Columbia University professors demonstrate in front of the Columbia campus to demand the release of students. Hundreds of people were arrested during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American campuses as police expanded their crackdown on May 1, which included the evacuation of demonstrators occupying a building at Columbia University in New York.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
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CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
Columbia University professors demonstrate in front of the Columbia campus to demand the release of students. Hundreds of people were arrested during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American campuses as police expanded their crackdown on May 1, which included the evacuation of demonstrators occupying a building at Columbia University in New York.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
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1. How did we get here?
From New York to Illinois to Los Angeles, encampments supporting Palestinians dot campuses across the country. Generally speaking, the protesters want their universities to divest their investments in companies that have activities or investments in Israel.
These protests are only growing in scale and intensity, with many colleges calling on law enforcement to help. In some cases, police used tear gas and pepper spray against students, and hundreds of arrests were made nationwide.
Juliette Kayyem was a homeland security advisor under the Obama administration and to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Today, she is the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. It assesses threats to national and international security.
Kayyem says a few factors play into what we’re seeing now:
- The excessive use of force by some of these universities in the early days, “sending in the police originally offered no opportunity to move from DEFCON five, which is peace, to DEFCON one, which is war” .
- This excessive force led to a backlash from critics and larger numbers of protesters.
- Universities also failed to “use good de-escalation techniques” to protect the protests, to protect other students who might feel scared or uncomfortable about the protests, and to ensure the overall safety of the community in its entirety.
2. Climbs and story.
Tensions have reached a breaking point on many of these campuses.
At Columbia University, New York Police officers in riot gear, brandishing shields and zip ties, marched to the camp. They arrested dozens of people and, at one point, used a large tactical vehicle to push a bridge toward the window of the administration building the students had taken over. In this case, Kayyem says the difference was that the students were breaking the law by illegally entering the property.
A recurring narrative during protests today is the idea that “outside agitators” are at play. — and it’s something we’ve heard about not only in these campus protests, but in so many other protest movements throughout history. Kayyem says that while there may be people not affiliated with the university at these campus protests,
“To claim that what we’re seeing in universities and campuses is an outside force manipulating young people…I think it undermines the ability to de-escalate these situations because it’s sort of treating them as outsiders that ‘You can just get rid of it,’ she says.
“We should give these students credit for their own minds and their own thinking.”
New York police escort protesters onto a bus after making arrests during a clash between police and protesters outside the City College of New York on Wednesday.
Jules Motal/AP
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Jules Motal/AP
3. Is de-escalation possible now?
Kayyem says yes.
“We’re focusing on, at worst, a dozen colleges and universities. But if you look at where the protests are happening, it’s not (just) these elite colleges that are getting all of our attention. It’s about from all over the country.”
She says what we’re seeing on campuses now is a reflection of the divisions in our foreign policy. “The argument that it was all for naught, or whether it was a bunch of noisy kids with nothing better to do, or just outside influence, under really appreciates what is happening in this country.”
She cites Brown University in Rhode Island as an example of de-escalation. There, student encampments were disbanded after the university agreed to hold a vote later this year on divestment.
“Whatever you think of the protesters, the responsibility of the leadership is to de-escalate the situation. And I think what Brown has been willing to do is actually listen, not say ‘they’re agitators exteriors’… These are students who have ideas,” she says.
“And I think Brown’s willingness to listen and provide a forum outside of the protests where students can be heard — and that will take place in the fall when the board meets — is essential and was essential so that students felt like their university was “I didn’t choose sides, but I was willing to listen.”
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This episode was produced by Marc Rivers and Brianna Scott. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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