The costs of waffling
The costs of waffling
A look at how some campuses are preparing for another round of Gaza War demonstrations
For most college students, the fall semester is still a few weeks away, but some antisemites eager for another year of tumult are already making their plans. So, too, are some schools that are keen to avoid a repeat of the anti-Israel encampments that plagued so many campuses in the spring.
Five schools may be representative of what is on tap — or what isn’t. Their action or, in some cases, their inaction may shape what students and faculty will face.
First, there’s my graduate alma mater, Columbia University. Protestors there set the tone for the rest of the country last spring with encampments and then the occupation of a building, a move that was smashed by police. Threats of expulsion and worse abounded.
So where is the university now in its planning? Many of us recently got a note from the university “in the spirit of keeping alumni informed” that has a fair number of words – some with several syllables. But, remarkably, the statement says nothing.
The university senate is “reviewing the rules” that govern conduct in protests, we were told. President Minouche Shafik, we read, wants everyone on campus to understand the unspecified expectations and consequences if rules are broken (though none were detailed).
Boldly dithering, the school is also “facilitating a process with affected students to hear their views and work toward mediated outcomes,” the note says. And there will be unspecified “new components” in student orientation programs.
Vague? For clarification, check out the president’s July 24 “Update for Our Community.” There, Shafik says the university has “been working hard to put in place more mechanisms for community consultation, more clarity about our rules going forward, more training on discrimination issues for everyone (staff, faculty, and students), better capacity to handle incidents and complaints, and stronger internal engagement and communications.”
Regarding issues raised by the student protests, she says, two faculty members from the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Program at the School of Professional Studies were asked to facilitate a process with affected students to hear their views and work toward mediated outcomes. The two have met with a lot of people so far, she adds.
“We use the word ‘mediation’ rather than ‘negotiation’ because we believe it more accurately reflects our goals: to engage in a facilitated process of productive dialogue with students to identify paths forward that can support our community’s shared educational mission,” she thunders.
Much more is under way, Shafik assures us all.
As for those expulsions and disciplinary actions? We haven’t heard much beyond a report that some students who occupied Hamilton Hall are having their cases moved from one oversight body, the rehabilitation-oriented Center for Student Success and Intervention, to another, the more legalistic University Judicial Board in the university.
But Columbia did drop trespassing charges against its campers, who had been swept out in a police action on April 18 when more than 100 people were arrested. Recall that protestors then moved their tents to a different lawn on campus, where some remained until April 30. Then, after protestors occupied Hamilton Hall, police moved in and arrested 109 more people.
In a recent deal with the Manhattan District Attorney, criminal charges brought against 13 of the occupiers, including some Columbia alumni and outsiders, will be dismissed after a six-month probationary period and completion of an in-person class on what constitutes “peaceful and legal protesting,” as the Columbia Spectator reported. The class will also cover how such protests affect both the campus and Morningside Heights community.
Now, contrast that with the University of South Florida. After it was unsettled by demonstrations, USF expelled the leader of the local chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (remember those folks?) and recently upheld that move. The student, a sociology and women’s studies major, was a senior, so her degree is in limbo. It also suspended another student, a junior, for a year.
And consider the recent move at Indiana University. As reported by Inside Higher Ed, the IU trustees on July 29 adopted a policy with real teeth. It bans camping that’s not part of a university event; prohibits “expressive activity” outside of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.; limits water-soluble chalk to sidewalks; forbids affixing “signs and symbols” to the ground, university buildings, flagpoles and other structures; bans “light projections” without university approval; and forbids temporary “structures and/or mass physical objects” without university approval, which must be requested at least 10 days in advance.
As the news outlet reported, students who violate the rules could face punishments up to expulsion. Employees could face ramifications up to firing, depending on the seriousness of the violation.
Not a lot of dithering or vagueness in those spots.
And take a look at the University of Pennsylvania, where a couple top administrators lost their jobs in a dustup about antisemitism on campus last December. After anti-Israel protests in the spring, the school in early June put in place temporary rules – which likely will endure – banning encampments.
“To ensure the safety of the Penn community and to protect the health and property of individuals, encampments and overnight demonstrations are not permitted in any University location, regardless of space (indoor or outdoor),” the new guidelines state. “Unauthorized overnight activities will be considered trespassing and addressed.”
