The Holocaust in Gaza: Students’ grieved at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Memorial Stadium
Graduation ceremonies at a handful of universities across the country faced light disruptions over the weekend, as pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged walkouts, chants, and waved Palestinian flags during commencement speeches.
In Memorial Stadium, dozens of graduates stood from their seats in the center of the field with signs stating “Divest” because of the war in Gaza. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a small group of students carrying a Palestinian flag staged a silent protest at Camp Randall Stadium. At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, pro-Palestinian demonstrators splashed red paint on the steps of a building hours before the commencement ceremony.
Other schools, including Northwestern and Brown, have reached agreements with students to take at least some of their demands into consideration. The latest agreement came Sunday, when student protestors at Johns Hopkins University agreed to take down their encampment – which began on April 29 – after the university promised to review students’ demand for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Christ said he was deeply troubled by the terrible tragedy, adding that they feel passionately about the violence in Gaza.
Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza eight months ago in response to a surprise attack by Hamas. More than 1,200 people were killed in the attack, while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
U.S. Senator Ben Morehouse, a Black Campus, Solves Students’ Dispatch of a UC Berkeley Protest of Antisemitism
A group of 500 people ignored warnings and gathered in an empty section of the stadium where they sang calls to boycott Israel as speeches continued at Berkeley.
Students at UC Berkeley have been the most vocal in their call for the university to sever ties with Israel, but recent protests have also been met with accusations of antisemitism from members of the campus’s Jewish community.
Known for being the birthplace of the free speech movement of the 1960s, the university has been dealing with two federal investigations relating to charges of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack — one from the Department of Education, the other by Republicans in Congress.
Many students at Virginia Commonwealth University walked out of the graduation ceremony to protest the speech that Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin gave.
The university’s NAACP chapter criticized the school’s decision to invite Youngkin over his efforts to unravel policies which promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.
The tip line put in place by the governor to report faculty who were teaching “divisive concepts” in schools is no longer functioning, according to the letter.
Mr. Biden has been trailed by Gaza protesters for months. He spoke to a group of college students at George Mason University in Virginia in January, but demonstrators interrupted him at least 10 times.
Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said he was “fully in support” of Biden speaking at the university.
“The nation needs somewhere that can visualize for us the ability to hold the tensions that in so many ways are threatening to divide our society, that have divided some of the most venerable campuses in the country,” Thomas said, adding “that’s what Morehouse was born for.”
Morehouse College has not seen much of a public protest over the Gaza war in Atlanta, rather than on the campus lawns.
As President Biden prepares to give a graduation address this month at an historically Black school, the White House is signaling concern about the potential for protests.
Then, on Friday, the White House dispatched the leader of its public engagement office and one of its most senior Black officials, Stephen K. Benjamin, to the Morehouse campus for meetings to take the temperature of students, faculty members and administrators.
What Would Students Do About Morehouse College? A Virtual Tour of Howard University and Howard University, where a Black Black Black Student volunteered to Come to Howard University
The reasons stem from political, cultural and socioeconomic differences with other institutions of higher learning. While H.B.C.U.s host a range of political views, domestic concerns tend to outweigh foreign policy in the minds of most students. Many started lower on the economic ladder and are more intently focused on their education and their job prospects after graduation.
But the college might appear politically safer for the president to visit than many others. Morehouse is a custom-bound place where undergraduates traditionally do not step on the grass in the heart of campus until they receive their degrees. It is not only for students but also for their family and community friends, which makes it a less likely site for a major disruption.
A member of the 1995 class of Morehouse College was one of the people who tried to get Mr. Biden to come to the school.
“The Morehouse College graduation, at least as I remember it, is a very solemn event,” he said. There are almost 500 African American males walking across that stage, whose parents andgrandparents sacrificed and those students put in the time and effort to get into Morehouse. That’s a very significant day. And I’m just not sure whether students or protesters are going to interfere with that solemn moment.”
Vice President Harris, who graduated from Howard University, another historically Black institution, is engaged in her own virtual tour of such colleges. A video she recorded for the graduating class at 44H.B.C.U.s will be shown; she is often welcomed as a surprise guest and greeted with cheers.
Mr. Perrin believes she was just trying to find out what students had in common with his coming. What would be the change in that narrative?
Source: At Commencements, Protesters Deliver Messages in Many Ways
Why Do Black Students Protest? The Impact of the Gaza War and the Gaza Strip on Students’ Decisions at Higher-Bed Campuses in the United States and Beyond
Yet even as some students feel compelled to protest, outside factors can shape their decisions. Roughly 75 percent of students at H.B.C.U.s, including 50 percent of Morehouse students, are eligible for the Pell Grant, a federal aid program for low-income students. Morehouse students receive a high percentage of financial aid. In the Class of 2024, nearly a third of graduates will be the first in their family to receive a bachelor’s degree.
Some students at Black colleges also may decide against protesting because of family pressure, which amplifies the importance of securing their degrees.
“Your student body at Columbia is very different from the student body at Dillard University,” said Walter Kimbrough, who was president of Dillard University for a decade. “It doesn’t mean that people aren’t concerned. They are aware that they have different kinds of stakes.
The stakes are high for Mr. Biden, whose support with black voters has waned ahead of the presidential election. Young people aren’t as enthusiastic about voting because of Mr. Biden’s handling of the Gaza war, as well as the choice between him and Trump.
Morehouse freshman Freddrell Rhea Green II thinks it’s just the lesser of two evils. “Anything better than Donald Trump, a madman, a quote unquote tyrant, is better for me.”
Samuel Livingston, an associate professor of Africana Studies at Morehouse, said that Joe Biden is probably a very nice person. “But niceness is not the level of leadership that we need. We need to be ethical in our leadership. The support of aiding and abetting the stripping of Palestinian land from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is not ethical.
Source: At Commencements, Protesters Deliver Messages in Many Ways
Auzzy Byrdsell, the student protester at Morehouse, Fla., April 21, 1997, a longtime friend of Auzzy Warnock
Some students, like Auzzy Byrdsell, a senior studying kinesiology and journalism, support their classmates’ protests but fear a possible response from the police to a crowd of largely Black young men.
The senator said he hoped the president would highlight his record but that there wasn’t anything he could do to soothe his critics at Morehouse.
Mr. Warnock said he thought more important that what he said was what he did in the future.
