Newsletter (May 3, 2024)
Newsletter (May 3, 2024)
Protests continue, some campuses crack down, others concede
We begin today’s newsletter with a grassroots appeal from the silent majority at USC, which we hope you will join:
An Open Letter from USC’s Silent Majority
A group of Trojans—students, faculty, staff, and other members of the USC community—are asking for signatures on an open letter to President Folt and Provost Guzman, stating that they, “the silent majority who rely on the university not just as a place of debate, but as a home of learning, safety, and stability,” deserve to be heard. The letter asks that the administration restore normalcy on campus, ensure full access to campus facilities for all, put an end to harassment inflicted by protestors, and require full accountability for those who have broken the law. Please consider joining the already 1,400 members of the USC family who have signed their letter.
And a Petition from Hillel International
In partnership with several other organization, Hillel International has also created a petition “Stand Up For Students,” which we invite you to sign. The petition calls for the end of the massive displays of antisemitism on university campuses and a restoration of normalcy on campus.
Governor Newsom Draws a Line Between Free Speech and Incitement of Violence
From California Governor Gavin Newsom:
The law is clear: The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence, vandalism, or lawlessness on campus. Those who engage in illegal behavior must be held accountable for their actions — including through criminal prosecution, suspension, or expulsion.
The governor’s statement was reported by CalMatters in an article titled “UCLA Violence Changes the Picture on CA Campus.” Following violence at UCLA Tuesday night, the governor deployed the California Highway Patrol to the campus, according to the article; and as of yesterday, the police had fired “projectiles,” torn down encampments, and arrested protestors. We salute the governor and CHP!
Did UC’s Post-George Floyd Policing Policy Contribute to the Violence at UCLA?
In a separate article in CalMatters titled “UC’s President Had a Plan to Deescalate Protests. How Did We Get a Night of Violence at UCLA?,” Atmika Iyer explains that following the murder of George Floyd, UC President Michael Drake implemented campus policing reforms meant to address systemic racism. The UC Campus Safety Plan included guidelines to “minimize police presence at protests, follow de-escalation methods in the event of violence and seek non-urgent mutual aid first from UC campuses before calling outside law enforcement agencies.” It seems an inescapable conclusion that this policy was at least partly responsible for the failure of the police to take action at UCLA sooner.
The NYT Recaps the Protests and Arrests Across US Campuses
According to the New York Times, arrests have been made on at least 44 campuses across the U.S, the greatest numbers at Columbia (217), UCLA (200), CUNY (173), UT Austin (136), Emerson College (118), Washington State in St. Louis (100), Northeastern (98), and USC (96).
A Backlash Against Northwestern’s Concessions to Protestors
As we previously reported, Northwestern has caved into protestors’ demands.
“Northwestern President faces calls for firing after caving in to protestors; university faces lawsuit,” reports Jerry Coyne at Why Evolution Is True. The concessions, fully enumerated here, include:
Full funding for two Palestinian visiting professors per year.
Full scholarships for five Palestinian students.
Immediate temporary space for Muslim and MENA (Middle Eastern / North African) students.
Construction of a permanent house for Muslim/MENA students.
The Legal Problem: Funding specifically for Palestinian students or faculty (or any other specific ethnic group) would likely violate Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VI prohibits institutions receiving federal funding from discrimination or exclusion on the basis of race, color, or national origin, while Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of those characteristics.
The Pushback: As Jerry further reports, three organizations—the Anti-Defamation League, the Brandeis Center, and StandWithUs—are calling for the immediate resignation or firing of Northwestern’s president, Michael Schill.
Space here doesn’t permit us to do full justice to Jerry’s excellent article.
Meanwhile, Back at USC
A group of faculty held a march supporting the protestors and opposing Wednesday night’s deployment of the police on campus. Prior to the march, they delivered a letter with 380 signatures to the Academic Senate containing an extensive list of demands including that the University drop all charges against arrested protestors, pay all their legal and medical bills, and fire President Folt and Provost Guzman. Now, reports KCAL, they are walking off the job. Don’t let the door…
The Limitations of Free Speech on Private Property
In The Atlantic, Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law scholar and the dean of UC Berkeley Law, has penned the article “No One Has a Right to Protest in My Home” explaining the limitations of free speech on private property. He writes:
On April 9, about 60 students came to our home for dinner. Our guests were seated at tables in our backyard. Just as they began eating, I was stunned to see the leader of Law Students for Justice in Palestine—who was among the registered guests—stand up with a microphone that she had brought, go up the steps in the yard, and begin reading a speech about the plight of the Palestinians. My wife and I immediately approached her and asked her to stop speaking and leave the premises. The protester continued. At one point, my wife attempted to take away her microphone. Repeatedly, we said to her: You are a guest in our home. Please leave.
The student insisted that she had free-speech rights. But our home is not a forum for free speech; it is our own property, and the First Amendment—which constrains the government’s power to encroach on speech on public property—does not apply at all to guests in private backyards. The dinner, which was meant to celebrate graduating students, was obviously disrupted. Even if we had held the dinner in the law-school building, no one would have had a constitutional right to disrupt the event. I have taught First Amendment law for 44 years, and as many other experts have confirmed, this is not a close question.
