Protests and activism on US college campuses

Article for the St. Paul's Episcopal Church parish newsletter, May 31, 2024

Toward the end of my senior year in college, a shanty town made of cast off cardboard, pallets, and parts of tents appeared in Dunn Meadow, the large field in front of the Student Union at Indiana University. Prior to the shanty town’s appearance, students and some faculty had been pressuring the University to sell off its investments in companies that were in apartheid South Africa, or did business in the country. The University administration said that it would not for various reasons, and the student protesters increased their presence until in April, 1986, the shanty town appeared. There were more rallies and teach-ins against apartheid and the administration’s refusal to divest, and the shanty town was inhabited throughout the summer. When the 1987 academic year began, the returning students showed little interest, and with fall rains the spot became a mudhole. In November, the shanty town was taken down after a suggestion from the student association.

I have been watching the pro-Palestinian demonstrations and shanty town residents at Columbia University, Penn State, USC in San Diego, California, and other places. Even IU had another shanty town, briefly. The current university administrators were likely college students during the apartheid demonstrations 38 years ago and are viewing the current demonstrations through their experience decade ago. Curiously, I am hearing the same sentiments, the same words, the same call to action, the same stridency as I did in 1986. Only the location of what is being protested has changed. Someone I know who has been participating in the protests at a state university described the feeling as a group of people gathering to form a body “of love.” It sounded much like the body of Christ that is formed when we gather to worship, and at least for this person, it was a chance to belong as much as it was a chance to protest. In some ways, belonging is a means of protest if one belongs to a counter-cultural movement, be it a new Jewish sect or a group of political protesters.

In late April, protesters at Columbia University occupied the administration building until NYPD went in to force them out. While inside, the protesters caused physical damage and threatened custodial staff with harm, creating suspicion and questions about the legitimacy of their protest. I was reminded of Jesus running through the Temple in Jerusalem, turning over booths of the money changers and animal vendors. The difference between these protests is calling out placing man-made religious rules over the sanctity of the Temple versus expressing anger and frustration with the deaths of innocent civilians in Gaza; two different reasons for protest that had similar appearances. I don’t fault the pro-Palestinian protests in principle because we need to be confronted with man-made evil. We need to decide if our faith is real enough to follow through on our promises of peace and dignity for our neighbors whom we unconditionally love to stop the evil. 

The ultimate goal of the protesters at IU and other universities was to end apartheid in South Africa. In 1990, Nelson Mandela, jailed for27 years for anti-apartheid activity, was released under intense international diplomatic pressure and a threat of civil war. In 1994, he was elected the first president of a post-apartheid South Africa by the citizens who lived there. The protests in the US were the background to our government’s pressure on the white South African government, rather than the reason for it. The Israel-Gaza war may follow a similar path, where resolution may come from both countries, not from our protests. Protest against human evil starts in the heart when the foundation of our faith is violated, but our reaction to that is not enough. As the author of the new Testament letter of James points out, faith without works is a dead faith, so our reaction to evil must be more than shock and outrage. We must take action in the broader context of the evil, understanding that we are one part of the larger body of Christ. When we act, it must be an action of justice and mercy that shows that we also embody Christ's unconditional love for the world.