Peaceful is good. But it doesn't mean that police have no grounds to interfere. FIRE - the premiere national defender of free speech - reminds us that "engaging in civil disobedience may result in punishment, including arrest. Civil disobedience derives its expressive power from the willingness of participants to accept the consequences of breaking the rules. That willingness illustrates their intensity of feeling. Students occupying campus spaces in violation of reasonable, content-neutral rules risk punishment. When that punishment is viewpoint-neutral, proportional, and in keeping with past practice, it does not violate expressive rights." https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-statement-campus-violence-and-arrests
It’s hard to take the protesters seriously when they say the NU president is engaged in genocide and killing children (I saw this reported by the Daily Northwestern).
I have serious problems with the Netanyahu government. But when folks like the Equity Army target irrelevant entities like the Evanston City Council and our Jewish mayor, it makes me very skeptical of the actual motives of these protesters .
Update: I went again tonight to get more photos. It was very peaceful. I walked thru the crowd and everything. I am a pretty dispassionate observer, so I took photos and left.
There is video on Twitter (or X or whatever) of a protestor wearing a shirt with the photo of the spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas and a video of a student reporter who was filming the encampment being physically assaulted so I wouldn’t say it’s all been peaceful. Also the spouse of a D65 administrator is involved in recruiting participants for this encampment.
Looks relatively peaceful based on your account. I tend to draw the line at banners and shouting about "from the river to the sea" and "globalize the intifada" as has happened on other campuses, creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and others even if there is not direct violence. I hope Deering Meadow doesn't get to that point.
I also wonder how many of these students have actually researched whether and how much NU invests in the Israeli government. I'd actually like to see that enumerated (OK, maybe not on a banner) and lifted up as part of these protests. Seems like it would be more granular and potentially useful in actually effecting change than a big campout.
Peaceful is good. But it doesn't mean that police have no grounds to interfere. FIRE - the premiere national defender of free speech - reminds us that "engaging in civil disobedience may result in punishment, including arrest. Civil disobedience derives its expressive power from the willingness of participants to accept the consequences of breaking the rules. That willingness illustrates their intensity of feeling. Students occupying campus spaces in violation of reasonable, content-neutral rules risk punishment. When that punishment is viewpoint-neutral, proportional, and in keeping with past practice, it does not violate expressive rights." https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-statement-campus-violence-and-arrests
It’s hard to take the protesters seriously when they say the NU president is engaged in genocide and killing children (I saw this reported by the Daily Northwestern).
I have serious problems with the Netanyahu government. But when folks like the Equity Army target irrelevant entities like the Evanston City Council and our Jewish mayor, it makes me very skeptical of the actual motives of these protesters .
Update: I went again tonight to get more photos. It was very peaceful. I walked thru the crowd and everything. I am a pretty dispassionate observer, so I took photos and left.
I’m a professor at Northwestern. All the protesters have been exceedingly respectful and peaceful as far as I’ve seen.
There is video on Twitter (or X or whatever) of a protestor wearing a shirt with the photo of the spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas and a video of a student reporter who was filming the encampment being physically assaulted so I wouldn’t say it’s all been peaceful. Also the spouse of a D65 administrator is involved in recruiting participants for this encampment.
Looks relatively peaceful based on your account. I tend to draw the line at banners and shouting about "from the river to the sea" and "globalize the intifada" as has happened on other campuses, creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and others even if there is not direct violence. I hope Deering Meadow doesn't get to that point.
I also wonder how many of these students have actually researched whether and how much NU invests in the Israeli government. I'd actually like to see that enumerated (OK, maybe not on a banner) and lifted up as part of these protests. Seems like it would be more granular and potentially useful in actually effecting change than a big campout.