University leaders face calls for accountability after crackdowns on pro-Palestinian encampments

Pro-Palestinian activists have launched encampments at more than 70 campuses to bring attention to Israel’s monthslong military assault on the Gaza Strip and to demand that schools divest from companies doing business with the country.

Pro-Palestinian activists have launched encampments at more than 70 campuses to bring attention to Israel’s monthslong military assault on the Gaza Strip and to demand that schools divest from companies doing business with the country. The nationwide movement has led to clashes with police and more than 2,300 protesters being arrested in the past few weeks, according to an NBC News tally.

Now, as many students face legal and disciplinary action and universities are reassessing commencement plans, school communities are expressing frustration with administrators’ management of campus protests.

On Wednesday, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters formed an encampment at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus in New York City. The school called on the New York Police Department to assist, and police arrested 15 protesters.

In a statement addressed to the school community released later that evening, Fordham President Tania Tetlow characterized the encampment inside the Leon Lowenstein academic building and the protest directly outside as “different” from previously held events on the college campus, and added that “hundreds of protesters came from elsewhere.”

“We draw the line at intrusions into a classroom building, especially by people who are not members of our community. (There is a difference between free speech and people barging into your home to shout.),” she wrote.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/college-campus-encampments-accountability-rcna150717

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