The University of Chicago has built a brand around the idea that students should not be afraid to encounter ideas and opinions with which they disagree.
To make that point, the school provides new students with a copy of its 2014 Free Speech Declaration (known as the Chicago Statement), which states that freedom of expression is an “essential element” of the school's culture. ing.
And the university has long maintained a policy of institutional neutrality, strongly discouraging companies from withdrawing from companies for political reasons or making statements that align with social causes. This neutrality, the university claims, allows for a robust and unfettered exchange of ideas.
Many professors proudly say the school's commitment to these principles has seen them through two world wars, Vietnam, and, most recently, the turmoil of the Trump administration. Additionally, more than 100 educational institutions have adopted or endorsed similar principles.
But the University of Chicago's image as a citadel of free speech is being tested again – this time at the Central District encampment where protesters of Israel's war in Gaza have refused to leave for more than a week. It's about.
The university has allowed dozens of tents to be erected, despite violating regulations prohibiting the construction of structures in public spaces. President Paul Alivisatos said the school wanted to show “the greatest possible scope for freedom of expression.”
Currently, the university wants the encampment to be removed, citing disruption to student life and a decline in civility on campus.
So far, negotiations between the two sides have made no progress. The university announced in a statement Sunday night that talks had been suspended.
Student protesters consider the government's demands hypocritical.
“The university continues to criticize this point regarding free speech,” Youssef Hathweh, a fourth-year political science major, said at Saturday’s rally on the Quad.
He said the school told protesters, “'We give you your First Amendment rights. We are one of the only universities that gives them that, so we “He is a good man,'' he said.
But in his view, the Chicago Speech Principles are just a fig leaf. “It's like they're using it to silence us.”
Across the country, camps are forcing administrators and students to wrestle with the outer limits of free speech. Students argue that the tents are a form of speech, but for administrators, the tents violate rules regarding physical space and campus disruption.
Should academic institutions ignore their policies against subversive speech, even if many Jewish students feel their very identity is under attack? When do protests dominate campuses to the point where dissent is drowned out? And what happens when encampments overwhelm student life and drums and chants affect studying for finals?
Some schools reached agreements with demonstrators that allowed them to lower temperatures, at least temporarily. The students then cleared the encampment.
But as Chicago leaders look for ways to collapse the tent, they may not find many satisfying options. Calling the police risks the kind of unrest that no school principal wants to see happen on their watch. And a quad full of tents isn't ideal when families arrive for graduation, either.
But in some ways, the debate over encampments is as much about a culture of debate and dissent as it is about free speech. Students who are old enough to learn about concepts like safe spaces are now accusing universities of silencing what they call anti-Semitism.
Jeffrey Stone, a law professor at the university who oversaw the 2014 Chicago statement, said some nuance was lost. While the First Amendment protects people's right to “say things that frighten others,” Stone said, “I want to say to students and to the public, 'You should try not to do that.' 'That's it,' he said. You need to convey your message in a polite and respectful manner. ”
tent, music, disruption
The University of Chicago Quad pulsed with the noise of protests all weekend. The encampment, a mini-village of more than 100 tents, is just a few steps from the building that houses the Oval Office.
At any given time, the area was crowded with dozens of students, all enjoying the unseasonably warm spring weather. Bob Dylan blared through the speakers. “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine is free” were chanted, which many Jews believe is a call for the annihilation of the state of Israel. Slogans written in chalk on the sidewalks included “Continuing to invest is a political statement, not neutrality” and “Chinese Queer Feminists for Palestine.”
Pastor Jesse Jackson also visited.
But the tension was palpable, with some students wearing masks or kaffiyeh to cover their faces. Demonstrators held up blankets to prevent photographers from taking photos. Some Jewish students were walking home from church services, passing signs that read “Globalize the Intifada'' and “Jews now must cease fire.''
When student demonstrators first set up camp on April 29, University President Dr. Alivisatos sent a clear message to the demonstrators that his leniency was not indefinite.
