Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of American students – so far 2,000 have been arrested — are about to be, or have already been, expelled from their universities for refusing to take down tent encampments set up in the middle of the campus, for smashing windows and doors of university buildings and then barricading themselves inside, for chanting antisemitic slogans, surrounding Jewish students and taunting them, attacking them physically (even beating a Jewish girl unconscious at UCLA), and for entering classrooms and lecture halls to harangue both faculty and students on the wickedness of Israel, the “plight of the poor Palestinians,” and the “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Not all college presidents are proving to be stalwart defenders of free speech. Some have not only refused to punish the screaming mobs that have been drowning out pro-Israel speech on campus, as well as disrupting lectures and commencement ceremonies; they also have given into specific demands by promising to “look into” their colleges’ investments in companies consigned to the outer darkness by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
More on the pusillanimous presidents can be found here: “University Presidents Are Betraying Students By Giving Into Anti-Israel Demands,” by Douglas Sandoval, Algemeiner, May 13, 2024:
We’ve all seen the headlines: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters continue to set up encampments and lead disruptive anti-Israel protests at commencement ceremonies, in lecture halls, and at other events.
SJP chapters and their counterparts, including those in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) umbrella, remain committed to their unified post-October 7th message to eliminate Israel, incite violence against all who oppose them, and to whitewash Hamas’ terrorism.
This isn’t a secret. As early as October 8th, SJP chapters across the country praised the Hamas attacks, and five days later, many participated in a “Global Day of Resistance.”
Now, in the face of the belligerent and hateful protests organized by these same bad actors, the presidents of a few academic institutions have chosen to give in to an ignorant and illiberal mob, seeking to placate the bigoted demands of the Hamas terror supporters and their useful idiots.
As part of an April 30th agreement with encampment organizers, Brown University President Paxson promised to invite a delegation of students to meet with members of the Brown Corporation to discuss “divestment.”
The Brown students got what they wanted: President Paxton’s commitment to a face-to-face discussion with the Brown University trustees, where the students could press the case for “divestment” both from Israeli companies and from American companies doing business in Israel.
On May 1st, negotiations between encampment organizers and President Schill at Northwestern University, resulted in a pledge to “provide a forum for ethical and social issues that may be raised by members of the Northwestern University.”
What “ethical and social issues” do you think will be discussed in this new “forum for ethical and social issues” to be set up at Northwestern? Not the ongoing genocide in Sudan, where Arabs are murdering black Africans. Not the depredations by the Islamic terror group Boko Haram in Nigeria. Not the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Not the “reeducation” of ten million Uighurs by the government of Communist China. No, the only “ethical and social issues” that the Brown students intend to discuss are the “ongoing genocide” and “war crimes” that they claim, without the slightest evidence, are being carried out by the Jewish state against the innocent Palestinians in Gaza.
On May 2nd, Rutgers University also agreed to “discuss the divestment request” with five student representatives….
Rutgers’ administration ought not to have given in to this request. In doing so, it is already behaving as the thin edge of the wedge to the BDSers. They won’t just “discuss” their divestment demand, but will proceed to insist that it be accepted by Rutgers, or else they will be back to their demonstrations, their screaming, their threats disrupting campus life. It would have been better not to have given in, and instead to have called in the local police to pull down the tent encampments and arrest those who have refused to obey the Rutgers’ administrators’ repeated calls for them to stop their loud and disruptive demonstrations. Having students arrested, facing fines and even jail time, as well as being threatened by the university with expulsion, will quickly curb their enthusiasm.
nicholas william tesdorf says
There seems to be no point in trying to educate people like these students who evidently have so little brain power.
OLD GUY says
Foreign governments and enemies of America have been pouring millions of dollars into our higher education system. They now have a fairly strong hand in leading what is taught on our college campuses.
NOT A GOOD THING!