The moment the clock struck 2 p.m. Monday, about 30 Columbia University faculty members, wearing neon orange high-visibility vests, crossed their arms and stood in formation in front of the school’s west lawn entrance. I dragged it. They were bracing for the imminent threat of a police sweep of the now internationally famous anti-war camp. At the core of the camp were 70 tents, with several students quietly and peacefully intermingling inside them.
The faculty phalanx was not the only protective layer that formed around student protesters. In recent months, students have been identified, threatened, suspended, attacked with chemical weapons, and even received direct threats from the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. A steady line of students, including undergraduate and graduate members of the United Auto Workers union, continued counterclockwise around the quad, chanting the familiar pro-Palestinian refrain. “Disclose, sell, we will not stop, we will not rest.” And in the middle of this strange atomic structure, news organizations from everywhere gathered: Japanese television, Swedish newspapers, American magazines. Ta.
About six hours earlier, Colombian President Minouche Shafik issued a statement, then hastily amended to issue another statement, declaring that negotiations between student demonstrators and the government had been concluded. broken. Columbia University apartheid divest, student group supporting protests; warned the public The university reportedly told students to vacate the encampment by 2 p.m. that day or face possible removal by the NYPD.
Just as Mr. Shafiq’s first NYPD sweep (a counter-vigilance movement serious enough to be literally studied in history books) did nothing to quell the protests, the second News of the impending second sweep brought new attention to pro-Palestinian campus protests. .
It appeared to be the largest turnout in 10 days of protests since the attack, despite increased security measures to bar non-Colombian students, faculty and staff from entering.
Frankly, what struck me was that there was one group that wasn’t actually there. Here were all the elements of a modern Democratic constituency: young people demonstrating on behalf of the Gaza ceasefire policy that polls have repeatedly shown, university-educated rank-and-file union members. overwhelmingly supported The core liberal values of free speech and freedom of assembly are exercised by Democratic voters in the institutions of liberal universities that are the cornerstone of the Democratic Party’s project. Even the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights came out in support of the student demonstrators.
This could have been a perfect opportunity for Democratic politicians to steal face from the Republican Party, which has spent years pandering to so-called liberal snowflakes on the issue of “free speech.” But aside from a handful of regular supporters visited by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar in recent days, they were and still are nowhere to be found. And on Monday, they weren’t just absent. Many of them were busy actively creating common cause with the most cynical and conservative members of the Republican Party.
At the same moment that Mr. Shafik announced that the university had broken off negotiations with students and returned to threatening retaliation, the leaders of 21 House Democrats made public threats of their own. Columbia directors warned in a letter to the board that they must take “decisive action” to exit the campaign or resign. These Democrats expressed “disappointment that Columbia University has not yet disbanded the unauthorized and impermissible faction, despite promises to do so.”
The message was spearheaded by Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Dan Goldman, the latter representing 10 New York states.th The district is one of the bluest enclaves in the country (including New York University, where police also used violence against protesters).The letter also included Ritchie Torres of New York 15.th District, as well as one of the bluest districts in America. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, a former Democratic presidential candidate. and California’s newest senator-elect, Adam Schiff. Many of these legislators come from districts with large Jewish communities, and they were no doubt seeking to address constituent concerns about anti-Semitism at the protests. But Congressmen Jerry Nadler and Adriano Espaira, both from New York City’s heavily Jewish districts, were conspicuously absent from the list of signatories. All signatories of the letter are recipients of significant funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
It was a massive provocation. Until that moment, calls for the Columbia chief executive to resign had been largely confined to Republicans. According to Axios, this was a “major escalation in Democratic rhetoric.”
That escalation was also felt by the Phalanx faculty. Here, their own Democratic elected officials were fanning the flames, even though many of the faculty and staff protecting students had been trained in de-escalation. I have to say that students are not immune to it either. Early Tuesday morning, student protesters occupied Hamilton Hall and barricaded it, a reference to a 1968 barricade in the same building during civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests. be.Even the White House couldn’t do that. stop layering–While individual protests on specific college campuses may seem to be of concern to the president of the United States, he issued a new condemnation of protesters after the Hamilton Hall occupation. The College Democrats of America, a national organization that supports Biden and values formal party consensus, criticized the White House for this, writing: With the recognition of a Palestinian state, an increasing number of young people are becoming disillusioned with the party. ”
Reinhold Martin, an architecture professor who stood front and center on the faculty perimeter, told me he was concerned by the Democrats’ letter. “This concept of ‘rampant anti-Semitism’ is a MAGA message,” he told me. “This is a clear political attack and a MAGA project. And yet Democrats are scared.
