter. They call it racist. It's time for us to focus on

what's happening on your campuses. Stefanik called the testimony pathetic, and along with 74 other members of Congress, demanded that Gay, Harvard's first black president, resign. On January 2nd, following accusations she had plagiarized scholarly work, she did. Her resignation followed that of Liz McGill. Two down, Stefanik wrote on social media. Two days after the university president's testimony, Stefanik announced that the House Education and Workforce Committee would be investigating universities. We will use our full congressional authority to hold these schools accountable for their failure on the global stage, she said.

On February 12th, the committee informed Columbia it was up next. Columbia University President Nemat Minouche Shafiq had been unable to testify with the other presidents in December and gave her testimony to the committee on April 17th, along with co-chairs of the Board of Trustees Claire Shipman and David Greenwald and former Dean David Shizer over the university's response to anti-Semitism. In an April 16th essay in the Wall Street Journal, Shafiq wrote that anti-Semitism and calls for genocide have no place at a university, but that leaves plenty of room for robust disagreement and debate. She said she prioritizes the safety and security of our community, and that while the attack of

October 7th had a deep personal impact on the Jewish and Israeli communities, there was also a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and the war was part of a larger story of Palestinian displacement. part of a larger story of Palestinian displacement. She explained that Columbia had defined a space for protests to enable those they upset to avoid them. Opening the hearing, Committee Chair Fox said, Since October 7th, this committee and the nation have watched in horror as so many of our college campuses, particularly the most expensive so-called elite schools, have erupted into hotbeds of anti-Semitism and hate. Stefanik called out tenured Professor Joseph Massad of the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department, who called the October 7th attack

a stunning victory. Shafiq responded by condemning the professor's statements. Trying to reconcile the free speech rights of those who want to protest and the rights of Jewish students to be in an environment free of harassment or discrimination has been the central challenge on our campus and many others in recent months. We do not and will not tolerate anti-Semitic threats, images, and other violations. We have enforced and we will continue to enforce our policies against such actions, she said. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat of Minnesota, questioned Shafiq about discrimination against pro-Palestinian protesters. She noted that Israel-born assistant professor Shai Davidai was accused of harassing pro-Palestinian

students. Shafiq said they have had more than 50 complaints about him and he is under investigation. On April 17th, the same day Columbia officials testified, pro-Palestinian protesters organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a self-described coalition of student organizations that see Palestine as the vanguard for our collective liberation, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace set up a camp at the university. It garnered little attention. The April 18th New York Times did not mention it. According to Sharif, the school warned protesters they would be suspended if the encampment was not removed.

They stayed. On April 18th, according to New York Mayor Eric Adams, Columbia officials called in New York City police to disband the protest. They arrested more than 100 people, including Representative Omar's daughter, a Columbia student. The arrests were peaceful. University faculty and community members were shocked by the resort to law enforcement at a place known both for learning and debate and for its history. In April 1968, in the midst of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, a week of protests after students learned of Columbia's support for weapons research and its plan to construct a

seemingly segregated gym in a nearby community had led New York City police to crush the demonstrations with violence. In the days after the current arrests, nearly a dozen student and faculty groups released statements or open letters objecting to the police presence on campus and supporting students' rights to free speech and peaceful protest. The protest encampment sprung back up. At the same time, Jewish leaders warned that anti-Semitism was increasing. Rabbi Eli Buchler of the Columbia Barnard Hillel and Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life urged Jewish students to return home for Passover, which began April 22nd, and to stay there for their own safety. In the next weeks, protests sprang up around the country, with protesters generally demanding that university administrators divest

from investments in Israel or in companies that sell weapons, technology, or construction equipment to Israel and cut ties to Israeli universities. They have tended to turn their anger against President Joe Biden and his administration, whom they blame for what they call a genocide in Gaza. Universities have responded in a variety of ways, from discussion to armed law enforcement officers. Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have insisted that Israel has a right to defend itself from Hamas and have continued to provide Israel with military defenses, whose importance in stopping the war from spreading showed on April 14th when those defenses shot down virtually all of the weapons Iran launched at Israel.

They are working hard for a ceasefire, with Blinken currently in the Middle East and a proposal on the table that Israel has accepted, but Hamas has not. The administration has also stood against the initial policy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration to cordon off Gaza without food, water, or electricity, and has pressured Israel into permitting humanitarian aid into Gaza. It has also firmly opposed Israeli plans to attack Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken shelter, and has stood firmly in favor of a Palestinian state, which the protesters have not indicated they endorse. On April 24th, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican of

Louisiana, visited Columbia, where he called for Shafiq to resign. On Monday, April 29th, he and Republican leadership met to discuss how they might re-energize the party and gain traction now that their impeachment effort against Biden and Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has flopped, the conference is bitterly split, their control of the House of Representatives has resulted in one of the least productive congresses in American history, and their presumptive presidential nominee is being tried for election interference that involved paying off women with whom he had extramarital sex. They settled on campus anti-Semitism, although Trump's open embrace of white nationalists makes this problematic, and the campus protests as a sign that Democrats

are the party of disorder. On that same day, 21 House Democrats wrote a letter to Columbia's trustees demanding they act decisively, disband the encampment, and ensure the safety and security of all of its students. That night, protesters took control of Columbia's Hamilton Hall, where they broke windows and vandalized furniture. About 20 hours later, police in riot gear arrested them. Arrests across the country climbed. Yesterday, Representative Fox announced that her committee's anti-Semitism investigation will expand into a Congress-wide crackdown on colleges. In a press conference, she said she had a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders. Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish

students. American universities are officially put on notice that we have come to take our universities back. Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that right-wing politicians jumped on the Kent State shootings of May 1970 to defund colleges and universities, while a law and order backlash helped to give Republican President Richard M. Nixon a landslide re-election in 1972. Today, President Biden addressed the protests, saying they test two fundamental American principles. The first is the right to free speech and for people to peacefully assemble and make their voices heard. The second is the rule of law. Both must be upheld. Biden called for lawful, peaceful protests and warned, vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations,

none of this is a peaceful protest. Dissent is essential to democracy, he said, but dissent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others so students can finish the semester and their college education. People have the right to get an education, the right to get a degree, the right to walk across the campus safely without fear of being attacked. When asked, he told reporters he did not think the National Guard should be involved in suppressing the protests. Stephen Lee Myers and Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times reported today that Russia, China, and Iran are amplifying the protests to score geopolitical points abroad and stoke tensions within the United States, as well as to undermine President Biden's re-election

prospects. It is unclear if the protests will continue during the summer, when fewer students will be on campus. Letters from an American was produced at Soundscape Productions, Denham, Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.