As university faculty and administrators, we should mentor student protesters

Our students are holding up a mirror to reveal our flaws and flaws. I urge local and national leaders not to lose sight of our mission to guide and guide them, especially when they make mistakes. If we return to those guiding moral principles, we can all hold our heads a little higher.

For months, students, faculty and staff in Utah and across the country have been horrified by the ongoing unending violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Although we do not all have the same views on the conflict, the harrowing images coming out of Israel and Gaza have shocked our collective conscience.

Throughout the year, the Middle East Center at the University of Utah has strived to facilitate difficult but sober conversations. We have carefully avoided provocation and extreme rhetoric, and strived to build a culture of moderation and enlightened dialogue. We convened roundtable discussions to educate faculty to sensitize these issues. We have worked hard to build a curriculum that is deeply rooted in the history and language of this region. We have also been candid about the roots of conflict, trauma, and injustice in the region. We’ve brought world-class experts to Utah. We have provided a platform to rigorous and demanding scholars who can navigate these complexities and nuances with integrity. We have given our students the space and guidance to grapple with the big questions that define this seemingly intractable conflict. We have been educating slowly, methodically, and step by step, rather than accelerating into confrontations and protests. And we have operated based on the fundamental belief that peace is not a slogan. That it requires diligence, sensitivity, and intense introspection. That can only be achieved by asking ourselves what rights and freedoms we have to give to each other in order to protect our own rights and freedoms.

As unappealing as it may be, slow-paced educational efforts should be the way forward for our institution and others like it. This approach is based on real expertise and stands in stark contrast to the leadership vacuum seen across the country. In recent days, I have been shocked by the denigration of student protesters on TV and in the print media. Rather than blaming 20-year-old students, it would probably be more appropriate for so-called adults, politicians, university officials, teachers, and society as a whole to do some soul searching. It is deeply upsetting to see the honorable mission and mission of higher education being blamed for the current social ills. This is what I thought. How did we get here and what could have been done to avert this crisis?

From the beginning of this conflict, President Joe Biden has been unable to restrain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership from pursuing a bloody revenge campaign. Biden always had influence to stop the conflict, but he chose not to use it. As a result, approximately 35,000 Gazans, including an alarming proportion of children, were massacred and 1.7 million Gazans were displaced, making approximately 75% of the population refugees. By placing virtually no limits on American military assistance to Israel, the United States is aiding and abetting this humanitarian catastrophe and pushing the Middle East to the brink of a major regional war with Iran and its proxies. There is. Regardless of one’s sentiments on either side of the conflict, Israel’s operations against Hamas have taken a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians, crossed international law boundaries of proportionate response, and even crossed into the realm of ethnic cleansing. It even extends to the consideration of genocide by the International Criminal Court. . These are events that have fueled student protests across the country.

Do I always agree with the protesters? No, I often feel that their actions are simply giving ammunition to the enemy. Do I sometimes get tired of the crudeness of their slogans and chants? Yes. On the other hand, the very real violence in the region and the United States’ role in it are by no means a figment of their imagination.

As the massacre in Gaza unfolded over the past seven months, the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University were brought before Congress to testify about anti-Semitism on their campuses. In each case, these presidents of the world’s most elite institutions displayed varying degrees of incompetence, but all responded with cowardice and timidity in the face of Rep. Elise Stefanik’s “gotcha” questions. , showed an instinct to despise. By refusing to address the underlying crisis in Gaza and accepting the premise that anti-Semitism is rampant on college campuses, our leaders have failed us. They should have loudly challenged the premise of the question and defended the noble work their faculty and professors across the country are doing. Is there anti-Semitism or other forms of racism in our society? Yes, of course there is. This is a shameful feature of American society on and off campus. But at the same time, these university leaders could have refused to accept the dangerous premise that criticism of Israel’s war efforts amounts to anti-Semitism. They should also have directly addressed the implicit Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism inherent in this narrative. Instead of demonstrating intellectual and moral clarity, they cowered and allowed these issues to be weaponized for political gain.

As colleges and universities across the country prepare for graduation ceremonies, I hope American adults, including faculty, presidents and administrators, and parents, will take a step back from social media and television screens. .

I would like all adults to think about what university means to them. For me, it was a ticket to a better, richer life. These are the hopes I have for my children. I want my students to do the same. As I watch university campuses from Columbia to UCLA besieged by police in military vehicles loaded with weapons better suited to war and counterterrorism operations, at the behest of university presidents and trustees, I believe that leaders I want you to reflect on how we got here. .

This crisis is not the work of some insidious force of outside agitators. These are our children. they are not terrorists. they are ours. we made it. They learned from us. Now they are holding up a mirror to reveal our flaws and flaws. I urge local and national leaders not to lose sight of our mission to guide and guide them, especially when they make mistakes. If we return to those guiding moral principles, we can all hold our heads a little higher.

michael christopher rowHe is an assistant professor of history and director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah. He is the author of Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj (Columbia University Press, 2020). He is currently writing a new book, Saltwater Kingdoms: Fossil-Fueled Water and Climate Change in Arabia, under contract with the University of California Press.

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions to move our state forward. To do this, we need your insight.Find a way to share your opinion herePlease contact us by email below. voice@sltrib.com.