over Thanksgiving my D20 lamented how tense and unpleasant it has become on her campus (where, btw, in an attempt to quell things, the administration has banned all displays of any type of flag 
).
I thought it was an excellent piece for what they could present in 15 minutes. Bill Whitaker always does a great job. He gave equal time to all, so it seemed well-balanced to me.
Whitakerâs comparison of Columbia to Dartmouth mentioned both urban/rural and more/less diverse theories, which are probably both true. But, I donât view either school as having approached the issue âbetterâ than the other. They are simply different approaches.
It is not surprising to see that NYC has been a hot spot for protests, as NYC is unlike any other city in the world. It has everything. âBig cityâ and âIvy leagueâ are just small factors.
The Columbia students interviewed included native Israeli and Palestinian students. The Palestinian was quite moving and articulate in his story, and apparently a driver of the protests at Columbia. He is not the one yelling unacceptable things like âââ the Jews.â If anyone wonders how the students can rally for Palestinians, listen to that guy.
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Iâve been skeptical how many are actually students or faculty. NYC and other big cities has a lot of âprofessionalâ agitators, no matter the cause. Then there are the non-Uni community activists who believe in thier cause, and think it perfectly acceptable to go onto a college campus to protest. (I would guess that Hanover doesnât have many of the latter two groups.)
Of course, weâll never know as teh Universities donât ask for IDâs.
I recall hearing about this type of thing decades ago from someone who was part of a group protesting about some cause (not about Israeli / Palestinian politics) who was annoyed about a group of âprofessional agitatorsâ (whom they knew by the name of the group) who showed up and started throwing things at the police, with predictable results (inciting the police was not the intent of those protesting for whatever cause it was).
Since the picture is from 10/12 it is possible there are non-students in the pictured event, but for the most part most of the demonstrations have been Columbia affiliates (what they collectively call students, faculty and staff). There were some outside agitators in the first days, but Columbia then locked most of their gates and did start checking IDs at the remaining entrances (occasionally during these expected events, not all the time). (For context for anyone my familiar with the campus, Columbia is accessible from a bunch of gates around the core campus and it is possible to lock it down or limit access.) There have been a bunch of different demonstrations, including a walk out by hundreds of faculty in protest for the suspension of a couple of the student groups.
What is also not easily visible from the picture due to the careful perspective of the shot is that there are two south lawns divided down the middle by a walkway. The picture is taken from the south looking north. It looks like a contiguous mass of people but the groups for the most part self divided with pro-Palestine demonstrators on the south side and pro-Israel demonstrators on the north side, with the middle still accessible for those not participating or affiliating with either side.
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BTW, anyone can stream the 60 Minutes segment here for free (with a few annoying ads):
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If the demography of 50% of American youth thinking Hamas atrocities can be justified is indeed destiny, then this is a destiny that American Jews want no part of.
In his recent speech on the Senate floor Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history (and a Harvard alum), minced no words:
"The solidarity that Jewish Americans initially received from many of our fellow citizens was quickly drowned out by other voices.
While the dead bodies of Jewish Israelis were still warm, while hundreds of Jewish Israelis were being carried as hostages back to Hamas tunnels under Gaza, Jewish Americans were alarmed to see some of our fellow citizens characterize a brutal terrorist attack as justified because of the actions of the Israeli government.
A vicious, bloodcurdling, premeditated massacre of innocent men, women, children, the elderly â justified!
Even worse, in some cases, people even celebrated what happened, describing it as the deserved fate of quote âcolonizersâ and calling for quote âglory to the martyrsâ who carried out these heinous attacks.
Many of the people who have expressed these sentiments in America arenât neo-Nazis, or card-carrying Klan members, or Islamist extremists. They are in many cases people that most liberal Jewish Americans felt previously were their ideological fellow travelers.
âŚ
Antisemites are taking advantage of the pro-Palestinian movement to espouse hatred and bigotry towards Jewish people. But rather than call out this dangerous behavior for what it is, we see so many of our friends and fellow citizens, particularly young people who yearn for justice, unknowingly aiding and abetting their cause.And worse, many of our friends and allies whose support we need now more than ever during this moment of immense Jewish pain have brushed aside these concerns. Suddenly, they do not want to hear about antisemitism, or the ultimate goal of Hamas. When I have asked some of the marchers what they would do about Hamas, they donât have an answer. Many donât seem to care.
