US colleges and universities are gearing up to repress renewed pro-Palestine protests as students return to campus this fall.
“We have been preparing table top exercises,” said State University of New York Chancellor John King, suggesting the lengths to which administrators are going to quash anti-genocide demonstrations.
King added the school would focus on encouraging students to “express different views respectfully and appropriately.” Administrators’ attempts to repress protests have often centered around claims they are disruptive or disrespectful to those with opposing views. Pro-Israel student organizations have, naturally, claimed demonstrations are antisemitic while offering little actual evidence of discriminatory speech or conduct.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a conservative non-profit, has presented guidance calling for severe punishment for encampments and alleged “harassment” while opposing demonstrators’ calls for schools to divest from Israeli financial interests.
Republican lawmakers, traditionally against ostensible “identity politics,” have taken to zealously speaking against alleged incidents of antisemitism, perhaps eyeing an opportunity to win support from traditionally Democratic-aligned Jewish voters.
But some groups have denounced the restrictions on free speech. The Association of American University Professors claimed campuses have “hastily enacted overly restrictive policies… [which] impose severe limits on speech and assembly that discourage or shut down freedom of expression.”
“We are seeing multiple schools adopting new restrictions on speech without respecting governance procedures,” said Risa Lieberwitz, the groups general counsel and a law professor at Cornell University. “They will discourage protests, have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and threaten harsh sanctions without due process.”
“We can strongly infer [new regulations] are made to appease politicians calling for the use of a heavy hand on protests, donors and boards of trustees… It’s this external audience that universities seem to be most concerned about.”