College campuses this week escalated efforts to root out pro-Hamas, anti-Israel occupations, with police making arrests on nine different campuses.
Police have made more than 1,600 arrests in connection with the disruptive, illegal campus occupations since the first one began April 19 at Columbia University, according to an investigation by The Washington Stand. [The Associated Press on Thursday put the number of related arrests at over 2,000.}
Disturbingly, some universities are beginning to cave to protesters’ demands to restore order, even as campus protests become increasingly dominated by people who aren’t students.
The sheer number of anti-Israel campus protests and arrests makes it a bit bewildering to keep track of them all. As of Wednesday, there were at least 1,641 arrests and counting at 33 colleges and universities in 23 states, with at least three more schools threatening to make arrests and more pro-Hamas encampments cropping up daily.
Since so much media coverage obscures this point, it bears repeating that universities have not called in police to arrest protesters simply for exercising their right to free speech, or even for the vile, antisemitic content of that speech.
After asking law enforcement to intervene on two separate occasions, the University of Texas at Austin on Monday issued this representative statement: “Protests are allowed at the University of Texas. Since October and prior to April 24, no fewer than 13 pro-Palestinian free speech events were held on the UT campus, and four more demonstrations have been held since Thursday, largely without incident.”
No, protesters were arrested for deliberately breaking the rules: flouting curfews, setting up tents where no tents were allowed, intimidating other students and impeding their free access and education on campus, and defying orders from law enforcement.
In some instances, protesters broke into campus buildings and barricaded them against campus authorities, declaring that the buildings had been “liberated.” Thus, when protesters were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, they had no one to blame but themselves.
If anything, universities have been reluctant to arrest demonstrators, often waiting days before calling in police. Schools repeatedly pleaded with the lawless mob before authorizing arrests, and then only a fraction of those involved in the illegal encampments are arrested.
Thus, the 40 incidents in which campus demonstrators have been arrested represent only a small fraction of antisemitic activity on college campuses that has been met by a law enforcement response. With that said, here is a timeline of campus arrests since April 19:
Friday, April 19:
Monday, April 22:
Tuesday, April 23:
Wednesday, April 24:
Thursday, April 25:
Friday, April 26:
Saturday, April 27:
Sunday, April 28:
Monday, April 29:
Tuesday, April 30:
Wednesday, May 1:
There are several noteworthy trends in this progression: 1) universities are acting more quickly to disperse illegal encampments; 2) more universities are calling in police to make arrests; 3) the numbers of those arrested is dwindling; and 4) increasing attention is being drawn to the presence of outside agitators.
These trends suggest several developments. First, university administrators are watching what is happening at other universities. They are witnessing the recalcitrance of pro-Hamas activists, as well as the headaches and monetary damages they have caused at places like Columbia or Cal Poly Humboldt where they were not dealt with quickly.
Administrators also have witnessed the example of the University of Texas at Austin and other schools that have successfully prevented a campus occupation through vigilant policing. These factors motivate university administrators to put an end to protesters’ illegal occupation tactics.
Second, the force of the pro-Hamas wave has dwindled as it has expanded. Protests at elite, radically progressive schools had high energy and significant student involvement. But protests at smaller or less elite schools have seen less student enthusiasm. Arrests have been in higher numbers, and there has been a larger proportion of unaffiliated agitators.
Third, even the most radical protesters can behave rationally. Essentially, they would rather not face consequences for their actions—to the point that they are now begging for amnesty from the same administrators they just poked in the eye. It seems that students are making a risk calculation based upon how they believe law enforcement will respond.
Police have made the most arrests in progressive (that is, anti-law-enforcement) jurisdictions such as New York, Massachusetts, and California. But protests have been smaller across the South and Midwest, suggesting that fewer students are willing to risk arrest and prosecution for the thrill of camping on the university lawn. This also suggests that government officials should consider the incentives they create in how they respond to protests.
Fourth, outside agitators have become involved to an alarming extent. Police made arrests at 22 universities from Saturday to Tuesday; in 11 out of 12 instances where the numbers are known, they arrested more outsiders than students. In multiple instances, these outside agitators participated in illegally occupying campus buildings.
It is unacceptable that a handful of activists, with no connection to a university, can seize its property and hold it hostage to absurd demands.
Circumstances on many university campuses are developing rapidly, and more arrests could follow at any time. Johns Hopkins University has threatened police action against an illegal encampment on its Baltimore campus. Purdue University has threatened ringleaders of an encampment there with disciplinary action. Portland State University in Oregon has closed its campus due to protesters illegally occupying the campus library for two straight days.
As these will not be the last campus arrests related to pro-Hamas protests, neither were they the first. At Brown University, 41 students were arrested in December when they refused to leave a campus building. In March, four students at Vanderbilt University and 22 students and two faculty members at Cornell University were arrested for refusing to leave campus buildings.
The pro-Hamas, antisemitic protests on campus exploded in mid-April, around the Jewish holiday of Passover. The illegal occupation at Columbia gained the most attention, and campus occupations have expanded ever since.
But the activists have gone too far. Universities are fighting back with mass arrests.
Originally published by The Washington Stand
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