After the Encampments

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | November 20, 2024 | Joseph M. Knippenberg

[karpov]

You may have noticed that there has been less news this fall than last spring about Middle East-related demonstrations and disruptions on college campuses, a change only partly attributable to the recent presidential election. While a few may lament this as a sign of the dispirited disengagement of our youth, many—including many students, faculty, and administrators, as well as alumni, donors, and other members of the general public—likely regard this as a good thing. Perhaps students and faculty are returning to the real work of our colleges and universities—teaching, learning, and research.

But before we jump to any grandiose conclusions, it’s worth taking the following considerations into account.

First, it is probably true that there is less visible and disruptive activism on campus this fall. The vast majority of the 2024 incidents in the FIRE Campus Deplatforming Database occurred in the spring semester, not in the fall. And a quick internet search yields more recent stories about how speech has been “chilled” on campus than about vigorous protests across the country.

One explanation for this change in atmosphere is that many colleges and universities have adopted new policies limiting the scope of student activism. Neutral “time, place, and manner” restrictions have been deployed to prohibit encampments and the use of public-address systems in ways that disrupt classes, study, and research. Some of these policies may have been adopted under pressure from donors, others in the face of potential federal investigations.

Though the generally pro-Palestinian tenor of student opinion hasn’t changed—and trust me, it hasn’t—students seem less demonstrative about it this fall. Even if they haven’t rededicated themselves to their studies, those inclined to activism may have turned their attention to the presidential election, which hasn’t provoked protests, whatever may be the case after President Trump is inaugurated.

[AppyPappy]

It’s harder to get kids interested in Democrat narratives designed to outrage them.

[Netz]

The main focus might be vetting who is on campus and who not.

Many “activists” were in fact paid professional agitators and representatives of various Pali offshoot terror groups.

There is no way that the Pali rioters achieved all that destruction and damage on their own. It was not a “grass-roots” movement but rather a professional and lethal offensive.

It did not help that the authorities, police and courts all let them go scot-free after massive vandalism.

Someday, in the near future (under a Trump admin.) people will be held accountable for their violent and criminal actions.

Universities that allowed this violence in the name of free speech should be censured and defunded.

If the riots targeted blacks or ANY OTHER GROUP OTHER THAN JEWS, there would have been universities BURNED DOWN to the ground.

[magooey]

With Israel crushing Hamas and breaking Hezbollah, the wind has been taken out of the sails of the demonstrators. Further, the violence of the protests last academic year show the need for the Jews of the Diaspora to make common cause with Israel.