The 100-year-old annual honors convention at the University of Michigan is usually a colorful affair, complete with pipe organ music and golf applause.
This year's event was different. Demonstrators rose from their seats and unfurled a banner with the words “Liberate Palestine” written in red paint. They shouted, “You are financing genocide!”
University officials were unable to continue with the ceremony and called it quits as hundreds of disappointed students and their parents rose to leave.
Two days after the prestigious convocation, the university's president, Santa J. Ono, issued a harsh rebuke: “Enough is enough.”
“Like many of you, I am proud of the university’s history of protest,” he said. “But none of us should be proud of what happened on Sunday.” He said schools will draft new policies to redefine what can be punished as disruptive behavior. Announced.
It's not just the University of Michigan.
After years of often lax enforcement of their own rules, some of the nation's most high-profile educational institutions have become more drastic, suspending and even expelling students. It has become. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, and Brown University recently took swift and decisive action against student protesters, including arrests.
And on Thursday, Columbia University sent in the New York City Police Department to make arrests after a student protest that set up dozens of tents on campus reached a breaking point. The arrests follow Wednesday's congressional testimony in which Columbia University President Nemat Shafik said the school sent a clear message to students that cheating will not be tolerated.
University officials have faced criticism from alumni, donors and Republican lawmakers, but in interviews they also expressed a keen sense of a breakdown in civility on campus.
Recently, some student movements have become so disruptive that they are not only interfering with our ability to provide education, but also causing many students, especially Jewish students, to fear for their safety. they say.
As many universities are learning, readjustment is not always easy. Efforts by administrators to take back some authority over campus protests have been met with backlash from students, faculty and civil liberties groups. They argue that the university's role is to encourage discussion, not to try to hide it, even if it is messy, rude or disruptive. .
Campus activists said the university's aggressive enforcement of student disciplinary procedures is a new and alarming development. “This is an escalation,” said Rosie Fitzgerald of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, a nonprofit that tracks schools' responses to student protesters.
Suspensions and expulsions “used to not be a tactic,” she said. “But now we think it's an immediate reaction.”
In his testimony to Congress, Dr. Shafiq revealed that 15 students at Columbia University have been suspended in recent weeks. The school also said it had decided to request assistance from the New York City Police Department for protests for the first time in 50 years.
Vanderbilt University has announced what appears to be the first student expulsion for protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. More than 20 demonstrators stormed the university's president's office, injuring a security guard and breaking windows. and occupied it for over 20 hours. Vanderbilt suspended all students who participated in the demonstration. Three people were expelled.
Student protests have a history of destructive and sometimes violent behavior, dating from the Vietnam War era to the present day. Since the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016, many campuses have become particularly volatile places, with angry demonstrations against conservative speakers on the rise and some protesting out of concern for their safety. Some people have had their invitations declined.
Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7 has sparked a new wave of protests, which university administrators and free speech advocates say poses new challenges. In interviews, they said they encountered students who were reluctant to engage when invited by administrators, were quick to use aggressive and sometimes physical language, and often wore masks to hide their true identities. Stated.
“When I talk to my fellow university presidents, I see that everyone is going through the same experience,” said Vanderbilt University President Daniel Diermeyer. He said the experience typically involves facing off against a small group of about a dozen uncompromising students.
“They're not interested in dialogue. They don't participate even if they're invited to dialogue,” Dr. Diermeyer said. “They are interested in protests and disruption.”
“That's not true,” he added.
Seven students were suspended from Southern California's Pomona College this month after a group of protesters protesting the removal of the Palestinian-backed apartheid wall broke into the Oval Office.
School leaders said the incident involved students wearing face coverings setting up a tent on a portion of campus in violation of Pomona policy, harassing staff and visitors on campus tours, and then revealing their identity. He said it was part of a troubling pattern of people not coming forward when asked. .
Tracy Alwari, Pomona College's assistant vice president for student affairs, said it was impossible to know whether university officials were even engaging with actual Pomona students, much less have an open conversation. Ta.
“The same way we think about anonymity in Internet communications, it's very difficult to have an argument when you don't know who you're arguing with,” Alwari said.
But as universities consider how to curtail protests, there is a risk of overreach.
“The last six months have truly tested the principles governing speech on campus,” said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, a writers organization focused on supporting free expression. Ta.
On the other hand, schools need room to set rules. But Nossel said there's a tension between wanting to enforce rules and recognizing that college is a place of learning. You want people to make mistakes without facing lifelong consequences. This is because being too high-handed can make this feeling of dissatisfaction even stronger.
Students who faced harsh discipline said they felt the process was sudden and disorienting. Ezri Tyler, a second-year gender studies major who participated in the sit-in at the presidential mansion, said students who were suspended at Vanderbilt University were barred from campus and were not allowed to stay in their dorm rooms.
“Students were panicking and very confused,” Tyler said, adding that the school's procedures appeared to be “deliberately designed to deny students due process.” She said her suspension has been lifted and she is now on 15 months' probation.
Dr. Diermeier said schools have to draw the line somewhere. “This has nothing to do with free speech. It's a dangerous red herring,” he said, adding that no one has the right to harass.
But as universities take a more assertive stance, they face resistance from students, faculty, and outside human rights groups who say they are stifling the very freedom of expression that academia values.
For example, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan said that Michigan's draft policy on disruptive conduct was too vague and broad to prohibit conduct that obstructs campus traffic or disrupts lectures and performances. It has been criticized by the state branch.
“Of course, universities are faced with massive disruptions that may make it impossible for them to completely cancel official events or make it physically impossible for speakers to get their messages across,” said Dan Korobkin, legal director of the ACLU of Michigan. There is a legitimate interest in banning it.”
“But we cannot demand complete passivity from everyone who steps on campus,” he added.
“Our goal in the draft Disruptive Activities Policy was to make the policy more clear and ensure that important terminology is clear,” University of Michigan spokeswoman Colleen Mastney said.
The university is seeking feedback on the draft, and Dr. Ono said in a recent letter to students and faculty that there is “no rush to develop this new policy.” We ensure that all voices have the opportunity to be heard. ”
At Vanderbilt University, Dr. Diermeyer founded the Future of Free Speech initiative to promote free expression beyond the university campus. In an interview, the program's director, Jacob Machangama, said he had a disagreement with Dr. Diermeier over the handling of the student occupation of the Oval Office, including when a reporter from a local newspaper was arrested by police. He stated that. Event.
However, he added that some students are willing to push the boundaries of acceptable behavior, which requires a response from educators. It's the professor's job to say, “Here's the red line,'' Machangama said. “And that's one of the problems plaguing universities across the country.”