More than 100 anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University, Swarthmore College, and the University of Washington have been arrested after both campus and local police swiftly broke up recent demonstrations.
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More than 100 pro-Hamas protesters invaded Columbia’s Butler library, causing such a disruption that students studying for finals were forced to leave the library. At least 80 of the protesters were arrested.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was fingerprinting those who were arrested, checking to see if any of the pro-Hamas demonstrators were non-citizens.
The state department issued a statement saying, “Foreign university students in America have been put on notice: if you break the law or support terrorism in our country, we will revoke your visa. This administration will not tolerate noncitizens causing mayhem on our college campuses.”
This is a far cry from Columbia’s inaction last year, where the school allowed the protesters to build a tent city, invade classrooms, occupy an administrative building, and threaten Jewish students and faculty. This time, the school asked for help from the New York Police Department after protesters’ actions caused “substantial chaos” and “posed a serious risk to our students and campus safety,” acting university President Claire Shipman said in a statement.
What happened? Short answer: Donald Trump.
The efficacy of threatening colleges and universities with a loss of grants and other financial benefits is being debated by universities and the left. But the simple fact is, the schools have had ample opportunity to make simple changes that would protect Jewish students, stop penalizing points of view they disagree with, and follow the civil rights laws that are supposed to prevent race-based favoritism.
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At the University of Washington, in Seattle, protesters occupied an engineering building on Monday, demanding that the university divest from the aerospace and defense company Boeing. The protesters set fires in dumpsters and blocked entrances and exits to the building, and about 30 were arrested, according to a university statement. Damage in one equipment room amounted to $1 million, the Washington State Standard reported.
Three federal agencies announced the next day that they would begin a review of the university’s federal grants and contracts in response to the incident. “The university must do more to deter future violence and guarantee that Jewish students have a safe and productive learning environment,” the agencies wrote.
At Swarthmore College, nine students were arrested following an attempt to set up a tent encampment by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The college chapter had been suspended.
“I felt we had no choice but to seek outside assistance from local law enforcement,” wrote the school’s president, Val Smith, in a statement. She said non-student protesters had tried to join the encampment.
At Columbia, Shipman said she saw two school security guards being tended to after being assaulted when she visited Butler Library to assess the damage.
“As I left hours later, I walked through the reading room, one of the many jewels of Butler Library, and I saw it defaced and damaged in disturbing ways and with disturbing slogans,” she said in her statement.
The Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, created by a February executive order from Trump, said that Shipman’s statement was “strong and resolute,” adding that she “has stepped in to lead Columbia at a critical juncture and has met the moment with fortitude and conviction.”
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“We concur with Acting President Shipman that what happened was utterly unacceptable, which is precisely why the American people are demanding that the administration act to implement meaningful and enforceable commitments to enforce civil rights laws with institutions that receive taxpayer dollars,” the statement continued.
And no, Columbia, you may not have your $400 million in grants back.
Katherine S. Cho, an assistant professor in higher education at Loyola University Chicago, says there’s a shift in how the university administration sees the protests. Last year, they were a teaching moment, according to Cho.
“(At) universities that are under high surveillance, which is a university like Columbia, student protests are no longer viewed as a mechanism of learning, conversation, and civic engagement, but are viewed as problems that need to be shut down immediately to receive less scrutiny,” she said.
The schools exist on a different planet than the rest of us. Perhaps the crackdowns will bring them back to Earth.
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