University of Michigan Graduation Palestinian Protests Spark National Debate on Free Speech and Campus Safety

2024-05-07 00:00 United Daily News Edition At the University of Michigan graduation ceremony held at Ann Arbor Stadium on the 4th, about 75 Pakistani students marched.

In recent months, pro-Palestinian demonstrations have occurred on American university campuses and have become increasingly violent. It was mostly students from Columbia University who set up a camp to protest on campus in the 1960s. Under internal and external political pressure, the school has adopted a non-tolerant attitude towards protests, more than 2,000 people have been arrested.

This issue can be seen from three levels. The first is freedom of speech, especially on campus. Freedom of speech should not be restricted, but due to the vicious anti-Semitic and anti-Palestinian arguments on campus, some Jewish students feel intimidated and do not want to go to school. For this reason, Jewish groups and donors outside the school requested that the school authorities must take measures to stop anti-Semitic behavior. At congressional hearings late last year, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University called for “full freedom of speech,” but they were forced to back down again, forcing the schools to turn around .

The second is for the rule of law. Students who live on campus to express protest are still within the realm of free speech; however, Columbia students living in administrative buildings and damaging public property are illegal. Columbia University reported the incident, and New York City police entered the campus to arrest students in an attempt to enforce the law. In this regard, the majority of American public opinion believed that there was something wrong with the students.

Third, external forces intervene. New York City police said 47% of those arrested at Columbia and City College were outside the schools. The mayor of New York calls these people “off-campus activists” and is actively investigating their identities, but many of them are familiar faces who participated in the “Black Lives Matter Movement” and the “Occupy Wall Street Movement.” A popular conspiracy theory is that the demonstrators want to cause chaos and force US foreign policy to disengage from Israel.

This student movement is supposed to influence American politics and the November presidential election. First of all, this student movement is very similar to the student movement against the Vietnam War in 1968. Both parties were fighting an unpopular war under a Democratic president. Back then, it was President Johnson who fought the Vietnam War this year, it is President Biden who supports Israel in hunting Palestinians in Gaza. At that time, Johnson and now Biden both wanted to seek re-election, and the Democratic Party conventions were both held in Chicago. Johnson had to announce later that he would not be re-elected, and now Biden is carrying the case.

However, the two student presentations were completely different. The biggest difference is that there was a version of the system back then. The environment of American campus politics today is more complex than it was then. While mainstream media and politicians continue to stand against Jew-hatred and support Israel, live online broadcasts and social media are adding fuel to the flames, which could have a major impact on the upcoming US elections.

This student movement is a real test for Biden, and the Chicago Congress in August is more likely to be a disaster. The Democrats can now only hope that, with the summer holidays approaching, students will disperse peacefully after June and not start a political movement again. Meanwhile, in light of the 1970 incident in which National Guardsmen shot and killed students at Kent State University, Biden has announced that the National Guardsmen will not be allowed to enter the campus until they plant fuel to the fire.

However, support for Biden among young voters under the age of 30 is currently in sharp decline, falling to 45%, just eight percentage points ahead of Trump. Compared to four years ago, Biden led Trump by 23 percentage points, and the situation is more dangerous. While young voters won’t move to Trump, they can boycott by not voting, and that will have a major impact in some areas with small margins.

Biden said he would promote military peace negotiations between Israel and Kazakhstan as soon as possible, release enemies, and provide refugee relief to reduce domestic discontent. However, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu still wants to attack Rafah and wants to eliminate Hamas completely. If he acts, millions of Palestinian refugees will have nowhere to flee, which will increase anti-Israel sentiment in the United States. By then, the level of student protests may be as great as those against the Vietnam War.

editorial

Additional reading