The understanding, the wisdoms that should come out of, the Free Palestine Movement that's currently, spreading across the university campuses in the U.S. right now…off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
Of late, there'd been, countless protests of Support Palestine by the university students across the U.S., which started up the heated debate on freedom of the scholastic, freedom of speech, and the autonomy of the individual universities. These protests occurred primarily in forms of the students' setting up the tents on campus to protest, which the various levels of managements of the universities responded differently to, some schools used the peaceable negotiations, while others called in the police armed forces, with massive numbers of students placed under arrest.
The core of this debate, is on how to gain that delicate balance, between protecting the students in expressing their viewpoints, and to ensure the normal functioning of the universities, although the universities continually supported the principles of freedom of speech and academic freedom, but the disturbances caused by the campsites, caused the management level to work really hard, to find a, middle, ground.
Some school, like Brown University, Northwestern, and University of Minnesota, chose to hold conversations with the protesting students, and reached middle grounds that satisfied the students, and keeping the orders of the campuses. These compromises included making the investment ventures of the schools' operations to become more transparent, to offer financial aid for the Palestinian students, and as the demands were met, allowing for the protesting campsites to be set up.
But, there were schools that used the more forceful, measures, sending in the police to evict the tents, and made the arrests of the massive groups of protesting students and faculties. In universities like Columbia, University of Virginia, and University of California-San Diego, there were the police forces, in confrontation with the, students, this caused the widespread criticisms of the professors, the supporters of freedom of speech, and the civil rights groups, they believed, that the usage of this means, had destroyed the principles of freedom of speech, and the freedom of academia.
in U.S.C., off of YouTube
Currently, the protest had, spread across the entire country, some of the American legislators are now, involved in this, debate. In this, debatable atmosphere, people are worried about the freedom of academia, and the professors' declarations in the lectures, and in their, researches being, attacked, and, would the management of the universities, under the pressures from the, politicians, donors, and the board's cave in, and restricting the unpopular views and speech?
The supporter of academic freedom believe, that the universities should be a place where there can be free pursuits of intellect, that the various belief systems can be challenged and debated on without any restrictions, especially the beliefs about the territories of Israel and Palestine, it may cause this chilling effect for the academic discussions, and blockades the pursuits of truth, of knowledge.
The oppressions of the students also caused the people to question the school's freedom of speech, although the universities have the rights to limit the location, the time, and the ways that the protesters protest, but using the violent means to combat the peaceful protests had gone, overboard, that this means had, infringed the students' rights of expressing their different views that's a basic right of the Constitution.
With the developments of the events, people realized, that these problems that are surfacing had, transcended beyond the current protests, that it'd, touched the issues of higher education's role in a democratic society, the limits of freedom of speech, along with the universities' means of maintaining self-government means as the pressure from outside exacerbated, and how would the schools fend for their own right to self-govern.
To resolve this series of issues, there would be a need ensure the safety of the schools, as the freedom of academia and speech are protected, to ensure the campuses are safe and are operating, normally. In order for this to be achieved, there's the need for open conversation, mutual understanding, along with a firm foundation of higher education as a space for intellectual debate, critical thinking, and the pursuit of knowledge base.
And so, this is what the protests brings out, in the universities, showing that the schools across the U.S. need to reform itself, that there's the need for the wisdom to find a way for the peaceful protests to be ongoing, for the authorities to NOT use the forces to counter these protesting, students, but, this is quite hard, because, the air's heating up, and, we're all, getting angry, and, it still won't matter, WHO threw that, very first, punch, and then, there's that, RIOT, forcing the law enforcements to use violence, to combat the protesters…
