In mid-April, the University of Southern California banned the valedictorian from giving a commencement address for the first time in the school’s history, following pressure from outside pro-Israel groups.
The university cited unspecified “security” risks. But valedictorian Asna Tabassum said she believed it had to do with the fact that she is Muslim and that there are minors in the “resistance to genocide.” The administration was apparently afraid that Mr. Tabassum would mention Israel’s ongoing attack on Gaza. Rather than let her speak, the authorities silenced her.
Shortly thereafter, Columbia University called off a pro-Palestinian sit-in on campus. Students pitched tents on the Quad and demanded that the university divest from companies associated with Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The administration called the New York Police Department to campus. Officers arrested more than 100 students, even though police said they were in no danger and were peaceful. Since then, hundreds more students have taken over the quad. The camp was rebuilt.
Gaza Solidarity encampments have been set up across the country, from the University of Southern California and the University of Michigan to Harvard University, Emory University, and the University of Chicago. Universities have long been the conscience of America and the vanguard of young people’s opinions. It is in these places that generational change is most clearly seen. When universities treat protests as attacks on public order, it creates a repressive atmosphere that negatively impacts free speech throughout the country. Calling the police to arrest students who set up protest tents is a betrayal of our country’s commitment to freedom of expression.
For students, this is not just a free speech issue. It is about upholding the human rights and democratic promises that America claims to hold dear.
The last time a U.S. university witnessed protests of this scale was in 1968, amid growing resistance to the Vietnam War, when Columbia University called the New York Police Department to campus to arrest students. .
Today, Palestinians are at the center of the national debate. Just as in Vietnam, our government supports human rights violations on an appalling scale. And once again, students are on the front lines of calling for an end to violence. According to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted earlier this year, nearly 50% of American adults ages 18 to 29 believe that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
By contrast, 81-year-old President Joe Biden has sent billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. He has repeatedly refused to impose conditions, even as Israel bombs hospitals, kills aid workers and massacres families.
Students who saw their tax dollars being used to ultimately kill more than 34,000 Palestinians, not including the thousands buried under the rubble, decided that our government It is natural to have doubts about this policy.
But universities aren’t the only ones silencing them. Congress is calling on the administration to go further than there is bipartisan agreement on how to punish students who question pro-Israel policies. Biden and Congress have repeatedly linked campus protests to anti-Semitism. However, not only is anti-Semitism firmly rejected by most activists, but groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace have been seen leading protests as part of a diverse coalition of students. At Columbia University, the Gaza Solidarity Camp hosted a Passover Seder, where Jewish students shared the holiday’s story of liberation with their peers.
Universities should defend students’ right to question political consensus, not support oppression. And for free speech to flourish, students must be protected from harassment. Universities must provide this opportunity through action, not rhetoric.
As a student at the University of Chicago, I saw the administration regularly call in security to surround us during protests on campus. But universities presented themselves to the public as bastions of free speech through the so-called Chicago Principles.
However, when an outside pro-Israel group put up posters accusing them of supporting terrorism and targeting students and professors who defend human rights in Palestine, the university took no action against those responsible. The university again refused to act when an online blacklist circulated information labeling students anti-Semites with the aim of preventing them from getting future employment.
What good are the principles of free speech if universities do not stand up to hate groups that target students for expressing their opinions?
Over the past few months, pro-Israel harassment tactics have heated up. We have seen previously unimaginable levels of attacks on students, from trucks covered in student faces roaming near campus to online harassment campaigns.
I have been researching protests in the Middle East for many years. Universities are important sites of dissent for activists, and places where social change is organized and conceived. But when the government bows to government pressure, tolerates external harassment, and calls on the police to quell protests, it not only surrenders an important space of freedom but also sacrifices the lives and futures of students. Become.
This is what is happening across America right now.
In Colombia, protesters were not only arrested; They were suspended from work and some were evicted from their residences. Their arrests remain on their records permanently, preventing them from accessing future employment and they can be declared indigent if they fail to repay their student loans. Universities didn’t just silence them. It could have robbed them of their future. All in response to people using their voices to express their anger at human rights violations.
Is this how America treats young people?
Our universities must remain bulwarks of freedom against this onslaught. Rather than silencing those who question orthodoxy, we must remain a place where we think critically about our role in the world. It’s not too late. The government can still change policy. They must lead the way out of this darkness by protecting students and creating a campus atmosphere that welcomes debate, rather than silencing it.
The University of Southern California must lift that ban and allow the valedictorian to address graduates. Columbia University should apologize for silencing students’ voices and consider their demands. Other universities must allow student events and protests questioning their complicity in events in the Palestinian territories.
And Biden must listen to the voices of the largest student movement America has seen in decades and take seriously their demands to cut aid to Israel.
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