I run a university – people like me should be backing students’ right to protest over Gaza

[Hume]

Prof Patrizia Nanz is president of the European University Institute
The encampments and most of the protests have been largely peaceful, yet they have at times been brutally repressed. As a university president in Italy, I have watched with dismay the scenes of violence that have unfolded at universities from Amsterdam to Los Angeles and Sydney.

It was good to see some of my counterparts, such as the presidents of Brown and Wesleyan in the US, engage constructively with the students and even accept some of their requests. However, they remain exceptions that underscore how far most academic institutions have drifted away from their main constituency.

I run a university – people like me should be backing students' right to protest over Gaza | Patrizia Nanz

The brutal repression of student protests from Amsterdam to Los Angeles is exposing failings at the heart of our universities, says Patrizia Nanz of the European University Institute

www.theguardian.com

 

[Hume]

Across the world, university students have set up encampments to protest against the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza and put pressure on academic institutions and governments. Whatever one thinks of their message and of their requests, their moral indignation in the face of avoidable human suffering is one we should all be able to share.

 

[Earl]

On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas (a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, or FTO) led surprise attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals (including at least 35 U.S. citizens in Israel) were killed.

Israeli infants were burned alive and beheaded.

The cowards in Hamas are getting what they richly deserve

 

[Kafka]

The whole kerfluffle of the US university campus protests is due in part to a mixture of what SHOULD BE perfectly free speech being presented in academe with the penchant for amped up young people prone to hyperbole. Students tend to get a bit rambunctious with regards to their new-found passions.

I am really most annoyed by the repeated cases where Uni Presidents. are hauled in before the House Un-Israeli Activities Committee and taken to task for not punishing unpleasant speech enough. Yes, students are shouting some really stupid and unpleasant things. On both sides. But that's

(1) part of what it means to be a youth discovering social topics and getting involved (even if a bit TOO much at times)
(2) part of what academe is SUPPOSED to allow.

 

[martin]

Across the world, university students have set up encampments to protest against the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza and put pressure on academic institutions and governments. Whatever one thinks of their message and of their requests, their moral indignation in the face of avoidable human suffering is one we should all be able to share.

We should at least respect it.

 

[Hume]

We should at least respect it.

Resect it, yes. Send in cops to beat up students, no.