Newsletter (April 27, 2024)
Newsletter (April 27, 2024)
Current events and lessons from history
President Folt has issued a letter addressing protests, arrests, and campus situation.
No one wants to have people arrested on their campus. Ever. But, when long-standing safety policies are flagrantly violated, buildings vandalized, DPS directives repeatedly ignored, threatening language shouted, people assaulted, and access to critical academic buildings blocked, we must act immediately to protect our community.
USC has long-standing protocols that allow for peaceful protesting, and we have been working successfully with our community to ensure these rules have been followed at gatherings, protests, and vigils taking place all year. USC also has firm rules regarding harassment and bullying that we will uphold.
USC News announced the details of how the 2024 commencement celebrations will proceed; see also this memo from the USC Academic Events: USC Commencement Update.
USC’s campus situation is mentioned in the CalMatters newsletter: “Garvey wades into Gaza protests” (by Yue Stella Yu). Both Steve Garvey and Adam Schiff denounce antisemitic and violent campus disruptions. Garvey considers the encampments to be acts of terrorism.
[Garvey] claimed that the protesters supported terrorists, calling the USC protest “terrorism disguised as free speech” without pointing to any specific language used by demonstrators.
Garvey: “These organizations aren't by kids in dormitories who are making a statement that they probably don't really understand what it's about. This is organized support of terrorism. I believe demonstrations that allow people to build encampments that obstruct the pathway to classes, and the opportunity to learn, is terrorism.”
Garvey said he would support charging protesters with terrorism if the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office decided to do so. When asked if the office plans to bring those charges, spokesperson Venusse Dunn said: “When law enforcement presents a case to our office, we apply the law to the facts of each case and determine what charges, if any, are appropriate.”
Schiff’s campaign did not respond to an inquiry for comment on Garvey’s comments. But it did later send a statement about the campus protests.
Schiff, in the statement: “Jewish students need to both be safe and feel safe on their college campuses — but that will never be the case as long as universities allow hateful, antisemitic rhetoric, or even violence, to be tolerated.”
What does “Intifada” mean? Is Garvey being hyperbolic when he says that the protesters are supporting terrorism? Here is a tweet from a friend and colleague from Israel, informed by his lived experiences:
Don't tell me what Intifada means. I went to high school in Jerusalem during it, taking two buses each way. I know perfectly well what it means, calculating where I should sit so I only get injured and wouldn’t die. Globalize the intifada = violently terrorize the world.
My [Anna’s] lived experiences confirm that.
And more from Jerry Coyne on Columbia protests: Four new articles on Columbia’s encampment. We feel a bit disappointed that USC does not rise to the same level of interest! About the Columbia protesters, Jerry writes:
Yes, they chant, “We love Hamas and their rockets, too!”; and no student interviewed thinks that Hamas should release the hostages.
Returning to USC, here is what the protesters want. CNN reports:
Park said the protesters had six demands, among them an academic boycott of Israel, protecting free speech on campus, stopping displacement in Palestinian territories, no policing on campus, and calling on USC to “end the silence on the genocide and Palestine.”
We are curious to hear how they envision USC “stopping displacement in Palestinian territories.” Do they want USC to send troops to Israel? As far as we know, USC does not have its own military to dispatch to other countries. Given the crime level around USC, as reported by USC’s Department of Public Safety in their Timely Warning Crime Alert notifications, the idea of “no policing” on campus is preposterous.
In another piece, CNN indicates that “at the University of Southern California, where dozens were arrested on Wednesday, protesters are demanding “full amnesty” for those brought into custody and that there be “no policing on campus.” As noted by one Circle member: “Naturally, the students don’t want any accountability for their actions and no one watching or telling them what to do on USC’s private property.”
USC Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has issued a statement about the protests, criticizing the university’s actions towards restoring order on campus, such as bringing in the LAPD to remove the hooligans and their encampments. We wonder what is the mission of this organization.
Another deep dive into how we ended up where we are—a piece by Alan Dershowitz, “US Campuses: Incubating Terrorism” discusses the current wave of campus protests:
For the most part, the groups protesting are comprised of four elements: the first consists of Arab and Muslim haters of Israel and Jews, who see this as an opportunity to call for the end of the nation-state of the Jewish people and the substitution of a Muslim caliphate or a radical Arab state; the second consists of old line radicals, anarchists, communists and America-haters who use any opportunity to seek to essentially overthrow Western democracies; the third are the organizers who stand ready to obtain funding and organizational logistics for well-planned systematic protests; and the fourth are the “useful idiots” who are recruited by the professors, the organizers and others.
If you prefer listening, in November 2023, Dershowitz gave a lecture on the topic at the Stanford Classic Liberalism seminar.
The Association of University Heads of Israel has put out a statement condemning the violent, threatening, and antisemitic campus protests. They write, in part:
Freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate are vital to the health of any democracy and are especially crucial in academic settings. We continue to uphold the importance of these freedoms, particularly in these challenging times. However, these freedoms do not include the right to engage in violence, make threats against communities, or call for the destruction of the State of Israel.
History Corner
The anti-antisemitism blog “Elder of Ziyon” compares the current situation for Jews on US campuses with German universities from in 1930s. The parallels are telling, especially active involvement of students and faculty in the actions against Jews. Be sure to watch the embedded video of campus protesters forcing pro-Israel students out of their encampment.
A short history lesson. Regarding the roots of anti-Zionist propaganda and terrorist organizations—below are four pages from Vladimir Bukovsky’s book, Judgement in Moscow. The Communist Party has invested serious resources in cultivating anti-Israeli terrorists from very early on.
And here is a USC-specific example, communicated to the Circle by Professor Mike Gruntman:
[Intelligence officer] Litvin’s position at USC offered him excellent opportunities for recruitment. He regularly participated in the seminars at the Department of Political Science. As Litvin wrote later in his unpublished recollections, “there were discussions of various topics at these seminars. Comments of students revealed their views, including their political orientation. I attentively observed and listened their comments and made conclusions with whom to get closer and who could be helpful in accomplishing tasks of the rezidentura [spy station].”
From: Enemy Amongst Trojans, Figueroa Press, Los Angeles, 2010; page 22.
