Campus protest

In Spring 2024, the half century tradition of college administrations letting peaceful protest flourish unobstructed on campuses across the U.S., came to a sudden and violent end as one college president after another called in armed riot police to physically subdue and arrest student protesters calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza. By June, more than 3,200 students, faculty and community members had been arrested, many injured, some shot with rubber bullets. Many still face charges. Administrators justified this use of force by arguing that these campus protests were anti-Semitic and made Jewish students, faculty and staff feel uncomfortable and unsafe. But a disproportionate number of the protesters were Jews. This article sets some historical context for a weaponization of anti-Semitism that some have called a 'new McCarthyism.'