Students gathered outside Memorial Stadium to protest Israel’s nuclear attack on Gaza in the aftermath of the September 11 attack: A photojournal of Gaza’s worst tragedy
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a walk out and waved Palestinian flags during the graduation ceremonies at a number of universities over the weekend.
At UC Berkeley, dozens of graduates stood up from their seats inside Memorial Stadium Saturday morning with signs reading “Divest” – a call for universities to get rid of their investments in companies that have investments in Israel because of the war in Gaza. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a small group of students carrying a Palestinian flag staged a silent protest at Camp Randall Stadium. Hours before the graduation ceremony, pro-Palestinian demonstrators splashed red paint on the steps of a building.
Several schools have agreements in place with students to take some of their demands into account. The agreement on taking down the protest came Sunday, when the university agreed to review students’ demands for the university to sever ties with companies with ties to Israel.
“They feel passionately about the brutality of the violence in Gaza,” Christ told the crowd, adding “I, too, am deeply troubled by the terrible tragedy.”
Israel launched the military offensive in Gaza in October in response to a surprise attack on it. More than 1,200 people were killed in the attack, while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
“Divise from Israel” protests at Virginia Commonwealth University: a reminder of the university’s tumultuous response to the 2008 September 11 attacks
A group of about 500 people ignored warnings from the administration and gathered in an empty section of the stadium to chant, “Divest from Israel“, during speeches at Berkeley.
While students at UC Berkeley have been amongst the most vocal in their calls for the university to cut ties with Israel, recent protests have also been met with accusations of antisemitism from members of the campus’s Jewish community.
Known for being the birthplace of the free speech movement of the 1960s, the university has been dealing with two federal investigations relating to charges of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack — one from the Department of Education, the other by Republicans in Congress.
Students at Virginia Commonwealth University staged a silent protest at their graduation ceremony to protest a speech by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.
The university’s chapter of the NAACP had previously criticized the school’s decision to invite Youngkin over his efforts to unravel a series of policies which have promoted diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
The letter cited a now defunct tip line the governor briefly put in place where parents could report faculty who were teaching “divisive concepts” in schools as well as unraveling legislation which rights groups argued protected transgender youth.
The reasons for concern are clear: Nationwide demonstrations over the war and Mr. Biden’s approach to it have inflamed more than 60 colleges and universities, stoked tensions within the Democratic Party and created new headaches for his re-election bid.
David Thomas, the president of Morehouse, said in an interview on Thursday that this should not be a place where people are canceled if they disagree with them. He stated, “whether people support or not, they are committed to having it happen on the campus in a way that doesn’t undermine the integrity or dignity of the school.”
Thomas said that Morehouse was born for that, because the nation needed a place that could show it’s ability to hold tensions that are threatening to divide it’s society.
While anger over the war still rages at Morehouse and other historically Black colleges and universities, these campuses have been largely free of tumult, and tensions aren’t visible even from dorm windows.
As President Biden prepares to give graduation remarks this month at Morehouse College in Atlanta, a prestigious historically Black institution, the White House is signaling anxiety about the potential for protests over the war in Gaza.
Then, on Friday, the White House dispatched the leader of its public engagement office and one of its most senior Black officials, Stephen K. Benjamin, to the Morehouse campus for meetings to take the temperature of students, faculty members and administrators.
Protesters Deliver Messages in Many Ways at H.B.C.U.s. Before You Step On The Green, But You Aren’t Here
The reasons stem from political, cultural and socioeconomic differences with other institutions of higher learning. While H.B.C.U.s host a wide range of political views, domestic issues are more important to most students than foreign policy. Many started lower on the economic ladder and are more intently focused on their education and their job prospects after graduation.
The president could visit the college more politically safer than other places. Traditionally, undergraduates do not step on the grass in the heart of campus until they receive their degrees at Morehouse. Alumni view commencement as a distinguished event not only for students but also for scores of family and community members — making it a less likely venue for a major disruption.
Mr. Richmond, who has a nephew at Morehouse, predicted Mr. Biden would speak about the high expectations of the college’s alumni, promote his record of reducing Black unemployment and narrowing the racial wealth gap, and deliver familiar exhortations about perseverance.
Benjamin Bayliss, a Morehouse junior, felt it was necessary for the protests to happen because if the students don’t want change, then it won’t happen. He said, “You feel the weight of what King did and the fire of the torch that he lit that we have to carry on.”
VP Harris graduated from Howard University, an historically Black institution and is currently on a virtual tour of such colleges. She is warmly welcomed by graduates and surprised when she shows up at 44 H.B.C.U.s as a surprise guest.
“I think really she was just trying to gain an idea of what exactly students’ issues were with his coming, if any at all,” Mr. Perrin said. “And what would kind of shift that narrative.”
Why Protesters Are Encouraged to Protest? The Impact on Palestinian Land Use and Elections in the U.S. and Other College Campuses
Yet even as some students feel compelled to protest, outside factors can shape their decisions. Roughly 75 percent of students at H.B.C.U.s and 50 percent of Morehouse students are eligible for a federal aid program for low-income students known as the Pell Grant. Morehouse students receive some form of financial aid. In the Class of 2024, nearly a third of graduates will be the first in their family to receive a bachelor’s degree.
Students at Black colleges may decide against protesting because of family pressure which increases the importance of securing their degrees.
The student body at Columbia is very different than the student body at Dillard, said Walter Kimbrough, who was president of Dillard University for a decade. It doesn’t mean that people are not worried. They know they have different types of stakes.
The stakes are also high for Mr. Biden, whose standing with Black voters has softened ahead of November’s presidential election. Young people are less enthusiastic about voting at all — partly because of Mr. Biden’s handling of the Gaza war, but also because they are unhappy with the choice between him and former President Donald J. Trump.
“I think it’s really just picking the lesser of two evils,” said Freddrell Rhea Green II, a Morehouse freshman. “Anything better than Donald Trump, a madman, a quote unquote tyrant, is better for me.”
“Joe Biden is probably a very nice person,” said Samuel Livingston, an associate professor of Africana studies at Morehouse. “But niceness is not the level of leadership that we need. We need ethical leadership. Supporting the aiding, abetting and stripping of Palestinian land from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is not ethical.
Source: At Commencements, Protesters Deliver Messages in Many Ways
When President Biden meets Senator Warnock: How important is what he says about the Gaza conflict and the future of student protests?
Some students, like Auzzy Byrdsell, a senior studying kinesiology and journalism, support their classmates’ protests but fear a possible response from the police to a crowd of largely Black young men.
Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, a 1991 Morehouse alumnus, said that he hoped Mr. Biden would highlight his record and his agenda — but that there was little the president could say about the Gaza conflict to assuage his critics on campus.
“While what he says is important,” Mr. Warnock said, trying to put himself in the shoes of student protesters, “I think much more important is what he does in the future.”