A Blueprint for How College Campuses Should Address pro-Palestinian Demonstrations
In my capacity as CEO of Crowds on Demand for the past 12 years, our company has organized over a thousand demonstrations, large and small. We have always gotten our messages across loud and clear, yet we have never had an arrest, injury, or physical conduct onsite or engaged in illegal activities. The recent pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place at college campuses across the nation have put college administrators in a bind between giving in to student activists’ demands to be able to shut down the campus and the demand from well-heeled donors to expel and discipline the students.
As someone who organizes First Amendment activities, I strongly believe in freedom of speech. However, it is not tenable for college campuses to allow student activists to completely shut down campuses, as the “CHOP”/”CHAZ” activists did in Seattle in the Summer of 2020. Given the need to balance free speech with society’s functioning, I think it’s worthwhile to share my thoughts on how that can be achieved.
To that end, I thought it might be worthwhile to share my thoughts on a resolution.
#1: Zero Tolerance for Violent Acts
Acts of violence by demonstrators cannot be tolerated because they infringe on the rights of passersby, counterprotesters, and the broader community. Reports of Jewish students being attacked, threatened, and harassed are unacceptable. It is equally inappropriate for demonstrators wearing Palestinian paraphernalia to be threatened. There is no such thing as violent protest; it is merely violence under the guise of protest. Anyone engaging in violence should be arrested and punished harshly.
#2: First Amendment Zones in Prominent Locations
Students on both sides of the Israel/Palestine issue deserve the ability to peacefully and prominently make their views heard. Campuses should establish First Amendment zones where demonstrations can be carried out. One challenge with “first amendment zones” that we have experienced outside major events (Academy Awards, Super Bowl, etc.) is that they are far away from the action and purposefully designed to keep speech outside of where it can be prominently heard and displayed. That is unacceptable.
Suppose campuses want the pro-Palestinian students to stop disruptive and illegal campus takeover protests (which they should), then they must be given a reasonable alternative that lets them speak. Demonstrators should be allowed to be outside major administration buildings, entrances to campus, and other key locations. Campus authorities should ensure that both sides are allowed to protest and make their views heard. While the pro-Israel groups are smaller in number, they deserve an equal chance to speak and be heard without disruption.
#3: No Collective Punishment
It is unacceptable to hold all demonstrators accountable for the acts of some. Individuals perpetrating violence or property destruction should be held accountable as individuals. It is wrong to even contemplate using RICO statutes to attempt to label protesters as some type of organized crime syndicate and subsequently charge all of them with the worst acts. In the United States, we act as individuals with our own agency and, therefore, must be punished and held accountable as individuals.
It is also critical to note that in almost every large demonstration, outside agitators and anarchists present themselves in many cases, hoping for an excuse to cause chaos under the guise of being activists. Actions by this small minority mustn’t infringe on the students’ right to speak.
#4: Separate Speech from Actions (and Protect Speech)
In the landmark case National Socialists of America v. Skokie, the Supreme Court affirmed the right of Nazis to hold a march through a predominantly Jewish community home to many holocaust survivors. By affirming the right of even the most offensive and vile speech to take place, they also protected the right of Civil Rights, Gay Rights, BLM, MAGA, and every other movement to make its voice heard provided that voice is non-violent.
While students chanting “From the River to the Sea” might be misguided and those denying the horrific events of October 7th are tragically misinformed, expelling these students sets a bad precedent. Student activists have regularly said foolish things. Conservative students have been unfairly targeted by campus administrators for years, particularly since 2020, and many have been expelled unfairly for expressing right-wing views that mostly left-wing administrators construe as “hate speech”. However, there is one clear line in the sand.
That line is when the aggression is directly targeted at a particular student or individual — that becomes bullying instead of speech. To be clear, being “triggered” is not the same as being bullied.
The line between free and hate speech is inherently subject to extremely subjective enforcement. That subjective enforcement can be wielded by whoever is in control — a dangerous notion.
Therefore, no student should be expelled for speech alone.
#5: Use Expulsions Instead of Batons
In the heat of the moment, students find it challenging to think rationally. They are caught up in the emotional fervor. It is dispiriting to see Ivy League students who learn about nuance and primary sources in school being run completely by the self-righteous indignation seen only by students and cable news commentators.
Students should be given ample ways to participate and make their views about Israel/Palestine known loudly in a way that does not shut down the campus. Students who continue to disrupt campuses and skip classes should be disciplined the same way a perpetual truant pothead student would be in a similar situation.
Instead of having riot police arrest students, advise students respectfully that they will face expulsion unless they express their First Amendment rights in a way that does not hurt the rights of others. That will not clear the entire group, but that threat (if it’s not an empty one) will encourage a vast majority to do the right thing.
#6: Riot Gear is a Bad Look; Campus Takeover is a Bad Precedent
It is never a good look when authorities arrest protesters. Americans rightfully believe in people’s right to demonstrate and advocate for their point of view. However, colleges must take reasonable action to prevent activists from completely taking over campus, similar to what radical activists did in Seattle in the Summer of 2020. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan treated it as a joke, yet for residents, it was anything but with roaming gangs of thugs engaging in crimes with impunity. To be sure, this is a balancing act. Many activists are looking for altercations with authorities and cannot wait to take viral videos showcasing what they will say is an unfair crackdown. Authorities should use as little force as possible and be patient while ensuring the encampments and riots don’t spread.
#7: Consistency is Critical
Throughout this process, campuses must conduct themselves in an ideology-neutral environment. One thing is certain: future national and global issues will spur an outpouring of student activism. Students must be treated the same regardless of the legitimacy or lack thereof of the ideology they are espousing.
Side Note: Let’s Stop Romanticizing the 1960s!
Commentators like Bill Maher and others romanticize the 1960s. Still, the anti-war demonstrations then were prone to the same radical pressures, with students holding Ho Chi Minh posters while burning American flags. Moreover, university administrators often took a tough line on the demonstrators, including the incident at Kent State University, where demonstrators were gunned down. The 1960s saw the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, among a slew of political violence. Let’s not romanticize that era as an era of Peace and Love amidst our desire to contextualize recent events.
College administrators must follow a commonsense approach. They must not give in to the unreasonable demands of the students for divestment and the right to unlimited disruptive expression, nor should they give in to the demands of wealthy donors to abandon notions of free speech. College administrators have grown in number and pay over the past 50 years. They can prove themselves worthy of their positions and pay over the coming weeks.