And so Jewish Americans are left alone â at least in our eyes â to ponder what this all means, and where it could lead.
Can you understand why Jewish people feel isolated when we hear some praise Hamas and chant its vicious slogan? Can you blame us for feeling vulnerable only 80 years after Hitler wiped out half of the Jewish population across the world while many countries turned their back? Can you appreciate the deep fear we have about what Hamas might do if left to their own devices?
Because the long arc of Jewish history teaches us a lesson that is hard to forget: ultimately, we are alone."
And as for the moral confusion of the younger generation on college campuses, his advice starts with this:
First, learn the history of the Jewish people, who have been abandoned repeatedly by their fellow countrymen â left isolated and alone to combat antisemitism â with disastrous results.
I would highly recommend watching or reading the entire speech to those seeking understanding.
Full transcript:
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I sincerely hope, but rather doubt, that there is a better answer to the tempest occuring on college campuses now than elderly white male politicians accusing students of " moral confusion."
Regardless, those students are the futureâs middle-aged, when the current politicians are long gone. Not taking their concerns seriously is a recipe for disaster.
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Not taking antisemitism seriously is a recipe for disaster.
And a tried and true one at that.
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The entire generation of those currently under age 35 (which includes the vast majority of college/graduate/professional school students) is not going to vanish off the face of the earth so it would behoove all of us to encourage constructive dialogue on this topic on college campuses without resorting to unproductive allegations of bigotry, name-calling, or patronization of any party.
Edited to be consistent with Gallup polls age range of 18-34
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Baby boomers were once hippies too.
As a variably misattributed adage goes, if youâre not a socialist before youâre twenty-five, you have no heart; if you are a socialist after twenty-five, you have no head.
Either way, I join Sen. Schumer in hoping that Jews on campusesâand everywhereâare not left to fend for themselves yet again.
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And I am hoping you feel the same for the Palestinian students on campus as well, who are experiencing Islamophobia. Recognizing the humanity and rights of all students is the first step.
Empathy seems to be in short supply these days, everywhere including campuses.
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Of course!
But are there demonstrations on college campusesâand everywhereâdenying humanity and rights of Palestinians?
Why are Jews uniquely of all minorities given this âyes, butâ (if not outright âstop being so dramaticâ) talking down to when they try to peacefully bring attention to the bigotry they are experiencing, by the same people who, as Sen. Schumer noted in his speech, they considered their ideological fellow travelers in seeking equal rights for all?
Why canât glorifying of terror and eliminationist rhetoric be unconditionally condemned in some circles?
Why is it again Jewsâ own fault they are hated?
You implied earlier in this thread that my opinions are somehow fringe, and JVP are instead the true Jewish mainstream.
Well, we now have Sen. Schumer, as mainstreamâand as prominentâa politician as they come, saying basically the same things Iâve been trying to say all along (with a good number of my messages deleted), and your immediate reaction is to dismiss him, and I quote, as an âelderly white maleâ.
Yet his (and mine) family members (young and elderly) killed by the Nazis werenât considered white.
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You may not have noticed Palestinian college students being shot recently? I am pretty sure they are feeling frightened on campus.
I agree that Schumerâs views are absolutely mainstream for his age, gender and race, as the most recent Gallup poll shows. Not so mainstream for those of other demographics, per Gallup. And those other demographics are a large and increasing part of the populace, and are large part of the college population, the topic of this thread.
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If a post is hidden, there is a reason so donât post the same thing again, and donât mention that the post was hidden.
There is a politics forum for those who wish to engage in more political discussion of thi topic, so please refrain from doing it here.
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I deleted the entire conversation.
All sorted now. 
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Gifted article of bits from various colleges regarding a movie showing, among other things.
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Bill Ackman wrote a follow up letter Gay. Heâs clearly unhappy with Harvard.
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The NYT has an interesting article which includes interviewing Jewish American students at Columbia, Brown and Berkeley. I did not link to remain within the ToS guidelines, as college campuses are not explicitly discussed.