Christopher Brown, the esteemed historian of slavery and abolition at Columbia University, recently spoke, draped in his Oxford University gown, at a rally in support of the student protesters on campus. He also said Columbia president Minouche Shafik should be fired for calling the police on the protesters.
Watch:
Although I am sure Brown would disagree with me, this is a complicated issue. Of course we want to defend the right of free speech on college and university campuses. But when does such speech become antisemitic and threaten the safety of Jewish students on campus? If you’ve been following this story, you know the line between free speech and antisemitism has already been crossed.
I’d encourage you to listen to Brown’s speech about police on Columbia’s campus alongside Northern State University political scientist Jon Schaff’s post today at The Arena. Also see the piece today by Brown’s colleague John McWhorter.
For another view from a Columbia student: Like I said last night there have certainly been antisemitic incidents, some on campus but mostly associated with outside demonstrations. But based on what I have personally witnessed and heard from others, including Jewish students many of whom are playing a large role in the protests and encampment and have already been arrested and suspended, some individual instances are being seized upon by the news media and blown way out of proportion. I don’t agree with every slogan but I am fully supportive of the primary demands and the student movement has been very respectful and peaceful and if you go on the encampment it really feels like a well organized community.
We just received an email from shafik stating that the encampment has to go so I would not be surprised if nypd are called on campus a second time. That’s not going to solve anything it’s just going to escalate tensions and make everyone even angrier and more energized
And the demand to ban masking is absurd. The reason we are wearing masks on campus is because the administration and nypd are surveilling campus to identify who is participating in protests or entering the lawn. The administration told us in an email yesterday that that would be identifying and disciplining students who join protests or enter the lawn.
The student newspaper has also reported that they are using private investigators. And my professor who is also the director of the institute for the study of human rights informed us yesterday that they have put up security cameras all over campus
So the antisemitism is terrible, but I think it’s only been made worse by the administrative actions, which are what triggered all the outside protests to begin with. And my main concern is the increasingly militarized environment and the surveillance and republicans literally calling to bring the national guard onto campus to crush protests.
Which I’m sure I don’t have to remind you is what lead to four dead students at Kent state
So while I appreciate the fox news articles and inflammatory CNN opinion pieces, these are my takes on the situation as someone who is actually living though this and on campus every day.
The Inquirer piece reflects similar views to what my daughter expressed above. In addition, with so much talk about how Jewish students are feeling threatened and unsafe, my kid has also talked about feeling unsafe as a result of the police presence, is concerned that overblown media reports will result in some shooter showing up and is worried that Columbia administrators will take punitive action not only against demonstrators, but those watching or even just walking around in the same area as the demonstrators.