Yes, we are in the USA, and thus most hate speech is indeed protected.
NYU, as a private school, can punish its students if it wants to. But marching with an anti-Semitic sign is 100% protected from criminal prosecution under US law. Display of swastikas is protected. Wearing a Klan robe is protected.
What isnāt protected are the student visa holders who are demonstrating in anti-Semitic/pro Hamas protests. But I donāt see any movement on that front. Those students should have their visas revoked and they should be sent home.
The ADL and Brandeis Center sent a letter to 200 college presidents on Wednesday urging them to investigate chapters of the SJP for ties to terrorism.
I donāt recall anything in the regulations regarding student visas that would support revocation of a visa for something that may be reprehensible but is not illegal.
visa holders (and other non-citizens) are permitted to engage in peaceful protest. But if they are arrested/convicted in said protest, they can have visa revoked. Iām sure that happens when protests go sideways but these orgs likely fight the charges. They need prosecutors to go after charges hard but that probably doesnāt happen either.
Still does not prevent schools from expelling students who violate policies (eg, projecting a sign onto building without permission and refusing to take it down when asked to take down). The donors and negative attention may encourage schools to take harder look at these students.
And donorās money should not be used to support their education.
I think scholarships should start to have conduct clauses banning certain behavior.
Supporting and/or espousing terrorism is grounds for rejection of a visa application. If that behavior begins while the visa holder is in the US it would be grounds for revocation and deportation. Actions have consequences. These students are guests in the US. They can be required to leave. But donāt worry Blinken wonāt do anything.
First, they have to follow their written policy. What is the college punishment for a first offender of a hate crime? (assuming the college tribunal concludes its a hate crime vs. political speech)
And if expulsion, they lose their student Visa (as they are no longer a student).
Yes - Iām not disagreeing with that. Just saying itās not a matter of losing visa because they protested but because they were administratively expelled due to violation of some written policy (and lost visa as a result).
Or they lost visa because they violated a law (there was an incident at Tulane noted in another thread, for example, where someone was arrested for illegally damaging property by spraying hate-filled graffiti - hate speech may be protected but spraying it on public/private property is not so if that student is here on visa, if convicted of even a local crime, sure they can and should lose visa.
Iām a mom to a high school senior and sophomore. It seems like every day I hear about some hateful protest or encounter at some school or another. We are days away from the EA/ED deadline and Iām still wondering if my son should rethink his list in light of events hitting the news. Iām hoping people can share what theyāve heard or seen so we can all make better choices to keep our kids safe.
Many things are making their way through the news; Jewish student was injured at a rally near Tulane. (This was the universityās response: https://t.e2ma.net/message/r1puqh/f4rcg4f). Jewish kids had to be locked into Cooper Unionās library as protesters knocked on the doors to intimidate them. Much moreā¦but maybe there are smaller things that you know that arenāt all over the news too?
Please share them. Feel free to just unload too because we need to have eachothersā backs at this moment.
Yes, this is the fine line in this case - even if tourists/visa holders have right to peaceful protest, they donāt (nor citizens for that matter) have protected right to incite or support violence during protest - if local law enforcement will take these seriously and arrest people who are espousing/supporting violence, then maybe some of these kids can have visa revoked.
Yes, and it doesnāt have to be expulsion. Theyāll lose the visa if they are suspended, too, unless they can immediately enroll in another U.S. college. Iāve had a number of students who experienced this when they were suspended for not meeting GPA standards. If they donāt want to go home, and they can afford to remain here without a scholarship, they usually go to a U.S. community college until their university will take them back.
Did you see in one of the posts above link to a database that logs all anisemitic actions? I would use that one (that what DD did) to make sure your child is comfortable there.
I would be hesitant to use opinions of anonymous posters to help with the decision to choose a college.
As mentioned also above something that is OK for one student is not OK for another.
I personally do not support crazy activism for any cause. My children go to college for studying and not for non-stop rallies. As a result, I have one child in a small LAC in south and another at Technical school busy with HW.
All colleges and universities are going to have some people with antisemitic and anti-Israeli views. My son attends UC Berkeley and the protests and walkouts have been pretty intense. That said, the campus Hillel is absolutely great, they have been organizing a lot of supportive events for the students and also doing a good job of keeping in touch (and keeping students in touch with each other). My son has felt very supported by his Jewish community.
So, my feeling is that even if the university as a whole has many people with an anti-Israel slant on things, a strong Hillel can make up for it. I would suggest checking out the Hillel at the schools your son is interested in, and see what they are doing for students at this time.
Iām editing this to add a link to Berkeley Hillel, because itās really awesome how they are taking care of our students. Love the community 
https://berkeleyhillel.org
And this is where everyone has their comfort level different. @Tamagotchi and her child are happy at Berkeley. On the other hand, I would not send my children to Berkeley for free with extra scholarship to attend. In my family it was on the black list from the beginningā¦ That is why it is your personal decision. There is no right or wrong.
Sorry, this supposed to be a message to @HotSauceFanā¦
Itās my understanding that no-one was ālocked intoā.
A door was quickly locked to separate two groups of opposing activists who had moved inside a building, after they had spent hours protesting/counter-protesting outside (without incident).
Some people already in the library had been students who were they to study, some were counter-protesters, some of which happened to be Jewish.
They werenāt locked in, and not because they were Jewish, and people were offered an alternate exit.
In light of what makes the news, itās easy to lose sight of the fact, that the vast (silent) majority of students at most colleges have diverse opinions on current affairs, but are not activists and will happily mind their own business, not caring about other peopleās faith, race, orientation - and rather show compassion equally to anyone.
It has been true for decades that Israeli / Palestinian politics brings out the noisy extremists and bigots. That is not a new thing. Even decades ago at UCB, the āpro Palestinianā side had no shortage of Hamas-like groups, while the āpro Israeliā side had an over-representation of Kach-like groups.
I agree, I was born in Berkeley, and protests here are not a new thing at all. My mom tells a story that I was teargassed as a toddler during an antiwar protest in the late 60s, but my mom makes up a lot of stories and I think that one is apocryphalā¦
Anyway, it is a noisy and political place, but my point is that there is also space and support for the ordinary Jewish student who doesnāt want to align with those with extreme views on either side. So I feel that since this support is available at Berkeley (of all the noisy political places in the world), I wouldnāt write off any other university just for its reputation or because there are some noisy protests there, without looking more closely at the support available for Jewish students.
Not condoning intimidation or property damage, but I actually do respect & appreciate young people being passionate and actively/loudly taking a position ā (almost) any position ā especially positions that are challenging convention, and inconvenient to the main stream (including myself & my generation).
We need passionate, active people, willing to put themselves āout thereā, to eventually faciliate changes that will always be necessary over time to adapt humanity to new challenges.
It is a good thing for a university when a variety of challenging views can be aired and explored and discussed, even very loudly. Ideally however, a university would provide an environment where students do not worry that protests put them physically at risk, and where the university culture encourages a fundamental respect for all members of its community despite dramatically opposing views. This can be a challenge when protests get very heated.