Professors Lift Up Student Protests

Some educators are using their institutional positions to help create safe spaces for student activism and challenge policies that restrict free speech.

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By Nadra Nittle

7 MIN READ

May 17, 2024

Hundreds of faculty members, many of them women and LGBTQ+, have been advocating for the students demonstrating against U.S. support for Israel鈥檚 war in Gaza. In recent weeks, student protests have intensified, leading to .

There are more women on college campuses than men, and a number of women have been at the center of the movement. The suspensions and arrests last month of 鈥� the women’s liberal arts institution affiliated with Columbia University 鈥� drew national attention to the anti-war cause and inspired their peers at dozens of other colleges to organize protests of their own.

Students have . They鈥檝e staged 鈥淕aza solidarity encampments,鈥� groups of tents on school grounds, to spotlight how Palestinians in Gaza are and after seven months of bombardment 鈥� Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government鈥檚 response to the Hamas attack that killed on October 7. Over , disproportionately women and children, have been killed in the war, local health officials have reported. In response, students in the United States have been demanding that their universities divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Professors at multiple U.S. colleges have intervened when police have apprehended students or tried to clear away encampments, sometimes leading to their own confrontations with law enforcement. They have for overseeing the suspensions and arrests of students, with some . They鈥檝e participated in and vowed to .

The activism that faculty have taken up to defend students facing arrest, suspension and repression can make them vulnerable to retaliation, especially if they are adjuncts, junior faculty and faculty of color, roles in which.The 19th spoke to several faculty who say they鈥檙e taking the risk because they believe in their students, the anti-war cause and the lessons they鈥檝e taught students about structural oppression.

New York University students and faculty participate in a protest against Israel鈥檚 war in Gaza at Washington Square Park on April 23, 2024 in New York City.聽*Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images*

Sherene Razack, a professor and chair in women鈥檚 studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) walked out of classes with about 200 faculty members last week in solidarity with student protesters. She said that even faculty who disagree with the protesters believe in their free speech rights, a point the American Association of University Professors also made in a

鈥淢any faculty members support the students in their right to protest and are committed to trying to protect that right as much as possible,鈥� Razack said.

Students against the war have faced physically aggressive counter-protesters, she said. On April 30, a group of pro-Israel men , into the enclosure, and . Hours passed before police dispersed them. By May 2, officers swept the encampment, made132 arrests and fired rubber bullets that, in some cases, drew blood.

鈥淭his is what’s super alarming about the situation because it’s hard to protect the students鈥� right to protest, it’s hard to protect them, in the wake of this kind of really aggressive situation,鈥� Razack said. Students, teaching assistants and junior faculty also risk being doxxed (exposure of personal contact information to facilitate harassment), losing scholarships, grants and promotions for voicing their beliefs, she said.

UCLA Chancellor July 31, but some , arguing the university did not protect students in the encampment. UCLA鈥檚 faculty-led Task Force on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Racism sent a letter to Block on May 1 alleging he鈥檚 ignored marginalized students.

鈥淵our failure to acknowledge the multiple documented incidents of racism, threat, and violence directed at Palestinians, Muslims, and Arabs, and indeed anyone seen as in support of them, including large numbers of Jewish students both inside and outside the encampment, is stunning in its disregard for large segments of the university community,鈥� it stated.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at an encampment sat Dickson Plaza on the UCLA campus on Monday, April 29, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA. *Photo by Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images*

After announcing and advisory group for UCLA鈥檚 safety and emergency operations on Sunday, Block said Monday night that university officials are working with the Los Angeles Police Department to find and hold accountable the individuals who attacked the pro-Palestinian camp at the school last week.

With a , UCLA鈥檚 anti-war activists include many and . Razack said these groups often possess feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonialist values, and are worried about democracy, egalitarianism and state violence.

David Turner, an assistant professor in the Department of Social Welfare at UCLA鈥檚 Luskin School of Public Affairs, has signed multiple letters to support student protesters. Those letters emphasize academic freedom, students鈥� right to protest, and resources needed for Muslim and Palestinian students, he said.

鈥淚 have also done work to support dialogue and conversation with our Jewish faculty, with Jewish students, with Jewish staff,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f we don’t dialogue about these issues, if we can’t do that at a university, where we’re supposed to have a robust exchange of ideas, where we’re supposed to be able to disagree in safety, build and work with one another, then we get situations like this.鈥�

Turner said that he is more concerned about being a role model for his students than he is about the consequences he could face for advocating for them.

鈥淲ho would I be as a social movements professor and a community organizer to not support the students who are engaged in a social movement in real time, applying the things that we learned in class?鈥� he asked.

He also supports students because he believes that they have pushed the nation forward for generations.

