Reignited protests on the syllabus for fall semester
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Students and universities are preparing for a reinvigorated pro-Palestinian protest movement this fall, following a boiling point during the spring semester. But it's unclear exactly how demonstrations will manifest.
The big picture: Fervent protests over the Biden administration's position on Israel could derail the burgeoning candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris, who has largely managed to avoid the left's ire since she launched her presidential candidacy last month.
Driving the news: Columbia University president Minouche Shafik resigned from her role on Wednesday, citing reflection throughout the summer that her departure would equip the school to better handle "challenges ahead."
- A demonstration calling for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel immediately followed Shafik's resignation, per social media posts from Columbia's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
- Interim president Katrina Armstrong said she's coming into the role during a "pivotal moment" at the university.
State of play: Some students spent the summer learning from seasoned organizers and are ready to put pressure on their universities again, NPR reported. Others, still suffering from police injuries or administrative reprimands, might take the bench.
- Students are figuring out a "new strategy" to demand their universities divest from Israel, the Hill reported.
Catch up quick: Protests across the nation last year reached an inflection point as the school year was ending, with Columbia as the epicenter of the movement.
- Nearly 3,000 students on more than 60 college campuses were arrested in April and May.
- University administrations faced criticism for involving local law enforcement and instituting academic punishments on students.
Reality check: The student movement in the spring was organic, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Axios.
- He expects that to be the case again this fall. What can be measured, though, is how administrations plan their responses.
- "The key thing is for colleges and universities not to give into outside pressure from elected officials or anti-Palestinian groups to just wildly crack down on these protests or to mischaracterize the protests," he said.
Behind the scenes: Protests in the fall could be under new rules.
- The original text of a bill backed by pro-Israel organizations that is making its way through the California legislature worried First Amendment and civil rights advocates for singling out specific speech. Its amended version still doesn't meet the mark, the Intercept reported.
- Cynthia Valencia, a legislative advocate for American Civil Liberties Union's California Action, spoke out against the bill in testimony before the California legislature earlier this summer.
- "It calls for the punishment and chilling of speech in the name of civility," Valencia said.
Also in California, a federal judge sided with Jewish students who said protests at UCLA prohibited their access to school grounds. Three Jewish students said the university became a "hotbed of antisemitism" and filed a complaint in June.
- "We're going to see even more of these, where courts are actually trying to grapple with schools' obligation to balance student free expression rights against other students' rights to be protected from bullying and harassment," Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's speech, privacy and technology project, told Axios.
Zoom out: The war in Gaza has persisted, and pro-Palestinian protests as a whole have continued while school has been out of session.
- More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
- Wizner said: "One of the goals of protest and civil disobedience in particular is to draw eyeballs to a situation with the goal of changing hearts, minds and policy."
- "This is why so many college students were willing to actually face arrest in order to call more attention to what they consider to be such a pressing moral imperative," he added.
What we're watching: The one-year anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel is in October, before the election.
- Harris has gone further than President Biden in speaking against Israel's military campaign.
- Her first meeting with a foreign leader since launching her campaign was with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where her content and tone were more critical than Biden's.
Go deeper: Columbia University president resigns over response to Gaza protests
