Civics Lessons

What should universities learn from the Gaza protests?

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

We are now well into June, and most college and university students have left campus for the summer or graduated onto the next chapter of their lives. The pro-Palestinian student encampments that so divided campuses and captured vast media attention have been largely disbanded. But the controversy over them remains: Across the country, students are still facing disciplinary measures and criminal penalties; in the fall, should this horror show of a war continue, protests and encampments may rise en masse again.

Students who were arrested or penalized by their schools for breaking the law or school policies are now agitating for leniency or total amnesty. Some have been denied degrees, or seen their degrees delayed; some have criminal charges hanging over their heads. Many adopt the view of one student who told the New York Times that he believes the penalty for engaging in civil disobedience should be “Nothing.”

This is, of course, not how civil disobedience works. Part of the bravery of breaking unjust laws is in the willingness to face the consequences. The idea that students (or anyone) should be able to occupy buildings, cause significant damage, or cordon of communal spaces for indefinite periods without consequences — especially when doing so infringes upon the rights of others to use and move through shared space, and when some of those students are employing rhetoric and strategies that make many other students feel not just unwelcome but discriminated-against or even imperiled — strikes me as some pretty high-key entitlement. It also sets a terrible precedent, something supporters of amnesty for students should consider: How would you feel if you deeply disagreed with the aim of these protests, if they were, say, in opposition to abortion or in support of Donald Trump?

I also think colleges and universities should offer these students a one-time amnesty deal and let everyone move on.