Jewish parents respond to campus protests

Well, in Washington this morning, police clashed with protesters at the George Washington University. This video shows an altercation as officers were taking down a pro Palestinian protest encampment on campus. Protesters say they were pepper sprayed by the responding officers, and we’ve been tracking similar protests taking place around the country for several weeks now. After hearing from students and college officials, CBS News 24/7 anchor and correspondent Lindsay Reiser spoke to some parents of Jewish students to understand just how they’re feeling about how the universities are handling the situation. I think this is fascinating. We know that these parents spend a lot of money to send their kids to these schools and I wonder what they’re thinking. And good morning. You know, there are passionate voices on both sides. And of course we know over the past three weeks pro Palestinian protests have taken place and more than 75 colleges around the country. Some of these demonstrations have included encampments set up on the campuses, and those have become the sites of both protests and counter protests. Many have been taken down because some school officials say they’re in violation. Other institutions codes of conduct. In Los Angeles, police in riot gear arrived at UCLA to take down the encampment last week, just hours after counter protesters violently attacked demonstrators. More than 200 people in the encampment were arrested. Police say they’re still searching for the counter protesters, and as universities are grappling with how to handle the protests and counter protests, there’s a growing attention on graduation. On Monday, Columbia University in New York City became the latest school to announce it’s scaling back its commencement ceremony, opting for smaller events over the course of a week. I spoke with two parents, as you mentioned, of Jewish students to get their feelings on how their colleges are handling. And Zev, Gorz’s daughter is a senior at Barnard College that’s affiliated with Columbia University. And Danielle Dobinson goes to Northwestern. Your son goes to Northwestern. He says he hasn’t been able to access parts of the university because of the protests, and he’s concerned by some of the rhetoric he’s hearing on campus. As a Jewish student, what are your and your son’s thoughts about how the university is handling the situation? I’d say that we’re all deeply disappointed. My son basically woke up one day to discover that a small group of students claimed exclusive use of one of the most important central areas on campus. James was really disappointed, as was I, that there’s no consequences for creating this disruption. Classes were interrupted. People in dorms were forced to endure for days on end, violent chanting, chanting that specifically targets them and their family. And there’s no consequences. In fact, thanks to the way that Northwestern negotiated a settlement with these protesters, they were actually rewarded for all of their violations of the rules. Essentially, Northwestern coming into an agreement and saying that, you know, remove the encampment and we’ll create this new board and look at, look at funding. How are the updates from the university? Do you feel like you’re finding out what’s going on in a timely manner? So in terms of updates, usually I get the most current updates from my daughter who usually finds out through social media and her friends well before we get notification from the university. And then we’ll get some pro forma letter from the president copying a letter that they sent to the students below with the latest vanilla description of actions or non actions that they have taken. We’re about a month away from Northwestern wrapping up classes for the summer break. Are you concerned about sending your son back in the fall? Have you talked about contingency plans? So I’m concerned about what’s going to happen and unfold over the next several weeks. These incidents are ongoing, so it’s really not over this year. But I have a lot of respect for the fact that my son loves his school and he’s not willing to leave or consider an alternative just because of my very vocal minority is trying to really harass and intimidate many, many other students. What we need our leaders who who are in this moment to stand up Barnard’s motto is to be unafraid and to be Barnard bold. And what we really want to see is unafraid and bold moral leadership. Now Danielle tells me she doesn’t see this as a free speech issue, but rather enforcing what she called content neutral rules about noise amplification like megaphones on campus. And of course you guys, we’ve heard from all sides. We have heard before from the protesters about why this is so important to them. This is a new voice. So the parents you spoke with also discuss how these, these events may impact the financial future of the schools, What they say, Yeah, because we know that a lot of these universities, they rely on tuition, they rely on donations. A lot of that comes from parents. And so there were strong feelings about that as well. Zeb telling me this would be a consideration for him. And here’s Danielle. I’ve been in conversations with the development office at Northwestern with regard to a sizable gift. I can’t imagine making a gift to the university at this point unless there are significant changes we’re looking for, obviously the enforcement of content neutral rules. The irony is, is that although there’s no right to free speech on a private campus, Northwestern allows, you know, you know, unlimited free speech. Just not the use of tents, not blocking other students from access to buildings or areas of campus. Listen, the universities have to be factoring that in for sure. So you spoke to representatives from Northwestern, from Barnard. How are they responding to what these parents are saying? So a spokesperson for Barnard College told me that their commencement is always at Radio City Music Hall. It’s been done that way for years. So the the Columbia commencement cancellation didn’t necessarily impact that. And they say that mostly those protests are happening on Columbia’s campus. They say in October there were some students holding signs on Barnard, but they say by and large, to her knowledge, the the the spokesman I spoke with, no classes or activities have been impacted at Barnard. As far as a specific claim that Zeb’s daughter had made about being escorted to her dorm. Couldn’t confirm whether or not that actually happened, but didn’t have knowledge of that happening on their campus and then Northwestern. They did send us a statement. We’re going to put it up on the screen, they said. From the moment the tents went up on April 25th until they came down on April 29th, their guiding principles were to protect the safety of the our entire community, including our Jewish and Muslim students, preserve free expression and peaceful demonstration that comply with university policies, denounce and refute intolerance and hate ensure that our university can continue to operate without disruption. The University chose to engage students and faculty representatives to identify a sustainable and de escalated path forward that adheres to those principles. So Speaking of Northwestern, one of the voices referenced this agreement that the university made with the students. What was that? Yeah, let’s clarify that a little bit. So the university agreed that one a tent could stay up, the rest of the tents would have to be removed, but the protest could continue until the end of the semester, June 1st. They also said that they’re going to be establishing an advisory committee on investment responsibility that will include students, faculty and staff. That is in response to divestment demands also saying only students, faculty and staff can be in the protest area. And they also say that they’ll answer questions from camp, the campus community about specific holdings. But we should note that this agreement did face criticism from both sides. We have much more information available on cbsnews.com. Lindsay Reiser, excellent reporting. Welcome to CBS News. The very best hallmark of our legendary status at CBS. And you’re part of it now. So thank you. Thank you for the warm welcome. Yeah, it’s been great having you. We should know we have not heard back from Northwestern University regarding potential disciplinary action, a statement to CBS News reads. The University has and will continue to use its disciplinary process for students and faculty who have been identified as breaking university policy. We do not discuss disciplinary cases.