As IHE reported, the rules also prohibit light projections on building without permission. Some protestors were fond of lighting up spaces with slogans on building walls.
Break the rules, the Penn folks added, and disciplinary action will follow. Students and faculty alike face actions up to suspensions.
The get-tough campuses mark a bright, bold contrast with those that have taken a softer touch.
Perhaps the best example of coddling — and its costs — is the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. In May, Chancellor Mark A. Mone and several top administrators met for three days with camping protestors from the “UWM Popular University for Palestine Coalition.” The administrators then put out a statement giving the students much of what they wanted, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and citing the International Criminal Court’s term of “plausible genocide.”
In a feeble attempt at evenhandedness, Mone et al. added: “We also condemn the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, resulting in the killing of 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians, military personnel and police.”
“Innocent civilians, especially children, must not be the targets of war,” they diplomatically said. “This is why we also call for the release of the remaining Israeli and international hostages held by Hamas and the release of Palestinian men, women and children held as hostages in military detention in Israel. We condemn all violence and call for it to end.”
But Mone and his colleagues went further. They condemned the destruction of universities in Gaza, calling it “scholasticide,” and said they would review their study-abroad programs.
They noted that Hillel sponsors visits to Israel but, drawing a line, contended that the Jewish campus organization is separate from the university and helpfully noted that the trips are not advertised on UWM.edu. And they added that a Milwaukee-based global water nonprofit, The Water Council, at Mone’s urging, severed ties with a pair of Israeli water companies accused of denying water to Gazans.
So, what did the Milwaukee diplomats get for all their concessions? Well, the encampment came down in the spring.
But now, a new year looms. So now the pro-Palestinian coalition, in a post on Instagram, took aim at “Hillel, the Jewish Federation, etc.,” calling them “local extremist groups” and saying “ANY organization or entity that supports Israel is not welcome at UWM.”
To underscore that, the coalition added: “Any organization that has not separated themselves from Israel will be treated accordingly as extremist criminals. Stay tuned.”
Vague as that threat was, it was clear enough to spur someone at the campus to show a bit more spine. In an unsigned release under the “Office of the Chancellor” logo, the school blasted the “intimidating language aimed at Jewish community members and organizations on campus that support Israel.”
“UWM strongly denounces these statements and denounces any form of antisemitism, and we will be actively monitoring campus as a result,” the statement said. “Every student, employee and community member must be safe on our campus.”
“UWM takes this post seriously and recognizes that the language in it, if acted upon, would undermine the safety of the UWM community, especially Jewish individuals and organizations,” it said. “Where speech is not protected by the First Amendment, UWM will address it through appropriate processes, which could include student and student organization disciplinary processes. While hateful or intimidating speech is often legally protected, it conflicts with the respect and conduct we ask of each member of our community.”
So, did Mone et al. get a respectful response? The initial post has disappeared from the Instagram site, but in answer, the pro-Palestinian group doubled down on its threats. It accused the administration of “extreme bias,” while insisting its threats were not against Jews or Judaism, but rather against supporters of Zionism and Israel. Some might think that’s a distinction without a difference, but not the coalition folks.
“Groups that fail to distance themselves from this rogue regime will not be normalized or welcomed on our campus,” the coalition said. Further, it said “any support of Israel is considered an extremist position, only held by extremists, and we refuse to normalize extremism on our campus.”
While they were at it, the group whined that Palestinian students “are forced” every day to walk past the Golda Meir Library, calling the late Israel prime minister “a terrorist.” Meir, whose family fled Russian pogroms to settle in Milwaukee, in 1917 attended a teacher-training school that was a predecessor of UWM. The university named its library for her in 1979, less than a year after her death.
Since at least last December, Palestinian supporters have demanded the library’s name be changed. The campus chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society demanded a new name to “honor the martyrs of Palestine.” In March, someone broke a window in the library and spray-painted “Free Palestine” on the building.
The university’s ringing response: a statement saying “Neither antisemitism or Islamophobia has any place on our campus or in our community.”
Perhaps it’s time for the folks at UWM and Columbia to demand a bit more of themselves and of the students they teach. They could take a page from IU, Penn and USF.