The power and risks of campus protests

Pro-Palestinian protesters started pitching their tents on the Columbia University campus in New York early on the morning of April 17. Among their demands is that the varsity divest itself of companies that profit from Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.On April 24, things escalated when Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told protesters that Columbia President Nemat Shafik should resign ‘if she cannot bring order to this chaos’. ‘If this is not contained quickly … there is an appropriate time for the National Guard,’ Johnson said.For many Americans, raising the spectre of the National Guard will stir chilling memories of May 4, 1970, when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd of Kent State University students protesting against the Vietnam War. Four students were killed and nine were wounded.Two years earlier, in 1968, Columbia students occupied a number of campus buildings to protest against the carpet bombing and napalming of Vietnamese people, inspiring other US campuses to follow suit.The effectiveness of such protests was demonstrated in 1960, when four Black college students staged a sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina, over a store’s segregated lunch counter, which led to sit-ins in college towns, forcing many businesses and public facilities to integrate.Race was at the core of American students’ concerns in the 1970s and 80s, when college campuses staged many anti-apartheid protests, forcing Congress in 1986 to pass a series of sanctions under the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act.Today, the Columbia protest in support of Palestinians has spawned many similar demonstrations — and confrontations with police — at campuses across the US.The Columbia protesters have been given ultimatums to disband their encampment or face the consequences.But late on Thursday, Columbia lifted its latest deadline for razing the camp, citing progress in negotiations with the students, while students promised to keep fighting for Palestinians. ‘They call us terrorists, they call us violent,’ said Mimi, a protester. ‘But the only tool we actually have are our voices.’