Via Christian Piekos at ABC 7 Chicago:
A Northwestern University spokesperson released the following statement after 11 p.m. on Thursday:
“Today, members of our community, along with individuals unaffiliated with Northwestern, set up an encampment on Deering Meadow, in violation of University policy. Throughout the day, University officials spoke with the demonstrators, including a two-hour meeting with senior administrators this evening, to convey that while we strongly support free expression, the safety of all members of our community cannot and will not be compromised, nor can their expression disrupt the learning environment or University operations. The University offered to let the demonstrators continue to peacefully assemble if they comply with Northwestern policies, including removing tents and ceasing the use of bullhorns and speakers. The offer was declined. The University will move forward with other options to protect the safety of the community and the continued operations of the Evanston campus.”
Tents, bullhorns, and speakers are not protests and do not constitute protected speech. Furthermore, the Northwestern campus is private property.
IMO the university should be checking IDs and having individuals who are not enrolled arrested and removed.
I agreed but, my God, make them show their papers? Can’t you already hear them chanting? Nazis!
In the aftermath of the horrors of WW II, and the discovery of the death camps, Europe’s Ashkenazi Jews had the sympathies of people everywhere. “Never again” was the universal opinion.
But, the establishment of Israel in Palestine was a colonial project, and the Ashkenazi colonists had to ethnically cleanse the natives out of the natives’ own land. That was a bloody affair, and it is still continuing. And the cleansing affects both native Muslims and native Christians. Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, Smotrich et al. believe there is no place for non-Jews between “the River and the Sea,” and they intend to expel all non-Jews and take all of the land.
The demonstrations are well-lead well-coordinated, well-funded, and well-equipped by national leftist organizations. Once these were controlled by Jewish interests, but open borders has consequences, and the great majority of immigrants, legal and illegal, are anti-Semitic, homophobic, and partriarchal. Rashida Tlaib is the face and future of the Democrat Party.
But the demonstrations are not occurring in a vacuum. Over 7 months of open, in-your-face genocide of Palestinian Muslims and Christians, some 35,000 civilians killed, did not go unnoticed. And now the sympathies that once accrued to the Ashkenazi Jews, now accrue to their Palestinian victims.
Old people cling to the myths of their youth; young people find new myths.
AFAICT off campus people are causing the most issues, or at least the Jewish students participating think so. Checking IDs makes sense. It’s a private campus so they can do whatever they want, there is no right to free speech. Still, it seems like a massive over reaction. Tents are a danger to your safety? Seriously? Have them far enough away that bullhorns arent a bother. (Traveling yesterday. Detoured just to drive by one of the universities Fox had denounced for having unsafe, violent, anti semitic protests. I saw 2 tents and about a dozen people sitting on the grass.)
Steve
A coincidence or not?
I just realized that the students that are participating are likely from the classes admitted during the pandemic when most universities went “test optional”.
Over the past year; a growing number of “test optional” universities rescinded the decision.
@Curious, I do find it odd that the protests at colleges are rising at the same time that the semester is ending. My kids are busy, almost anxious, with papers to complete and tests to study for. I was at one of the universities that had arrests involving an encampment that I didn’t see when I visited a couple of weeks ago, but apparently was present during finals week.