EXPLAINED: WHY IS THIS WEEK IN THE ISRAEL-GAZA CAMPUS WARS DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER WEEKS?

Explained: Why Is This Week in the Israel-Gaza Campus Wars Different From All Other Weeks?

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik was supposed to speak at the December congressional hearing that proved disastrous for the presidents of Harvard and Penn. By a stroke of luck, she was out of town. In retrospect, U.S. campuses might be looking different today had she made herself available

April 26th, 19PM April 26th, 19PM

NEW YORK – Israel has withdrawn most of its troops from Gaza, and a steady stream of humanitarian aid is finally making its way into the devastated Strip.

With the worst of the fighting between Israel and Hamas behind us, why now, of all times, are the tensions sparked by the war suddenly spinning out of control on campuses across America?

It turns out that an event in Washington that wasn't even supposed to take place at this time has ignited some of the biggest student protests around the country since the Vietnam War.

What triggered it all?

The event that set everything in motion was an April 17 congressional hearing on rising incidents of antisemitism at Columbia. Nemat Minouche Shafik, the university's president, had originally been invited to attend the hearing held by the House committee on higher education in December, along with three of her colleagues – the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT. She notified the committee that she would be out of the country then, and her hearing date was rescheduled for April 17.

So Shafik had four months to learn from the mistakes of her colleagues – two of whom lost their jobs because of their disastrous testimony. Flanked by the co-chairs of Columbia's Board of Trustees and the co-director of the university's task force on antisemitism, Shafik came prepared with many of the answers the Republican-controlled committee wanted to hear. She acknowledged that Columbia hadn't done a good enough job cracking down on antisemitism and promised to do better.

To prevent their president from stealing the limelight from their struggle, pro-Palestinian student groups on campus sprang into action a few hours before Shafik boarded her flight to the capital. They pitched dozens of tents on Columbia's east lawn without obtaining the necessary permits. They called it the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment." And even when, several times throughout the day, they were ordered to leave or face disciplinary action, they stayed put.

After returning to New York the following day, Shafik saw an opportunity to show the congressional committee she meant business. She asked the New York Police Department for help in evicting the students. More than 100 were suspended and taken into custody in this extraordinary crackdown. If Shafik had hoped that photos and footage of students being herded into police trucks, their hands zip-tied behind them, would extinguish the rebellion, it accomplished the exact opposite.

Within hours, hundreds of students had occupied the west lawn, just across the walkway. Within days, they had pitched their tents again. Since early last week, Columbia has been restricting access to its main campus in Morningside Heights to university ID holders. Following the arrests, hundreds of anti-Israel activists have been gathering on the sidewalk of Broadway just outside the locked campus gates holding their own loud protests, sometimes in coordination with the students camping out inside.

Drawing inspiration from Columbia, pro-Palestinian student groups across the country have been setting up their own encampments in solidarity with Gaza, in defiance of university rules. In recent days, the movement has gone international, with tent cities cropping up at universities as far away as Australia.

As the protests have swept across the country, the crackdown has intensified. On Thursday, police reportedly used tear gas to fend off protesters at Emory University in Atlanta. On Wednesday, state troopers were called in to restrain protesters at the University of Texas at Austin.

On Thursday, the University of Southern California announced that it was closing its campus until further notice, and that the main graduation ceremony would be canceled this year, after nearly 100 students were arrested following clashes with campus police and the LAPD. At New York University, the administration set up a plywood wall to block a main campus plaza, after several protesters were arrested there this week, and at Harvard, the main Palestinian student group was expelled.

Where do things stand at Columbia right now?

The campus is bracing for another possible showdown between the administration and the protesters Friday. After the demonstrators repeatedly ignored orders to dismantle the new encampment, Shafik announced at 10 P.M. Tuesday that she would give them two hours to disperse or face consequences. Rumors began to spread that she intended to call in the National Guard this time. Hundreds of students headed out to the campus in the middle of night, bracing for a possible historic event.

At about 3 A.M., the administration extended its deadline to 8 A.M. Just as time was running out, a breakthrough was reported in negotiations between student leaders and the administration, and the ultimatum was extended for another 48 hours. According to the administration, the protesters had agreed to take down their tents, among other concessions.

The protesters, meanwhile, say they have no intention of packing up until the university meets their demands to divest from Israel and grant amnesty to all students and faculty members who were suspended or fired for participating in the protests.

Shafik is in a tough position. Bringing in the National Guard or the NYPD would likely add further fuel to the flames. It might also cost the president her job, as many members of the faculty and the university senate are furious that she summoned police to campus last week.

On the other hand, if she allows the anti-Israel protesters – whose rhetoric has sometimes crossed the line into antisemitism – to continue flouting the rules, she will have lost her authority and be seen as breaking her promise to make Columbia a safe place for Jewish students.

The deadline of 8 A.M. Friday has already passed. Columbia has yet to take action to clear the south lawn, as it has threatened. That doesn't mean it won't.

Could there be another reason this is all happening now?

For sure. It is spring, the weather is getting warm, the trees are blooming, and who doesn't want to be outside this time of year? It is not a coincidence that in the bitter cold of December, when the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT faced hostile questioning in Congress about antisemitism at their schools, no student protesters were pitching tents on campus and trying to steal the show.

Neither is it a coincidence that the last time police arrested students at Columbia was also in April – April 1968. Springtime is always a great season for protests.

2024-04-26T16:46:39Z dg43tfdfdgfd