As pro-Palestinian protests roil college campuses across the United States, some colleges have offered protesters concessions on their demands in exchange for clearing their encampments.
Although specific student demands vary from campus to campus, one core demand remains universal: that colleges divest from Israel. That means withdrawing funds their endowments have invested in businesses that are linked to Israel, as well as ending any academic or business partnerships with Israel.
Brown University
While pro-Palestinian encampments at some other universities were met with force, Brown University successfully persuaded protesters into tearing down their encampment and agreeing not to restart protests through the end of the academic year.In return, protesters will have the opportunity to advocate at a university corporate board meeting for severing ties with companies they believe are profiting from the Israel-Hamas war.
A board vote on divestment is scheduled for October.
“I hope the meeting between the students and Corporation members will allow for a full and frank exchange of views,” Brown University President Christina Paxson wrote in an April 30 campus-wide message. “The devastation and loss of life in the Middle East has prompted many to call for meaningful change, while also raising real issues about how best to accomplish this. Brown has always prided itself on resolving differences through dialog, debate and listening to each other.”
“I appreciate the sincere efforts on the part of our students to take steps to prevent further escalation,” she added.
Protesters hailed the deal as a historic breakthrough after years of tireless advocacy at the Ivy League school.
Rutgers: We Talk With Students
Rutgers University also peacefully ended the pro-Palestinian protest on its flagship campus. Although law enforcement in riot gear was called to the site to enforce a deadline for protesters to unwind the camps, they ultimately abstained from using force.“Some people have said I should have engaged police to clear the protest and arrest those who resisted,” Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway told the campus community. “We were prepared to do so. I am grateful that we did not have to.”
As part of the deal brokered on May 2 between Rutgers and protesters, the university will accept at least 10 displaced Gazan students on scholarship; create an Arab Cultural Center by the fall semester at every Rutgers campus; and form a “long-term educational partnership” with Birzeit University in the West Bank, among other concessions.
The top two items on the list of demands were not agreed upon. One of them calls for divestment from companies doing business with Israel. Rutgers promised to have the president and the chief investment officer meet with a maximum of five student representatives to discuss this request, which is under review.
The other item, which was also denied, demands ending Rutgers’ partnership with Israel’s Tel Aviv University, including the HELIX Innovation Hub—a medical research and business incubator estimated to have cost Rutgers $567 million. The university said agreements with global partners are “matters of scholarly inquiry.”
Protesters Back Down Without Concrete Changes
On May 9, protesters at the University of Vermont ended their two-week pro-Palestinian protest and dismantled their tent encampment. The university has agreed to disclose how its endowment funds are invested as part of an agreement with protesters, but has not agreed to consider divestment.On April 25, when Michigan State University students established a pro-Palestinian encampment, President Kevin Guskiewicz visited the site to speak with protesters about their concerns. Organizers of the encampment voluntarily ended it two days later, saying that they had achieved the goal of amplifying their demands.
The Backlash
At Northwestern University, protesters agreed to dismantle their camps under the condition of reinstating an advisory committee on divestment, comprising representatives from students, faculty, and staff.In a video released April 30, Northwestern President Michael Schill said he was proud the community was able to achieve “what has been a challenge across the country: a sustainable de-escalated path forward.”
Opposition to making concessions is not limited those within the campus communities. New Jersey state Sen. Owen Henry, a Republican representing Middlesex County, where Rutgers’ main campus is located, denounced the school leadership for “caving to the demands of the anti-Semitic demonstrators.”
“I strongly condemn Rutgers for their failure to effectively address the academic disruptions that have occurred on their campus,” he wrote in a statement. “It is imperative that Rutgers ensure the safety and well-being of all their students by holding students and staff who perpetuated messages of hatred on their campus accountable.”
The concessions have also attracted reprimands from congressional leaders.
On May 6, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, announced that the presidents of Northwestern University and Rutgers University will now be part of a hearing on campus anti-Semitism alongside the chancellor of University of California at Los Angeles.
“Over the last several days, the presidents of Northwestern and Rutgers have made shocking concessions to the unlawful anti-Semitic encampments on their campuses,” Ms. Foxx said in a statement. “They have surrendered to anti-Semitic radicals in despicable displays of cowardice.”
College Leaders Defend Decisions
College leaders who have chosen to negotiate with protesters defended the move as a reasonable response to unrest. They said conversation, rather than violence, enabled them to uphold order on campuses while striving for a peaceful outcome.“I am confident in our decisions,” Mr. Holloway said, noting that he has received “thousands of emails” in which people expressed their frustration on his handling on the protest. “They allowed us to maintain a safe and controlled environment, to protect Rutgers students and Rutgers property, and to assure that our students’ academic progress—taking finals and completing the semester—was not impeded.”
He also used the moment to denounce anti-Semitic rhetoric during the protest.
“Some of the statements that I have heard are disgraceful and have no place at a university,” he said, promising that his administration will “address gaps in our Jewish student, faculty, and staff experience.”
Mr. Schill similarly emphasize the importance of dialogue.
Like his Rutgers counterpart, Mr. Schill called out anti-Semitic behavior on his campus, which he said is personal to him as a descendant of Russian Jews.
“When I see a Star of David with an X on it, when I see a picture of me with horns, or when I hear that one of our students has been called a dirty Jew, there is no ambiguity,” he said. “This needs to be condemned by all of us, and that starts with me.”
Marybeth Gasman, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, identified safety of students and the campus community as the top priority when managing unrest on campus.
“Leaders need to protect free speech and non-violent protest while also protecting the safety of students,” the professor told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. “Sometimes these parallel goals can knock heads as we live in a highly diverse nation where people have opposing views, and different perspectives on what is acceptable and what is not. Leaders are in the role of having to sort through these views and differences, deciding what behavior crosses the line.”
When students when make vague or far-fetched demands, she said, college leaders should take responsibility to educate them.
“There have been some demands that are uninformed, where it’s obvious that students don’t understand the funding structure of universities (e.g. thinking that tuition dollars build endowments),” she stated. “In these cases, it falls upon leaders to explain what is feasible and what is not.”