Likewise, trespassers have no free speech rights on the USC campus, which is private property, and the university is fully within its rights to eject trespassers from campus, using police force when necessary.
Are Students Compelled to Pay Dues to Antisemitic Unions?
Graduate students at MIT have filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against their union. The students allege that their union actively supports the antisemitic BDS movement, and that they are unlawfully being compelled to pay dues in support of an antisemitic organization.
USC, too, seems to have a problem with antisemitic unions—or with student organizations emulating unions, such as the Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation, United Students Against Sweatshops Local 13. This organization appears to have partnered with the Divest from Death organization, according to the mass email sent to faculty earlier this week (we covered this incident in our last newsletter).
Legislative Update: House Overwhelmingly Passes Antisemitism Awareness Act
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act. If passed by the senate and signed by the President, the bill would require the federal Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism in anti-discrimination enforcement actions. The bill passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support, 320 to 91. The 91 “no” votes included 70 Democrats and 21 Republicans. See the full roll-call vote here.
Opposition to the bill was voiced by Rep. Matt Gaetz and the ACLU on grounds of free speech, and by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on grounds that “the definition of antisemitism adopted by the bill includes ‘claims of Jews killing Jesus,’—claims she argues are true.”
In April, the House passed by a vote of 377–44 House Resolution 883 condemning the slogan “From the River to the Sea,” stating that it is “a rallying cry for the eradication of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.” Yet, this slogan continues to be prominently present on USC campus.
“Not My Father’s Antisemitism”
Lisa Ansell, Associate Director of the USC Casden Institute and Lecturer of Hebrew Language at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Los Angeles, has penned the insightful essay “Not My Father’s Antisemitism” in the Jewish Journal.
Ansell writes:
Today, what we are witnessing on college campuses across the nation is an entirely new breed of the old antisemitic tropes that have waxed and waned on the battlefield of the American academy. The WASPy halls of yesterday from USC where I work to Harvard, my graduate alma mater, now serve as venues for students of all ethnicities donning keffiyas to disrupt classes and block Jewish student movement while marching to the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” We see tenured faculty members participating in the encampments preaching warped revisionist history to highly impressionable young minds who grew up in a generation where society’s failures are always seen through the DEI lens. We witness firsthand the damage of accepting billions of dollars from Middle East nations who house and fund Hamas leadership and by default the ingrained biases and antisemitic rhetoric that these academic chairholders espouse. Finally, we see the gross underperformance of university presidents across the nation hiding behind the cloak of free speech to avoid dismantling these encampments ultimately acting upon the threat of losing donations from wealthy Jewish owners yet refusing to strongly condemn messages of hate that color the sanctity of the university mission.
And, Finally, Three Encouraging Developments
We are not alone! At the University of Chicago, a group of faculty have written An Open Letter to President Alivisatos and Provost Baicker Concerning the Encampment in which they call for the restoration of order on campus and enforcement of the university’s time, place, and manner policy on protests and demonstrations. Jerry Coyne discusses the letter in “This Afternoon: Protest and a Picnic on the Quad.”
An example of principled leadership and decisive action: President of Dartmouth, Sian Bellock, has removed pro-Palestinian encampments from her university. The statement, praised by Jerry Coyne as “perfect,” says:
Protest and demonstration are important forms of speech. Yet, we cannot let differences of opinion become an excuse for disrupting our amazing sense of place and the lived experience of our campus. And, most importantly, our opinions—no matter how strongly they are held can never be used to justify taking over Dartmouth's shared spaces and effectively rendering them places only for people who hold one specific ideology. This is exclusionary at best and, at its worst, as we have seen on other campuses in recent days, can turn quickly into hateful intimidation where Jewish students feel unsafe.
An excellent example to follow!
And finally really good news: President Folt has issued a statement (18:51, May 3, 2024) which seems to suggest that steps are being taken towards restoring order on campus:
The university is legally obligated to ensure that students, faculty, and staff can move freely throughout our campus while pursuing their studies, work, and research. Every part of our campuses, including Alumni Park, must be fully accessible and free from vandalism and harassment.
When laws and policies that apply to everyone are repeatedly and flagrantly violated—there must be consequences. This is an intense and highly charged time for the country and for many here at USC—I’m asking everyone to help, abide by all our security measures, and treat each other with empathy and respect. The university has initiated disciplinary review processes for individuals who have violated both our policies and the law. We will take any further actions required to maintain campus safety and security, consistent with our legal obligations.
Yes, we can!!!
NW Pres Schill released a (hostage) video....saying he was “proud of our community for achieving what has been a challenge across the country: a sustainable de-escalated path forward.”
Translated into a language used by vertebrates:
Dear children of the Infantada,
I'll do anything you say, please don't protest in front of my house anymore! My wife is getting mad and if I have to discipline someone that my faculty considers a sacred Victim of Structural Oppression I may break out into hives and have an allergic reaction.
I am happy to announce that my captors have been appeased by free jobs and free tuition and I denounce all forms of hate—especially when it's so close to summer and we rented this nice little cabin in the Berkshires.
And hopefully by the time these jihadists burn down the campus, my retirement package will have vested!
Sincerely yours....