But the students insist they intend to remain in the Quad until their demands, which span a range of issues related to or related to the Palestinian cause, are met. These include divestment from investments that fund military operations in Israel. He said genocide and “academic murder” – the destruction of Palestinian universities – was taking place in Gaza. Disband campus police. and halting new building construction in surrounding neighborhoods as a way to stem gentrification.
These people do not appear to be new to the administration due to the City of Chicago's neutrality policy. The company has resisted such pressure before. While other prominent universities in the 1980s heeded student demands to divest from companies doing business in South Africa, the University of Chicago was a notable exception.
But student protester Hasway said the university has also been inconsistent, pointing to statements of support for those affected by the invasion of Ukraine.
For some protesters, Chicago's vaunted free speech principles are a dusty relic, irrelevant when it comes to what's happening in the world, especially when it comes to the war in Gaza, which to them amounts to genocide. appear.
“Just as Procter & Gamble's values are relevant to Procter & Gamble employees, the principles of public speaking are relevant to many students and faculty,” said Anton Ford, an associate professor of philosophy who was at the camp. I can empathize with that,” he said. “We didn't vote for them. The students didn't vote for them. No one asked us about our opinion of them.”
Karrie Meidhoff, who teaches global studies with a focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, advises protesters negotiating with the administration. He said the university was “strategically using” his neutrality position as a means of cracking down on demonstrations.
“I hear people say, 'I love free speech, but this has gone too far,'” Dr. Meidhoff said. “But where is the line when talking about 40,000 deaths? What would be considered excessive?”
And now I'm stuck
On Friday, four days after the camp began, the university sent a solemn message to the demonstrators.
“The encampment cannot continue,” Dr. Alivisatos said in a statement. It caused “systemic chaos on campus,” he continued. “Protesters are monopolizing areas of the main quad at the expense of other members of our community. The obvious policy violations will only increase.”
He added: “The protesters in the camps are ignoring our policies, not following our policies.”
The university accused the student demonstrators of engaging in activities contrary to Chicago culture, including yelling at counter-protesters and destroying an Israeli flag installation. The student newspaper, the Chicago Maroon, reported that at one point over the weekend, protesters used a projector to project a profane and insulting video of Dr. Alivisatos into the main administration building.
This tent city, even an organization dedicated to fostering a culture of agreement to disagree, quells the violence that has led to noisy demonstrations, occupations of buildings, disrupted graduation ceremonies, and arrests at universities across the country. It was a humbling reminder that nothing is possible.
Journalist Jamie Kalven, who has extensively researched free speech and the history of the University of Chicago, says, “If someone designed a stress test that would reveal all the flaws in the student movement and all the unresolved problems in higher education. This is it.” protest.
Kalven's father, Harry Kalven, chaired the committee that established the university's position on political neutrality in 1967. His son said today's impasse reflects how many students on the ivy-covered Chicago campus and elsewhere don't share the school's values. When it comes to political expression.
“It's really amazing how alienated young people are from what I consider the First Amendment tradition,” he says.
And this impasse reflects the extent to which today's combative political climate is also affecting academia.
“The default setting is conflict,” said Ebu Patel, president of Interface America, a Chicago-based nonprofit that promotes interfaith cooperation.
“What was the symbol of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee?” Patel asked, referring to one of the most active civil rights organizations of the 1960s. “It was a two-hander.”
And what is the symbol used by many groups seeking social and political change today? “A fist,” Patel said.
Fourth-year undergraduate Olivia Gross wants young people to more naturally develop the ability to engage productively with people who share different political views.
“I came here to hear opinions that differ from mine,” she said in an interview. “That's what I mean by coming to the University of Chicago. I want to know what you think and why you think that.”
But she said that can be difficult in the current climate.
Students at the campsite had set up tents for a variety of purposes, including welcoming protesters, medical needs, and food, she noted.
“How wonderful it would be to have a tent that encouraged dialogue across differences,” she thought.
bob chiarito Contributed to the report.
