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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\uff08Pro-Palestinian protesters gather in front of Sproul Hall on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., April 23. \uff09<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the war in Gaza began, colleges and universities have struggled to balance safety with free speech rights. Many long tolerated protests but are now doling out more heavy-handed discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harvard University in Massachusetts has tried to stay a step ahead of protests by locking most gates into its famed Harvard Yard and limiting access to those with school identification. The school has also posted signs that warn against setting up tents or tables on campus without permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Literature Ph.D. student Christian Deleon said he understood why the Harvard administration may be trying to avoid protests but said there still has to be a place for students to express what they think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe should all be able to use these kinds of spaces to protest, to make our voices heard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ben Wizner, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said college leaders faced extremely tough decisions because they had a responsibility to ensure people could express their views, even when others found them offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut they also need to protect students from targeted harassment, threats and intimidation,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd sometimes that line can seem like a gray one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The New York Civil Liberties Union cautioned universities against being too quick to call in law enforcement in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOfficials should not conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism or use hate incidents as a pretext to silence political views they oppose,\u201d said Donna Lieberman, the group\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo Auerbach, a student at the University of Michigan, said the differing stances on the war hadn\u2019t led to his feeling unsafe on campus but he has been fearful of the \u201chateful rhetoric and antisemitic sentiment being echoed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re trying to create an inclusive community on campus, there needs to be constructive dialogue between groups,\u201d Auerbach said. \u201cAnd right now, there\u2019s no dialogue that is occurring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, physics senior Hannah Didehbani said protesters were inspired by those at Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRight now there are several professors on campus who are getting direct research funding from Israel\u2019s ministry of defense,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been calling for MIT to cut those research ties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, which had an encampment of about 30 tents Tuesday, were also inspired by Columbia\u2019s demonstrators, \u201cwho we consider to be the heart of the student movement,\u201d said law student Malak Afaneh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Columbia President Minouche Shafik said in a message to the school community Monday that she was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by what was happening on the campus, where some Jewish students say the criticism of Israel has veered into antisemitism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson planned a trip to visit Jewish students at the university on Wednesday and address antisemitism on college campuses in a press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Columbia has a history of protest, most notably in 1968, when hundreds of students angry about racism and the Vietnam War occupied five campus buildings. After a week, a thousand police officers swept in and cleared them out, making 700 arrests. The Associated Press reported at the time that 100 students and 15 police officers were injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Campus protests began after Hamas\u2019 deadly attack on southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. During the ensuing war, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which doesn\u2019t distinguish between combatants and noncombatants but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What began last week when Columbia University students refused to end their protest against Israel\u2019s war with Hamas had turned into a much larger movement by Tuesday as students across the nation set up encampments, occupied buildings and ignored demands to leave. Protests had been bubbling for months but kicked into a higher gear after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5823,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-5822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n