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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Columbia University’s encampment ended with a mass police operation. | |
Here’s how some schools avoided that | |
By Ramishah Maruf, CNN | |
Updated: | |
4:00 AM EDT, Sun May 5, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
After several days of protests, pro-Palestinian encampments on the | |
campuses of Ivy League schools Columbia and Brown came down last week. | |
But while the apparent end of Columbia’s pro-Palestinian encampments | |
was marred by a takeover of a building, a mass arrest, and a widespread | |
condemnation of the heavy police presence, encampments came down | |
voluntarily at Brown and other institutions like Northwestern | |
University. | |
And other public universities, like Rutgers University and the | |
University of Minnesota, also peacefully reached agreements with | |
protesters. | |
Notably, none of the schools agreed to fully divest from companies | |
doing business in Israel, a demand student protesters have commonly | |
rallied for across the country. While there were people on both sides | |
who criticized the agreements at Brown and Northwestern, the deals | |
nevertheless defused a tense standoff that has boiled over at other | |
colleges and universities across the country. | |
A delicate balance | |
College officials face a delicate balance between encouraging dialogue | |
and allowing free expression while keeping their campus safe and | |
running, free speech experts told CNN. Some schools achieved it, at | |
least temporarily, and prevented a situation in which a police presence | |
to break up encampments led to violence and fear. | |
The schools where an administration “was willing to lay a little | |
lower and treat the speech going on in their public spaces as not a | |
catastrophe but something that might be dealt with through dialogue | |
have done better,” said Sophia Rosenfeld, a professor of history who | |
teaches a class on free speech at the University of Pennsylvania. | |
Rosenfeld said Brown provided a conversation — not a concession — | |
and that was enough to dissipate the encampments. | |
Lena Shapiro, director of the First Amendment clinic at the University | |
of Illinois College of Law, said when it comes to demonstrations, | |
colleges must take preventive measures to make sure everyone has a | |
space to demonstrate. | |
“First and foremost, the safety of all students is paramount,” she | |
said. Shapiro added schools can place reasonable restrictions on the | |
time, place and manner of the protests to keep order, but at the same | |
time should keep open channels of communication with protesters to try | |
to find common ground. | |
Some school leaders set the tone early on. For example, Northwestern | |
President Michael Schill on Israel on October 7. In the same letter, | |
Schill, who is Jewish, made sure to distinguish between himself and his | |
public role as a president. He also reaffirmed his commitment to the | |
Chicago Principles, which are a set of commitments to free speech many | |
colleges have adopted. | |
“Just to be clear, as individuals in a democracy, we do not give up | |
our rights to have and express our personal political and social | |
viewpoints. We just need to make clear we are speaking for | |
ourselves,” Schill wrote. | |
What the schools agreed to do | |
On Monday, Northwestern with protesters to end the encampment. The | |
school agreed to more transparency over specific investment holdings | |
and fully funding the cost of attendance for five Palestinian students. | |
Northwestern also allowed protesters on Deering Meadow, a stretch of | |
lawn on campus, through the end of the quarter if there was only one | |
tent. | |
Rutgers to meet with student protesters to discuss divestment and to | |
support scholarships for at least 10 displaced Gazan students. Rutgers, | |
along with Northwestern, agreed to expand spaces for Arab and Muslim | |
students on campus. Rutgers also said it would “revisit and follow | |
up” its existing relationship with Birzeit University in the West | |
Bank and consider a student exchange or study abroad program. | |
The University of Minnesota said it would allow protesters to present a | |
case for divestment to its board. It also said it would “explore” | |
an affiliation with a Palestinian university and it would make a | |
“good faith effort” to disclose as much information about its | |
holdings as possible, as well as not pursue disciplinary action against | |
protesters affiliated with the school. | |
Brown’s board in the fall. Brown also said no student or faculty | |
member involved in the protests would face retaliation, though they | |
emphasized they would investigate reports of bias, harassment or | |
discrimination. Rutgers made a similar commitment. | |
Inside Brown University | |
Brown, which is located in Providence, Rhode Island, has not had a | |
police-free campus in six months. Twenty students were arrested in | |
November and 41 in December for trespassing during sit-ins at | |
University Hall that demanded divestment from companies doing business | |
with Israel, according to the university’s student newspaper. | |
Calls for divestment have been ongoing for at least the past decade, | |
said Owen Dahlkamp, an editor at the Brown Daily Herald. | |
Dahlkamp said students were uncomfortable with the police presence on | |
campus, and many were outraged at the arrests. Student activists are | |
still advocating for charges to be dropped against those arrested in | |
December. Brown against the 20 arrested in November. | |
But Brown took a different approach as encampments began popping up | |
around the country. On the main lawn, which serves as more of a public | |
space than the inside of a hall, the university reiterated that though | |
the camps weren’t a legal violation, they could violate student | |
conduct policy. | |
“Brown has always prided itself on resolving differences through | |
dialog, debate and listening to each other. I cannot condone the | |
encampment, which was in violation of University policies,” Brown | |
President Christina Paxson said Tuesday in a statement announcing an | |
agreement for five students to meet with five members of the | |
Corporation of Brown University in May to present their divestment | |
arguments. | |
Though some on social media argued Brown agreed to simply push off a | |
divestment decision, Dahlkamp said students he spoke to are satisfied | |
with the agreement. | |
“It feels like a compromise but not a compromise which they feel | |
negatively about,” Dahlkamp said. “There are some students who in | |
passing say they believe Brown was able to diffuse the situation but | |
didn’t have to cede much. It will be interesting to see if | |
(divestment) will pass.” | |
Dahlkamp called CNN from the main lawn, where the encampment once | |
stood. He described students lounging around, studying and reading as | |
the academic year ends. | |
Watching the images come out of Columbia, as well as the University of | |
California, Los Angeles and the University of Texas at Austin, Dahlkamp | |
said the resolution is an important step. | |
“This is not the ultimate victory, but still a victory,” he said. | |
A road map for the future | |
The agreements are not a guarantee for a smooth road ahead. For | |
example, the of the Anti-Defamation League called for Northwestern | |
President Michael Schill to resign, writing he “capitulated to hatred | |
and bigotry.” Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, who | |
has spearheaded congressional hearings on antisemitism, called | |
Northwestern students who demonstrated “self proclaimed terrorists” | |
in a posting , formerly known as Twitter. | |
Those of Northwestern on social media said the students who made the | |
agreement did not advocate for strong enough commitments for divestment | |
from the school. | |
But with rapidly moving events, it can be difficult for schools to keep | |
up, said Lena Shapiro of the University of Illinois College of Law. | |
For example, President Michael S. Roth at Wesleyan University said | |
Tuesday the encampments could continue as long as the protest remained | |
nonviolent and didn’t disrupt campus operations. | |
“There will be many on campus who cheer on the protesters, and many | |
who are offended or even frightened by their rallies and messages. But | |
as long as we all reject violence, we have opportunities to listen and | |
to learn from one another,” Roth said Tuesday in a statement. | |
But in a , he said the university would not tolerate the acts of | |
vandalism that had taken place and would hold those responsible for the | |
damage accountable. He reiterated the protesters are “bringing� | |
attention to the killing of innocent people.” | |
“We do not want to move in this direction unless necessary and much | |
prefer to talk with protesters about things we can do as an institution | |
to address the war in Gaza. Recent agreements at Brown University and | |
Northwestern University might show the way,” Roth wrote. | |
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