鈥淭he students were right when we divested from South Africa,鈥� Turner said. 鈥淭he students were right to protest against Vietnam. The students were right to be at the forefront of the civil rights movement to help to integrate the United States. 鈥o it is important for us to remember that in this moment, the students are right about not being complicit in the genocidal campaign that has happened to the Palestinians.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

At Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, near Chicago, administrators reached a with the students pressuring them to divest from Israel. , , the , with students last week, making them part of a growing list of universities to do so since . Northwestern will and answer questions from community members about its financial holdings, among other steps.

Before the agreement, some Northwestern faculty and staff took shifts to help students protect their encampment. That includes Steven Thrasher, an assistant professor of journalism, who locked hands with his colleagues to block university police from the tents. Getting then has not dissuaded him from putting his body on the line for students again.

鈥淚 feel like it’s incumbent upon me as a faculty member to stand between them and the university police department to make sure they do not put their hands on our students,鈥� he said.

Thrasher, who is teaching a class called 鈥�,鈥� not only stood guard but also told students how their activism overlaps with historical movements related to civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights and AIDS-related advocacy. He watched students learn about each other鈥檚 cultures 鈥� from folding keffiyehs to observing Passover. Students from multiple faiths sang Passover songs and enjoyed a Passover Seder, with those unfamiliar with the ceremonial meal discovering its significance, he said.

鈥淚t’s a lie to say that the Jewish and Muslim students don鈥檛 love and care about each other,鈥� Thrasher said. 鈥淭hey’re showing up for one another in really caring ways.鈥�

They discussed , which Thrasher was accused of years ago for backing the movement and for calling Israel an 鈥�.鈥� Anti-war students have also been called antisemitic, often for chanting, 鈥淔rom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!鈥� Supporters of Israel in the United States say the phrase calls for ; pro-Palestinian students and activists say it is 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Giving his keynote address for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum鈥檚 Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony on Tuesday, the use of “antisemitic posters, slogans, calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world鈥檚 only Jewish state鈥� during college protests.

Thrasher said that potential retaliation for supporting peaceful student protests won鈥檛 deter him.

鈥淚 teach about social justice and journalism, and I teach about LGBT issues,鈥� Thrasher said. 鈥淪o, to me, this is the job.鈥�

Brittany Friedman, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Southern California (USC), is one of many faculty frustrated with the institution鈥檚 approach to protesters. The university called police in riot gear to campus in Alumni Park. Officers apprehended 93 individuals for trespassing.

Arrests at other universities, especially the , also upset Friedman. Others were shocked to see , a professor of history at Dartmouth College and former chair of its Jewish studies department, during a campus protest.

Violent college arrests send students and staff a message about their worth, Friedman said.

鈥淭hey show that this is how disposable you are to your institution, that your institution would unleash violence workers, aka the police, upon you as a result of you peacefully protesting and potentially threatening their corporate image,鈥� she said.

USC faculty have also objected to the university鈥檚 decision April 15 to , after the group Trojans for Israel accused her of 鈥渁ntisemitic bigotry鈥� because she once shared a social media link to a slideshow calling Tabassum is an Indian-American Muslim whose studies include genocide.

鈥淭he administration should not have canceled the valedictorian speech,鈥� Friedman said.

USC also announced in April that it was canceling its main commencement ceremony, a move that . Critics of these decisions argue that they serve to silence students.

Faculty at USC last week marched to support the right of students to protest peacefully and to condemn the police force used against them. They demanded that USC drop charges against its student or faculty demonstrators. Early Sunday, the university once again called police to , which students rebuilt after the first sweep, but no one was arrested.

鈥淯SC faculty are organizing around this principle that we are, first and foremost, educators,鈥� Friedman said. 鈥淲e are researchers, and we’re some of the top researchers in our fields, not just in the country but in the world. How can we stand by and watch this happen to our campus?鈥�

This story was originally published by .

Nadra Nittle is The 19th鈥檚 education reporter, and has been a journalist since the 2000s. She has worked for newspapers including the Inland Valley鈥揕os Angeles Times, El Paso Times, the Santa Fe Reporter and the Press-Telegram, and online publications Vox and Civil Eats. She has also been published in The Guardian, Business Insider, Huffington Post, BBC News and NBC News. She has a master鈥檚 degree in education, and briefly taught after college. As a foreign correspondent for The Guardian, she won an award from the Los Angeles Press Club for profiling artist Betye Saar. She has earned many honors from the same organization, including third-place finishes for three 19th stories: librarians fighting censorship, Karen Bass鈥� historic mayoral campaign and the nation鈥檚 first school named after late author Octavia Butler. A piece she wrote for California Health Report on the challenges youth with disabilities face as they transition to adulthood was a finalist for a California News Publishers Association award.