Recently updated on October 5th, 2024 at 01:10 pm
University faculty have put their bodies and livelihoods on the line amid a brutal, violent response to student protests for Gaza.
Zany: I’m going to skip commentary on this article because I’ve written way too much about my opinion, feelings, and perspective on these protests.
If you’re interested in reading any of my posts on the campus protest, check out this one.
The Intercept
Fireworks launched into a group of students. Mace. Vicious slurs and unabated assault. A pro-Israel mob enacted this and more upon the pro-Palestine encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday night, as the police stood by and let it happen.
The scenes inspired outrage across the country, and even California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the police for failing to respond to the attacks. Undeterred by the violence, the students stood their ground in the encampment, a show of solidarity with the people of Gaza. They were joined by university employees who raised a banner that read “We stand with our students.” The UCLA chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine called for a day of strike in solidarity with their students and in protest of the administration. By Wednesday night, the police finally responded: shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at the pro-Palestine students who had just been assaulted the day before.
The faculty intervention at UCLA is just one of the latest examples of college professors putting their bodies and livelihoods on the line in defense of their students who are protesting their tax and tuition dollars contributing to a plausible genocide. At schools across the country, faculty have locked arms to form a protective barrier in front of their students and have been arrested and brutalized themselves.
“This moment has actually brought faculty together in a way I’ve never experienced in 20 years on campus. I’ve found myself working closely with colleagues I’d never met before,” Columbia University history professor Nara Milanich told The Intercept. “People have dropped everything to support students and respond to this moment.”
The groundswell of faculty support has come amid demonstrations at over 154 university campuses nationwide. The student protesters have called on their schools to cut financial ties with Israel, whose war on Gaza has so far killed more than 34,000 people. University administrations — propelled by Republicans, who have maintained carnal hunger for more war, as well as moderate Democrats — have in response sicced riot police armed with tear gas, stun grenades, and even snipers onto America’s students. The militarized response reached an apex on Tuesday night, when police, with a megatruck in tow, invaded Columbia’s campus and removed students occupying Hamilton Hall, an action inspired by past protests against the Vietnam War, racism, and apartheid South Africa.
