WASHINGTON (AP) — As a student at George Washington University, Ty Lindia meets fresh students every day. But with the shadow of the Israel-Hamas war hanging over the Washington, D.C., campus where everyone has a political opinion, each fresh encounter is fraught.
“The idea that I might say something wrong kind of scares me,” said Lindia, who is studying political science. “You have to sneak around politics until someone says something that signals that they feel a certain way about the issue.”
He has seen friendships – including some of his own – fail because of his views on the war. In public, he keeps his attitude to himself for fear that future employers might reproach him for it.
“There wasn’t really a lot of fear before Oct. 7,” said Lindia, of Morristown, New Jersey.
A year after the Hamas attack in southern Israel, some students say they are hesitant to speak out because it could pit them against their peers, professors or even potential employers. Social bubbles have cemented themselves along the divisions of the war. New protest rules on many campuses escalate the risk of suspension or expulsion.
Tensions over the conflict erupted last year amid emotional demonstrations following the Oct. 7 attack. In the spring, a wave of pro-Palestinian camps led to about 3,200 arrests.
The atmosphere on US campuses has calmed since these protests, but unrest remains.
Students think about what to say in class
In a recent class discussion about gender and the military at Indiana University, sophomore Mikayla Kaplan said she thought about mentioning her friends who serve in the Israeli military. But in a room full of politically progressive classmates, she decided to stay peaceful.
“In the back of my mind, I’m constantly thinking about things I should or shouldn’t say,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan, who proudly wears a Star of David necklace, said that before college she had many friends of different faiths, but after Oct. 7, almost all of her friends were Jewish.
The war began when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They kidnapped another 250 people and are still holding about 100 hostages. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians.
At the University of Connecticut, some students said the conflict doesn’t come up as often in class. Ahmad Zoghol, an engineering student, said it remains a fraught issue and he has heard from potential employers questioning political statements made by students in college.
“A lot of people, myself included, are definitely worried that if we talk about it, it’s going to have some sort of impact,” he said.
Campuses struggle with divisions
Compared to the much larger protests on campus during the Vietnam War era, when few students openly supported the war, campuses today appear more divided, said Mark Yudof, a former president of the University of California system. For many, the problems are more personal.
“The faculties are at odds with each other. The student body is divided among itself. “There is a war of ideologies,” he said.
Some universities try to bridge the gap with campus civil discourse events, sometimes inviting Palestinian and Jewish speakers to share the stage. At Harvard University in Massachusetts, a recent survey found that many students and professors are hesitant to share their views in the classroom. A panel suggested solutions including “confidentiality in the classroom” and teaching constructive disagreements.
Many universities are now implementing policies that curb protests, often banning encampments and limiting demonstrations to certain hours or locations.
At Indiana University, a fresh policy bans, among other things, “expressive activities” after 11 p.m. Graduate student Bryce Greene, who helped run a pro-Palestinian camp last semester, said he was threatened with suspension after organizing a vigil at 11:30 p.m.
That’s a striking contrast to previous protests on campus, including a climate demonstration in 2019 that drew hundreds of students without interference from the university, he said.
“When speech is restricted in this way, it definitely creates a chilling effect,” said Greene, who is involved in a lawsuit challenging the fresh policy. “This is just a way for them to stop people from speaking up for Palestine.”
New rules allow protests, but with conditions
The tense atmosphere has caused some faculty members to reconsider teaching certain subjects or participating in certain debates, said Risa Lieberwitz, general counsel for the American Association of University Professors.
Lieberwitz, who teaches labor law at Cornell University, is concerned about the growing number of colleges requiring students to register for demonstrations days in advance.
“It goes so contrary to the idea of how protests and demonstrations take place,” she said. “They are often spontaneous. They are not planned in the way that events are generally planned.”
Protests continued to occur on many campuses, but on a smaller scale and often within the framework of fresh rules.
At Wesleyan University in Connecticut, police removed a group of pro-Palestinian students from a campus building where they were holding a sit-in in September. Wesleyan President Michael Roth said he supports students’ right to free speech but that they have “no right to take over a portion of a building.”
Wesleyan is offering fresh courses on civil disagreements this year, and faculty are working to promote discussion among students.
“It’s a challenge for students, just like it is for adults — most adults don’t have conversations with people who disagree,” Roth said. “We’re so separated into our bubbles.”
Schools are trying to find a balance regarding freedom of expression
American universities pride themselves on being places of open discourse where students can share their differences. Since October 7th, they have been under enormous pressure to maintain freedom of expression while protecting students from discrimination.
The U.S. Department of Education is investigating more than 70 colleges for reports of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. Leaders of several prestigious colleges have been called before Congress by Republicans who accuse them of being reticent about anti-Semitism.
But finding the line where protected speech ends is as arduous as ever. Leaders are grappling with whether to allow chants that are seen by some as a call for support for Palestinians and by others as a threat to Jews. It is particularly complicated at public universities, which are bound by the First Amendment, while private universities have the option to impose more extensive restrictions on speech.
At George Washington University, Lindia said the war often came up in his lectures, but sometimes only after a warm-up period – in one lecture the discussion lightened after the professor realized that most students shared similar views. You can already notice the tension on the way to class. Tall fences now surround University Yard, the grassy area where police broke up a camp in May.
“It’s a free speech space, and now it’s just completely shut down,” he said.
Some students say moderate voices are being lost.
Nivriti Agaram, a student at George Washington University, said she believes Israel has the right to defend itself but questions America’s spending on the war. That opinion puts her at odds with more liberal students who have called her an “enabler of genocide” and worse, she said.
“It’s very overwhelming,” she said. “I think there is a silent majority that doesn’t speak.”
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Associated Press writer Michael Melia in Storrs, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
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