University students rising up against ties with Israel (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

[EasterIssland]

Many university students are raising up against the ties their universities have with Israel. Students are asking for this agreements to stop
I can see this is happening in USA which has been in the news quite a lot but I can also read news about Paris as well as UK.

I really doubt much will change but I’m glad people are against these agreements. We can’t change what Israel / Hamas do. But we should be able to change what our governments / universities do.

Were they blocking Jewish only ? Or anyone ?

It's unclear, but I suspect someone wearing a "Free Gaza" T-shirt wouldn't have had a problem.

The issue is that he's a student who cannot attend classes due to a disruptive protest. That is a clear case of his rights being violated and the protest being subject to restriction by the university. They are not allowed to prevent anyone from attending classes.

I’m not sure how things work in USA . In my case , When there were protests / strikes when I was studying there was the chance that those not protesting weren’t allowed to go to uni. Same way as when working. that’s one of the main reasons for these type of things. To cause disruption in order to achieve an agreement.

Here's a good summary of how the law works in the US about student protests. The right of the protestors to swing their fists stops at the noses of the other students, to recall my earlier analogy.

https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/fires-faq-student-protests-campus

And two relevant excerpts:

Are all forms of protest protected?

No. While the First Amendment protects your right to speak your mind with only limited exceptions, public colleges are allowed to maintain reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions—in other words, viewpoint-neutral rules on where, when, and how you can demonstrate on campus—in order to prevent disruption of the educational environment. For example, a college can prohibit loud amplification near school buildings during hours that classes are in session. But the rule has to be applied even-handedly. The school can’t allow the College Republicans to use a megaphone but forbid the College Democrats from doing so—or vice versa.

I want to occupy an administrative building. Can I do that?

If you do, be aware that you may be arrested or face punishment through your college’s disciplinary process. The First Amendment does not protect civil disobedience—nonviolent unlawful conduct undertaken intentionally as a form of protest. Examples might include occupying a campus building or participating in a “die-in” that blocks traffic on a campus street. Such forms of protest may be a violation of criminal law (e.g., trespassing or disorderly conduct) or a violation of the student conduct code, so you should be prepared to face potential punishment from either or both systems.

A one-off protest might be ok but it not ok to disrupt students studying on an ongoing basis, which these protests certainly are. What right do the protestors have to damage the education of other students? Surely you can imagine how intimidating they are to anyone who does not agree with them, regardless of whether they are Jewish or not. We know that many of the students have overstepped the line & been overtly antisrmitic & glorified terrorism. Even if others have been peaceful it shows the protest as a whole is out of control.

Hi, I've started a thread about it and put in a few links that might be of interest.

https://x.com/hannahcrileyy/status/1785243467406258483?s=61&t=nilGqPeurpC5xVqZAZdZog

Hind’s Hall

Yes, AIPAC are very successful. On twitter they claimed a 95% success rate for the candidates they backed. But it’s their ability to smear that is more impressive- an AIPAC backed smear campaign is certain to loose the election for the candidate (eg Levin).
The Guardian has some very interesting graphics here
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/10/congress-member-pro-israel-donations-military-support
It looked at the 33 main pro Israeli lobby groups. The Pew research centre says there are about 8 million Jewish connected Americans. And there store about 9 million Israelis.
If you compare this to pro-Irish lobby groups (31 million Irish Americans), 7 million living on the island of Ireland, only 5 lobby groups are listed in Wikipedia and they don’t seem to spend anything- the only one with a PAC disbanded it. A PAC is a political action committee by the way- the committees only purpose is to channel funds from the parent organisation.

there are Protests in 7 continents

https://twitter.com/saaaauuull/status/1785150913067241503

https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/letter-to-columbia-university-president-minouche-shafik/

@EasterIssland really? They’ve spread to Antarctica?!

https://x.com/shane98c/status/1785152208163516884
Apparently!

That's a rather extreme view - that universities exist first as Petri dishes for unrestrained political protest and second as educational institutions.

Unfortunately, it's in violation of Title VI of the Federal Civil Rights Act, which requires institutions that receive federal funds to protect the rights of all students, even those who don't want to protest or who belong to a politically disfavored group.

Awesome!! 😀

Definitely a lesson in how not to deal with these kinds of protests instead of being the calm voice and deescalating they have clearly fanned the flames. I have stayed in Columbia University in the 90s when I was a student and it is right up at the top of Manhattan next to Harlem which back then was a very rough area. The university has always worked so well in that community and supported young black locals to get access. Sad to see this

I read yesterday the approach of another university that I found it much better. As long as there is no trouble they’re willing to let them stay.

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/30/new-york-police-columbia-university-student-protests

They’ve asked the police to stay until 17th of May (2 days after graduation). Can a private entity ask the police to stay for 17 days ? Shouldn’t they be using private security instead ?

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1785468514741965283.html

This is very interesting from UCLA

Just had 30 minutes watching interviews from a number of the students at different campuses - they are so cretinous it’s hilarious. The one from Columbia “requesting basic humanitarian aid” gets a special mention. The bloke behind her too, the one in the Keiifiyeh and the crop top with the fluttering eyelashes who would last around 10 minutes in Gaza.

There’s also a lot of vile and violent anti semitism on display which is completely shocking.

But the real question is if they are that stupid that they can’t understand that their tuition fees are of course not funding any sort of investment in international companies, how did they get in to any university? Have they really not done some basic research into the endowment programme and how it works?!

Yes, demanding humanitarian aid and saying that they are concerned that the university will block aid coming in suggests some sort of bizarre mindset where they are identifying as people in Gaza. They’re students who can pop to the shops. A weird appropriation of the desperate situation of others.

Eugh the way you focus on things like “crop top” “fluttering eyelashes” is enough to make me disregard anything else you say.

Two different stories that add up. (They’re in different locations) I do believe protestors aren’t against Jewish. They’re against those that are there trying to cause trouble regardless of their faith

I can see many American politicians talking about it and supporting the protesters

Yes, the “humanitarian aid clip” is hilarious and depressing in equal measures. And yes the guy in the crop top and keffiyeh definitely deserves a special mention.

Thread from someone that lives near Columbia uni

The main danger to our community tonight was the huge armed police presence requested on campus by admin - not protesters. A wholly disproportionate response that provoked disruption, fear & frustration across the whole wider community, not just Columbia.

https://twitter.com/emm_mateo/status/1785545745984090351