Over the past several weeks college campuses across the nation have been beset by pro-Hamas protests and encampments that have garnered loads of attention, disrupted classes, and shown a bright light on the ineptitude of many campus administrators. Because of their historic preeminence in higher education and American leadership, special focus has been lavished on demonstrations at Ivy League colleges such as Harvard, Columbia, and Yale, and our nation has, as a result, been provided with a front-row seat to the self-important performances of those who presume to be our future ruling class, the anti-semitism that is now an entrenched feature of our country’s political left, and the collision of coddled academia and the police.

It must first be emphasized that these protests involve a small portion of the student body at each school, although the demonstrators are demanding the allegiance of everyone on campus, most of whom are trying their best to just finish out their semesters with as little involvement as possible in the loud and unruly nonsense that is daily eroding their sense of calm and personal safety. 

It has been made plain to Jewish students in particular that their colleges are incapable of taking affirmative steps to guarantee their well being, and the recent belated moves to close down the tent cities that occupy their verdant campus lawns have been prompted by a fear of losing donors rather than a real concern for the anti-Semitic hatred being spewed by those calling for the destruction of Israel and violence against Jews in general. This is shockingly similar to the vile atmosphere on campuses in Nazi Germany in the late 1930’s, and the observation often attributed to Mark Twain—“history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes”— certainly applies to the thuggishness tolerated on our college campuses today, ironically enough, in the name of some misbegotten and mistaken idea of toleration. If these fools, both those in the classrooms and those in the office buildings, are the future leaders of America, we’re in a heck of a lot of trouble.

We’re also gaining some valuable and disturbing insight into the La-La Land sense of personal entitlement that has convinced protestors that can disrupt and defame without any fear of consequences. The peculiar desire of protestors to vociferously demonstrate while shielding their identities behind masks and face coverings and demanding amnesty for their actions is a window into the insular and unreal atmosphere at so many institutions of higher education. If you’re not willing to accept the punishment that might come with defending your supposedly deeply held beliefs, it’s not actually political protest—it’s cosplay complete with keffiyehs.

One of the most revealing moments of the recent pro-Hamas protests occurred at Emory University in Atlanta. A faculty member interfered with officers who were arresting a protestor who had refused an order to disperse. When the faculty member was confronted and ordered to lay on the ground, she chose not to comply, instead informing the officer that she was a professor—as if that were a magic shield. When she was then taken to the ground, arrested, and handcuffed, she continued to proclaim: “I am a professor! I am a professor of economics!” (soon followed by) “I reacted impulsively. I apologize. Please remove the handcuffs.”

The idea that tenure protects you from arrest goes far to explain why so many young (and not so young) people on campuses are astonished by the idea that they might not be insulated from the penalties for trespassing, threatening behavior, and impeding college operations while disregarding the free speech rights of those who think differently than themselves.

I would like to see a reasoned, researched, and respectful essay drafted by those who are protesting the terrible situation in the Middle East today instead of the inane sloganeering that is supposed to pass for thoughtful discussion. Those who oppose a particular course of action have a moral and intellectual obligation to be able to defend their point of view with discourse that illuminates rather than insults. Having lived in the Middle East for a time, I would be the first person to acknowledge the grievances, misunderstandings, lies, and manipulations that thwart the necessary search for understanding, reconciliation, and compromise that will allow people of all faiths in that troubled corner of our world to live in peace.

As is the case with almost every other problem facing our world today, we hear those who shout because they are the loudest; however, we need to listen to those who speak quietly with the strength that comes from seeing all sides of the issues at hand. Only in this way can we find a path to improving this world we must learn to live in together.