Students’ protests against Israel during the August 7 Gaza attack: Implications for Israeli-Israel relations in universities and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
Graduation ceremonies at a handful of universities across the country faced light disruptions over the weekend, as pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged walkouts, chants, and waved Palestinian flags during commencement speeches.
At Morehouse — which has a legacy of civil rights protests and is the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s alma mater — discontent over the Gaza war has played out in classrooms and auditoriums rather than on campus lawns.
Other schools have agreements in place with students to consider some of their demands. After the university promised to review students’ demand for the university to remove companies linked to Israel, student activists at the school decided to take down their demonstration on Sunday.
“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 is now in the eighth month of its military offensive inside Gaza, an operation it launched in response to the Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas-led militants. Israeli officials said over 1200 people were killed in the attack, and more than 200 others were taken hostage.
As speeches continued at Berkeley, a group of some 500 people ignored warnings from an administration official and gathered in an empty section of the stadium where they sang chants calling for the university to divest from Israel.
While students at UC Berkeley have been vocal in their calls to cut ties with Israel, some members of the campus’s Jewish community have accused the students of being antisemitic.
The University has found itself in the middle of two federal investigations related to charges of antisemitism after the October 7 attack.
Student protests against Glenn Youngkin’s invitation in the wake of the Gaza War: a White House message to Students at Morehouse College
More than 50 students at the Virginia Commonwealth University walked out of their graduation ceremony in protest of Glenn Youngkin’s address.
The group wrote to the board of visitors last week asking them to take away Youngkin’s invitation after learning he had intimidated and silenced educators with anti-racism pedagogies.
The letter cited the governor’s tip line he put in place to inform parents about teachers who were teaching “divisive concepts” in schools as well as legislation that rights groups argued protected trans youth.
The university has faced criticism by those who are against Biden’s handling of the conflict in Gaza and his more recent comments about student protestors — in which he said some of them used “violent” methods.
Mr. Biden chose to speak at Morehouse after the White House had received invitations from an array of colleges. It will be the third time in four years that he addressed graduates of a historically Black institution; he also speaks at the graduation of one military academy each year.
“The nation needs somewhere that can visualize for us the ability to hold the tensions that in so many ways are threatening to divide our society, that have divided some of the most venerable campuses in the country,” Thomas said, adding “that’s what Morehouse was born for.”
Morehouse and other Historically Black colleges and universities have been largely free of turmoil, and even though there is anger over the war, it is not clear if the students are angry or not.
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.
Commencements, Protesters Deliver Messages in Many Ways: Dr. Benjamin Bayliss, President Biden, and other alumni of Morehouse
The reasons stem from political, cultural and socioeconomic differences with other institutions of higher learning. While H.B.C.U.s have a variety of political views, domestic concerns are more important than foreign policy to most students. Many started lower on the economic ladder and are more intently focused on their education and their job prospects after graduation.
But the college might appear politically safer for the president to visit than many others. Morehouse is a place that undergraduates don’t step on the grass in the middle of campus until they graduate. 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.
“I feel like the protests do need to come out, because if you don’t see students advocating for what they believe in, then the change that they’re advocating for will never come about,” said Benjamin Bayliss, a Morehouse junior. The statue of Dr. King is in front of a chapel that was named after the civil rights leader, and he pointed out that the weight of what King did must be carried on.
Vice President Harris is going to take a virtual tour of historically Black colleges that she graduated from. A congratulatory video she recorded will be played for graduates at 44 H.B.C.U.s; she is often introduced as a surprise guest and greeted with cheers.
Mr. Perrin believes that she was trying to gain an idea of students’ issues with his coming. “And what would kind of shift that narrative.”
Source: At Commencements, Protesters Deliver Messages in Many Ways
Why do black students protest? How much do students think about the choice of presidents? What kind of leadership do young people need to protest?
As some students feel compelled to protest, outside factors can affect their decisions. The H.B.C.U.s and Morehouse students are at least 75% qualified for a federal aid program for low-income students. More than 80 percent of 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.
Some students at Black colleges also may decide against protesting because of family pressure, which amplifies the importance of securing their degrees.
“Your student body at Columbia is very different than the student body at, say, Dillard,” said Walter Kimbrough, who spent a decade as president of Dillard University, a historically Black institution in New Orleans. It doesn’t mean people aren’t worried. They understand that there are different kinds 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 interested in voting because they are upset with the choice between Vice President Biden and Donald J. Trump.
“I think it’s really just picking the lesser of two evils,” said Freddrell Rhea Green II, a Morehouse freshman. I think anything better than Donald Trump, a quote unquote tyrant, is better for me.
Samuel Livingston is a professor of Africana studies at Morehouse and said that Joe Biden is probably a nice person. “But niceness is not the level of leadership that we need. We need ethical leadership. And continuing to support the aiding, abetting and the stripping of Palestinian land, from Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is not ethical.”
Source: At Commencements, Protesters Deliver Messages in Many Ways
When the Gaza Conflict confronts Senator Raphael Warnock: What he tells about the ‘Naked Men’ of the U.S.
As a senior working in journalism and a member of the student government, Auzzy Byrdsell supports his classmates’ protests but is worried about the police response to a large group of Black 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.
“I think he does more important things than what he says,” Mr. Warnock said, trying to put himself in the shoes of a student protester.