Earlier this week, some faculty members at the University of California, Los Angeles, held emergency calls with students who had actively participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
“We got a very clear message from them: 'We feel unsafe and we want you to work with us to resolve this,'” said Graham Blair, associate professor of political science. '' he recalls.
At that moment, dozens of faculty activists volunteered to join students in a 24-hour rotation at an encampment on campus.
And in the dark hours of Thursday morning, as police cracked down on the protests, these teachers linked arms with students and allowed themselves to be arrested.
This was one of the clearest examples of the little-noticed fact of student demonstrations against the war in Gaza. A small number of faculty members from UCLA, Columbia and other universities reportedly provided logistical and moral support to the protesters.
Some faculty members have formal relationships with Palestine Justice Faculty and Staff, a counterpart to Palestine Justice Students, a decentralized national network of pro-Palestinian organizations.
Others are not necessarily sympathetic to the Palestinian cause but believe they have a moral obligation to protect the free speech and welfare of students who are facing the biggest disruption to their educational lives since the pandemic.
“It's a betrayal that they would call the police on our students,” said Columbia University history professor Stephanie McCurry, who watched the perimeter of the post before the final police sweep Tuesday morning.
The issue split the departments at these universities. Many say that activist professors are glorifying the demonstrations that have thrown campuses into chaos.
“It's sad to end the semester,” said James Applegate, a professor of astronomy at Columbia University.
At Columbia University, some faculty members visited the camp to express support for the students' message before it was cleared by police. They delivered food and water, integrated protests into classes, participated in panel discussions, and stood guard outside the perimeter to make it harder for authorities to remove students.
Camille Lobusis, a history professor at Columbia University, said faculty members didn't always agree with students' opinions about Gaza. But, she said, “I believe above all in their right to protest.”
During the past few chaotic days, they communicated with each other through Listservs and the encrypted Signal app, signing up for time slots that appeared on campus.
In response, pro-Israel faculty and students formed their own WhatsApp and email support groups.
“They were really helpful,” said Carol Ewing Garber, professor of applied physiology at Teachers College, an affiliate of Columbia University. “They actually brought together people who had never met before. That was a ray of hope.”
Bruce Robbins, a professor of English at Columbia University, is one of the more committed to the Palestinian cause and is a member of Columbia University's Palestine Justice Faculty Chapter.
He took one of his classmates to his tent as part of a course studying atrocities.
“One of the things that the teachers who supported the camps did was teach classes inside the camps,” he said.
Two students, whom he believed to be former members of the Israeli military, did not show up for the class.
“I was trying to be as comfortable as possible,” he said. “But I don't think the atmosphere in the class was in their favor. That might be why they didn't come to school.”
At one point, students asked faculty to help protect them, Robbins said. “We were called 'de-escalator'.”
Several faculty members wore orange safety vests and “were given some simple training to avoid getting into fights. If they push us away, just push them away and let them pass,” he said. Ta.
“I played soccer,” he said. “It wasn't my instinct to try to defuse the tension. But that's what I was there for.”
Dr. Applegate, a professor of astronomy, believed that faculty participation in campus protests was part of the glorification of Vietnam-era anti-war protests.
“They are trying to relive 1968,” he said, referring to the violent clashes with police that rocked Colombia at the time. “I don’t think they’re going to have an intelligent conversation with anyone.”
At UCLA, Dr. Blair said members of the Palestine School of Justice helped negotiate with the administration.
Teachers have “sometimes hired experts to train them in de-escalating physical and verbal conflicts, with the idea that they can help teachers fulfill this role,” he said. .
Dr. Blair also invited his sister Susannah Blair, an adjunct lecturer in art history at Columbia University, to share her experience with about 75 UCLA faculty members. On Zoom, she said most of the students were hungry to talk about what they were going through, even though their backgrounds and experiences were different.
“Their libraries are currently closed,” she said in an interview. “It's the finals. They had their friends arrested. Some of them were protesting genocide, and this deeply disrupted every aspect of their lives.”
UCLA's crisis reached its climax on Thursday morning.
Dr. Blair said the protesters learned the regime was trying to close down the camp.
“The teachers were there to stand in front of the students and testify in order to be the first arrestees,” he said. “We were watching from our vantage point as the California Highway Patrol targeted weapons with non-lethal munitions. We asked them not to point their weapons at the students.”
In the end, about 200 protesters and about 10 faculty members were arrested, Dr. Blair said. Many were lecturers and assistant professors who did not have tenure protection, he said, adding: “It remains to be seen what the outcome will be.”
Stephanie Saul Contributed to the report. Susan C. Beachy and Kirsten Noyes Contributed to research.