Recent protests, including those in Utah, indicate a major cultural shift

The broader public must decide.

On April 29, University of Utah leaders deployed riot police in response to student-led protests. Hours earlier, protesters had set up camp at President’s Circle in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

As a member of the U.S. Writing and Rhetoric Studies faculty, my research focuses on how campus activities are narrated by both higher education insiders and outsiders. From California to Texas to New York, recent debates about student protests have been intensified by escalations of police violence, such as those in the United States.

How our culture views and imagines today’s college students greatly influences what actions performed by or toward them are acceptable. My research on the past decade’s rhetoric surrounding campus activism shows that “today’s students” (even though the students of 2014 and 2024 are very different) are spoiled, entitled, and overly sensitive. You can see that it is thought to be.

Could this wave of encampment-police clashes mark a turning point in the way we think and talk about college students?

Apparently, university leaders no longer accept the argument that students’ sensitivities make them too shy and weak to face conflict. In the United States, police forces, including members of the University of Utah Police Department, Salt Lake City Police Department, Unified Police Department, Utah Highway Patrol, and West Valley City Police Department, were called in to disperse the encampment. The protest was peaceful, raising questions about why four outside police officers were brought in to augment or replace campus police. When protesters see police in riot gear, they risk discomfort, injury, arrest, lawsuits, and other disciplinary action for standing up against the genocide in Gaza. To understand the. These activists have no weakness of will.

However, student activists can be said to be “sensitive” in one important respect. It means that they are deeply affected by the suffering of others. This sensitivity drives them to action to end their own complicity. American student activists’ demands include identifying and severing financial ties to companies profiting from the wars in Israel and Gaza, granting amnesty to student organizers, and removing police from peaceful protests. This includes distancing. When critics refer to students as “too sensitive,” they may overlook or even downplay how such sensitivity grounds our humanity.

Some object to the students’ tactics, feeling that the encampments are too destructive to be considered peaceful. But occupying public spaces, including campus lawns and buildings, is an old American protest tactic. From the 1977 Occupy for Disability Rights, which lasted 25 days, to the 2011 Occupy movement, where police indiscriminately pepper-sprayed seated student protesters at the University of California, Davis. image went viral), and even an anti-racist encampment at the U.S. Capitol in 2015. At the University of Missouri, which forced the president to resign, occupations are effective when they are destructive and peaceful.

Yes, the US has told protesters they will not be allowed to camp overnight. But back in October, the U.S. encouraged overnight camping (at the same venue as this week’s protests) ahead of ESPN’s College Game Day, illustrating how the rules can be selectively enforced. It is action. Prioritizing obedience over listening and responding to a student’s message is a choice, and it can be done differently.

Following clashes between police and protesters, the university said it supports freedom of expression. The letter, signed by faculty and sent to Chancellor Taylor Randall, aims to ensure that police presence is not used to intimidate or undermine free expression.

U.S.’s mission declares that the institution “advances student success by preparing students from diverse backgrounds for lives of impact as leaders and citizens.” Don’t be surprised if your students demonstrate leadership skills. We should welcome their passionate civic activities.

To be sure, faculty, administrators, and the general public do not always agree with the positions advocated by students. However, university faculty and other leaders have a responsibility to protect students’ rights.

Across the country, university leaders are facing the same values ​​crisis that faced President Randall. Some (like Wesleyan) have chosen not to confront the protesters, who have so far remained peaceful. Some universities (including Northwestern University, Brown University, and Evergreen University) have reached agreements to de-escalate camps and allow students to argue for divestment. America doesn’t need to rely on the police. We can engage and accommodate our students.

The broader public must also make decisions. Will we accept the popular narrative that depicts college students as sheltered and hypersensitive, yet somehow violent and threatening? Or will we accept the popular narrative that depicts college students as sheltered and hypersensitive, yet somehow violent and threatening? Does it value the courage of deliberation and commitment to justice?

Kendall GerdesHe is an assistant professor of writing and rhetoric studies at the University of Utah and the author of .Sensitive Rhetoric: Academic Freedom and Campus Activities”

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