University leaders vowed to protect students’ free speech rights amid tense demonstrations.
The escalating war in the Middle East has spilled into American colleges and universities, as dueling demonstrations continue to generate anger and frustration among students and faculty.
At Columbia University in new York, hundreds of students gathered Thursday afternoon on one side of the main campus’s lawn, waving Palestinian flags and signs celebrating recent terror attacks they called “resistance.” A moment of silence for those killed in Israeli retaliatory bombings was observed before the crowd started chanting “From the river to the sea,” a popular slogan used by the Hamas terrorist group.
Across the lawn stood their pro-Israeli counterparts, praying and mourning in silence while holding Israeli flags, as well as signs with names and photos of people who are believed to have been killed or kidnapped by Hamas.
The two crowds stayed within their boundaries and remained peaceful throughout the gathering, thanks to the police separating them and a new policy to open the campus only to those with a university ID. Columbia administrators placed the restriction the day after a 24-year-old student passing out pro-Israel flyers was allegedly attacked in front of a library.
“This is because me being an Israeli these days. Not me because being myself,” the victim, identified only as I.A., told student newspaper Columbia Spectator. “It is because me being an Israeli who is under a certain kind of threat.”
“The atmosphere on campus is extremely charged and many are concerned for their personal safety,” a group of three Columbia deans said in a campus-wide message following the alleged assault, pledging to uphold the principles of “open dialogue and intellectual freedom” and, at the same time, reject “hate speech” and violence.
‘Resistance Rally’ Escalated into Confrontation
Meanwhile, on the campus of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, heated exchanges almost devolved into a physical confrontation.
About 80 pro-Palestinian people on Thursday morning attended a “resistance rally” organized by the UNC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. They were greeted by a smaller group of pro-Israel counter protestors, and it didn’t take too long for the situation to get heated.
By Bill Pan
