US Civil Rights Groups Urge Federal Govt to Investigate Campus Protest Response

Facts

• More than a dozen civil rights groups are asking the US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) and US Dept. of Education (ED) to investigate police response to pro-Palestine protests that took place around US colleges throughout the 2023-24 academic year.¹
• The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Amnesty International, and several Jewish and Arab peace groups signed a letter Thursday asking the DOJ to investigate local law enforcement's response to campus protests in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Austin.²
• The groups claim that police used excessive force and may have violated federal law by arresting more than 2K people at dozens of pro-Palestine encampments, many of which were reportedly unlawfully established on college property.³
• The organizations further point to reports from Columbia, Emory, the University of Texas, and UCLA claiming that university officials created 'hostile environments' by inviting state and local law enforcement officials to disperse peaceful campus protests.⁴
• The civil rights groups call on the departments to investigate 'possible civil rights violations' by university officials citing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination in public institutions and federally funded programs, such as universities.²
• The protests that broke out following the war in Gaza have been 97% peaceful, according to a May report by the ACLED project, but high-profile clashes and encampments have stirred debate surrounding the legality of various demonstrations.⁵

Sources: ¹NBC, ²Daily Caller, ³The Hill, ⁴Naacpldf and ⁵Insidehighered.

Narratives

• Progressive narrative, as provided by Intercept. Militarized police across the US engaged in an unhinged overreaction to overwhelmingly peaceful protests of Israel's war in Gaza. Biased media coverage and pressure from influential political forces allowed law enforcement to abuse power and infringe on the civil rights of students across the country. Politicians and university officials are also complicit in this assault on free speech, as they urged for severe crackdowns and dismantling of demonstrations. The campus protests saga shed light on the encroaching authoritarianism that persists in America.
• Conservative narrative, as provided by The Heritage Foundation. To set the record straight, freedom of speech and assembly are fundamental rights that must be protected, especially at American universities. However, the violence, antisemitic rhetoric, and destruction that occurred during anti-Israel encampments have nothing to do with the right to protest. Entitled and largely uninformed college students vandalized school property and blocked their peers' access to various academic buildings, denying them the ability to study and learn. This is a public safety issue, not a civil rights issue.

Predictions