Our weekly round-up of the news.
The major news this week was a continuation of and an escalation of protests on college campuses around the country. We are focusing this newsletter on breaking down what happened this week, why it happened, and potential legal ramifications.
A brief rundown of what happened and where:
Columbia: Students occupied Hamilton Hall on Tuesday night. The university decided to call in NYPD to clear the building, leading to over 100 arrests and widespread national coverage. 46 of them have now been charged.
UCLA: A masked counter-protest group attacked a pro-Palestinian student camp, and, in this case, the police showed up 2 hours late. Gavin Newsom called the "limited and delayed" police intervention "unacceptable". The next night, hundreds came out to guard the camp from the overwhelming LAPD presence.
Berkeley and Brown: Brown students took down their tents after university officials agreed to discuss divestment from support for the Israeli military. The UC Berkeley administration began negotiations with the UC Berkeley Divestment Coalition and Free Palestine Encampment, which has been occupying the steps in front of Sproul Hall.
Mainstream Coverage: Anderson Cooper speculated live, on television, that non-students were present and being arrested on campus, insinuating a justification for the unusually large police presence with the dramaturgical suggestion that something far more sinister was happening. David Axelrod, did the same, writing on Twitter “It will be interesting to learn how many of those arrested in Hamilton Hall at Columbia are actually students.” As it turns out, most of them. The student-run radio station WKCR-FM delivered excellent live coverage and immediately pushed back against their claims (one of their reporters also turned 20 during the broadcast). David Sirota tweeted, “‘It will be interesting to learn’ is a new and bold innovation in really sleazy language — a mixture of preemptive assumption & insinuation, with a dash of plausible ‘hey, just asking questions’ deniability.”
Student Coverage: We keep bringing it up, but the student coverage of these protests has been truly impressive. Read an interview with a member of the Columbia radio station here and this great piece that includes reflections from students from campuses all over here. Jay Caspian Kang also spoke to student protestors for the New Yorker in a piece called, A Generation of Distrust.
The Military and College Campuses: A broader question should be, why are American colleges and universities tied to arms manufacturing? Here’s some suggested reading on the topic: Lockheed Martin recruiting on college campuses. An analysis of how much Yale has invested into manufacturing weapons. This piece from 2021 on a national students-led effort to cut ties to with the military-industrial complex.
Professors: Another stunning thing to watch in all of this, is the professors getting involved. Mae Ngai, historian and Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies and Professor of History at Columbia University went viral for pushing against the “outside agitator” narrative and saying that “the agitators are the Republicans in Congress, Mayor Adams, and Senator Chuck Schumer.” We interviewed her for our immigration issue earlier this year. And at Dartmouth, historian Annelise Orleck, the former Chair of Jewish Studies, was arrested and barred from campus.
Antisemitism bill: On Wednesday, The House passed the legislation, called the Antisemitism Awareness Act as part of their effort to condemn the protests. The Washington Post reports, “It would empower the federal government to crack down on anti-Israel protests on campuses by codifying a definition of antisemitism that encompasses not just threats against Jews, but also certain criticisms of Israel itself.” The ACLU and others strongly condemn the bill, saying it threatens the First Amendment.