“That letter from those 21 Democrats is worse than anything I’ve heard from Elise Stefanik,” Martin continued. “What in the world is this world in which Democrats can’t protect liberal institutions of learning? They should be proud. This is a direct attack on conservatives for invalidating political speech, especially anti-war speech.” That’s what they did with CRT [critical race theory], and next we are. ”
In fact, Republicans seem to have no confusion about which side they are on. College attacks have long been a key strategy in the Republican Party’s attacks on universities deemed not to support Republican policies. The pursuit of universities is the tip of the spear in Ron DeSantis’ approach to Florida governance, using a stirred and questionable debate over critical race theory to crack down on the institutional independence of the state’s higher education system. It put pressure on the teachers’ union. . The NYPD, also in the midst of an onslaught of conservative media, doesn’t seem to be confused about its own allegiances.
2pm turned into 2:30, then 3pm. Several NYPD officers wearing riot helmets gathered outside campus at 116 Broadway and West.th But it became increasingly clear that the optics of a mop-up attempt in a vibrant and densely populated Quad were essentially insurmountable for an already maligned regime.
Shortly after three o’clock, I met Jumaane Williams, a New York City public defender. He was the only Democrat I ever met. After entering campus, he first stopped to speak with two counter-protesters waving giant Israeli flags. One of the counter-protesters showed Williams a cellphone video containing evidence of much-condemned anti-Semitism, yet an act that is difficult to detect when physically present on campus. It seemed to me that there was a possibility that something was happening, but that’s when I crouched closer to watch it. Williams’ shoulder pushed me away. “He doesn’t want to be surrounded by the press,” said someone, presumably around the counter-protesters.
I then spoke to a Jewish student named Jared who was standing nearby and holding a small Palestinian flag. “I don’t like people speaking for me,” he said. “I don’t like the reaction to the protests against genocide calling it ‘anti-Semitic.’ It suggests that the genocide was caused by Jews.” Of course, all Jewish students Some say they do not feel that way and feel unsafe, but that feeling is just as valid even if those threats come from individuals outside the student group.
Not long afterward, the University of Texas at Austin put on an exhibit in the style that 21 House Democrats seemed to have been aspiring to. As hundreds of students demonstrate against Israel’s war in Gaza in a manner similar to the Colombian protesters, the University of Texas prevents militarized, multi-agency police from clearing the encampment. It started.
Texas is a one-party Republican stronghold run by a superstar Republican governor with a penchant for brutal and overreaching displays of state power, and it’s just not right when it comes to dealing with peaceful protests or political speech of an objectionable nature. It represented the vision of the Republican Party.
Police raided a peaceful student-led protest at the state’s most prestigious university for the second time in three days. This time, Austin police, along with state troopers in riot gear, raided the students and forcibly dragged them away. They used pepper spray and arrested several people. (Slate’s Dan Kois was on the scene and reported from the scene.)
Eliminate the encampment by all means, including force, and curse freedom of speech. Tighten the college clamp. For Gov. Greg Abbott, this was just the next step in a sustained attack on the independent university system that was wrapped up in the guise of an anti-DEI blitzkrieg last year. There’s no denying that’s what House Democrats were asking in their letter: to disband the camp immediately or face political retaliation.
In the first police raid in the UT a few days ago, 57 people were arrested. All but one of the charges have since been dropped. The Texas Department of Public Safety has filed a felony charge of felonious assault against Carlos Sanchez, a licensed photojournalist. Sanchez is clearly seen on video not fighting back as officers tackle him, even though he is clearly identified. he has a camera Texas Republicans are showing the same contempt for the media as they have for liberal universities.
Of course, New York is a stronghold of the Democratic Party. Previously, police had used violence against students at places like Columbia University and New York University, but there was little discernible difference from places like Texas. As of Monday, this is what would have happened if many House Democrats had had their way. Indistinguishable.