Northern California law professor weighs in on campus protest: "It's absolutely a balance."
SACRAMENTO — For weeks, campuses across the nation have been at the center of the debate over the Israel-Hamas war.
This week, things reached a boiling point as demonstrations turned violent over calls for a ceasefire and for campuses to cut ties with companies supporting Israel.
Professor Rory Little of UC Law San Francisco said we're seeing echoes of a movement that started 60 years ago.
"This year is an interesting year," Little said. "We're in the 60th anniversary right now of something which started in Berkeley, California called the Free Speech Movement when students started protesting the Vietnam War and taking over buildings and campuses."
Classes at Cal Poly Humboldt moved to online learning through the rest of the week, with Colombia announcing hybrid classes through the rest of the week. We asked if people's right to an education was enough to shut down and dispel protestors.
"In a sense, they're denying their own education and they've made a choice that it's more important to say what they have to say," Little said.
Many universities are walking a fine line between knowing when the right time is to step in and shut things down as violence erupts from coast to coast.
"It's absolutely a balance between public safety, maintaining some kind of social order, and yet letting people exercise their rights to free speech," Little said. "Public universities are subject to the First Amendment directly. Private colleges have a little more leeway."
Pro-Palestinian protestors have been arrested in recent days after heated exchanges with law enforcement. We asked about the protocol for administrators to know when to step in.
"Law enforcement and university administrators have the right to protect public safety and health," Little said.
With tensions high and no end in sight to the many demonstrations drawing crowds to main campus squares, school administrators must decide when and how best to step in if public safety becomes a concern.
"It's not like this is a new episode, but for every generation. It's a reinvention of where are the lines, and what are we allowed to do," Little said.
