Protests

I agree with Josh Marshall, that the campus protests are a complicated phenomenon, and that while some of the anti-Zionist rhetoric can be seen as threatening, there has to be a place for protest. 

What I think is really important is that college administrators and professors have prioritized emotional safety, in ways that tend to contradict the idea of a liberal arts education. If you are going to be exposed to different ideas, some of those ideas will challenge and discomfit you. Hell, that was why they killed Socrates, and generally speaking, you shouldn't want to be on the side of the mob who killed Socrates.

What's interesting is that most professors have come out in favor of allowing the students to protest. It's the administrators who have called the cops. Even Jewish professors have supported the right to protest. Now, it seems very likely - especially at Columbia - that there are non-students among the protestors. It also seems apparent that in the age of "engagement" there are bad faith actors on every side simply trying to stir the pot and cause trouble unrelated to the message of the protestors. And it's additionally self-evident that much of the rhetoric from Student for Justice in Palestine can be seen as wanting the destruction of Israel, which would presumably entail the exact same treatment of Israelis that is being meted out to Gazans.

The latter point is one where dialogue and debate would presumably challenge exactly what SJP is saying. But since we no longer debate - we silo ourselves in epistemic bubbles - there's no way to challenge beliefs. It's like the "defund the police" nonsense. When challenged, there were a few police abolitionists, but most were simply hoping to redefine policing. OK, but then why say "defund" because that seems like abolitionism. Absent the intellectual challenge, bad ideas can become dogma.

The decision by many schools to ask local law enforcement to come in a crack skulls is just absolutely the wrong way to do it. I think, as I understand it, Harvard police are checking to make sure that everyone involved in a Harvard student, and if they are, they are leaving them alone. I think it's reasonable to ask protestors not to wear masks for that reason. To flip things around, the Klan's ability to mask was important to its ability to instill fear without repercussions. If some people are saying "Death to Zionists" and supporting Hamas and Hezbollah (which are very much terrorist organizations) then masks can be seen as a sort of threat.

However, the scenes at Texas, Columbia and Emory are just wholly wrong and inappropriate. What's more they are almost guaranteed to backfire and create more sympathy for the protestors who are engaging in what should be constitutionally protected speech.

This brings me back to administrators. It's becoming clear that the many additional layers of administration in education is not designed to further student learning. The proper response to the protests is debate and conversation. I think my college did that, and there have been no reported incidents of disruption there. If we are engaging students as students and challenging them, then we are doing our jobs as educators.

However, that's emotionally charged. It could go wrong and is always subject to the hecklers veto. It's also likely to come crashing up against the idea that universities have leaned into that language is violence. Sorry, but violence is violence. People may not treat you in certain ways but they can believe what they want about you. They can even say what they think about you, right up until it becomes a threat. 

Administrators, in my experience, are primarily concerned about not hearing from angry parents and donors. They are not interested in things that might create more problems. An example: We used to have the flags of every country in the world hanging from the ceiling of our main hallways. Chinese students complained about the presence of a Tibetan flag. We took all the flags down. That struck me as a rank abrogation of our job as educators in favor of privileging student "feelings". That will always been the first priority of administration.

Oh, and by the way, we pay administrators a lot more than actual teachers for this "service".

Yes, we need to stop coddling student feelings, while making sure they feel like their voice matters. If everything becomes subject to an emotional veto, then we will slowly erase the humanities and social sciences as disciplines. And when you start down this road, it invariably leads to the administrators calling the police to beat the shit out of students whose opinions don't align with those who are more powerful. 

Illiberalism begets illiberalism. 

UPDATE: Administrators are bad.