California university presidents have vowed to take tough action against anti-Israel student demonstrators terrorizing their campuses.
About 150 students at Pomona College in Claremont demonstrated Friday in the campus administration building, which houses President Gabriel Starr’s office, before storming into the building and refusing to leave. According to the San Bernardino Sun.
A video circulating on X showed students calling on the school to “stop funding genocide” and calling police officers “KKK”.
They briefly occupied Starr’s office, but According to eyewitness testimony.
At least 18 students were reportedly arrested.
Starr said some of the students used “disgusting anti-Black racial slurs when speaking to administrators.” argued in an open letter To the university community.
“These actions actively subvert the values that underpin our community,” she wrote about the Alexander Hall occupation. “The participants in today’s event have been identified as Pomona students and are subject to immediate suspension. All other Claremont College students will be banned from the Pomona campus and will face disciplinary action on their respective campuses. become.”
Pomona’s move is part of a broader campus movement that has allowed the university to become a daily hub for pro-Palestinian student protesters since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that left at least 1,200 people dead. This suggests that universities are beginning to reconsider their free speech policies.
Pomona College is not alone in changing its approach to protests.
Last week, the University of Michigan announced a new “disruptive activity policy” that would impose harsher penalties for students who disrupt official university events such as classes, field trips, sports days, performances, speeches, awards ceremonies, and graduation ceremonies. The school announced.
The move comes after Michigan State President Santa J. Ono himself was yelled at by students last month when he attempted to speak at an assembly of honors students.
“No one has the right to interfere with the lawful activities or speech of others. Because universities are public institutions, not only is it prohibited to interfere with lawful speech, but it is also prohibited to interfere with the lawful activities or speech of others. We must intervene when we see someone disrupting or disrupting public speech.” said in a memo explaining the new policy..
