百余所高校2600人被捕！美国大学抗议浪潮为何愈演愈烈？

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4 月中旬，哥伦比亚大学校园爆发了针对巴以冲突的抗议活动。短短几天内，示威活动蔓延至全美各个大学，乃至加拿大、澳大利亚和法国等国高校。截至 5 月 10 日，美联社数据称，迄今警方已经在全美 50 个高校逮捕了超过 2600 名抗议者。

   / 2023年10月7日

自哈马斯袭击以色列以来，亲巴勒斯坦和亲以色列的抗议活动已成为美国大学校园内的一道风景线。

   / 2023年12月

哈佛、麻省理工和宾夕法尼亚大学的校长在国会就校园反犹主义发表了有争议的证词。不久，哈佛大学校长引咎辞职，宾大校长“自愿”辞职。

   / 2024年4月16日

美国众议院通过决议谴责亲巴勒斯坦口号“从河流到海洋（From the river to the sea，Palestine will be free）”，认定其“反犹”。

   / 2024年4月17日

哥伦比亚大学校长内马特•沙菲克就校园反犹主义在国会作证，明确表示“打击反犹主义而非保护言论自由”。

同日，哥大学生在校园草坪内搭起帐篷，声援加沙并谴责以色列。

   / 2024年4月19日

4月19日，校长沙菲克授权纽约市警察局进入校园，逮捕抗议人群。

Mayor Eric Adams has been among the most vocal critics of outsiders, saying they are the reason for the strong police presence on campuses.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried a “ferocious surge” in antisemitism on college campuses and around the globe in the months since Hamas attacked Israel and triggered a war in Gaza, using a ceremony to remember victims of the Holocaust to also denounce new waves of violence and hateful rhetoric toward Jews.

Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia said they won’t disperse until the school agrees to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and commits to a “complete divestment” of its funds from entities connected to Israel, among other demands.

It's become a common mantra by protesters at universities across the country: "Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest."

"Divestment itself doesn't really influence the companies or the industries being targeted directly," said Prof. Todd Ely from the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver. "It's more the stigma created and drawing attention to the issue more broadly."

For universities, divesting from companies that do business in Israel could also risk blowback from students, faculty or alumni who support Israel. The University of California, for example, said it was opposed to "calls for boycott against and divestments from Israel."

"While the University affirms the right of our community members to express diverse viewpoints, a boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses" the university said last week.

In this case, he said, it is not surprising that the “ovation” began  at Columbia University. The university’s proximity to national media in New York and its status as an Ivy League institution give it a position of prominence, he said, that is similar to someone in the front row of an auditorium. So, pro-Palestinian protests there drew wider attention than they might have elsewhere.

In addition, the campus is also home to a large population of Jewish students, many of whom have said that they feel afraid of antisemitic harassment or attacks from protesters. This expression of fear fueled more media coverage and political scrutiny.

But that still would leave the question of why this particular protest movement caught fire and spread at American universities first. The answer, experts say, has more to do with the partisan political context in Washington than with the events in Gaza.

So for Republican lawmakers, criticizing university presidents for failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism is a useful political issue with the potential todeepen divisions among Democrats.

Passover*, a major Jewish holiday, began this week, heightening fears among a number of Jewish students who have heard antisemitic comments at some of the protests.

A group of Jewish and non-Jewish students gathered at the encampment to celebrate Passover Seder Monday night. Columbia student Cameron Jones told CNN: “I am Jewish and, to me, Passover symbolizes perseverance and resilience. I think this encampment represents those two ideals because we have seen the university take countless measures to try to suppress our student activism, and here is us persevering through that.”