Protesters have been demonstrating on Georgia’s college campuses for more than a week in pursuit of the same goal: to convince school administrators to cut ties to Israel.
Emory University students kicked off the effort a couple of weeks ago, when they tried to set up an encampment at the center of the Atlanta campus and were quickly met with police who made about two dozen arrests.
So far, Georgia colleges and universities do not seem interested in folding to that demand, even as students continue to stage demonstrations with frequent promises to keep going.
“It is possible. It has been done before. We know that it can happen,” said Daniella Hobbs, an Emory student and an organizer of the Occupy Candler movement, about divestment from Israel. “We will not take anything else as acceptable.”
But at Emory, focus is stretched between the war protests, the treatment of student protesters and longstanding efforts to stop Atlanta public safety training center. The decentralized protest structure doesn’t lend itself to concise action. And the looming end of the semester poses logistical challenges to the efforts. What happens when students go home for the summer?
A spokeswoman for Emory declined to discuss the school’s endowment or the divestment calls. She also declined to answer questions about whether university officials have met with students about their demands. University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue said in an interview Tuesday he had not seen specific demands from student groups. At the University of Georgia, which has had several war protests in the last week, a spokesman could not confirm or deny any talks about any discussions with student groups.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Nationally, college students have been at this for almost a month with limited success. Northwestern University, Brown University and the University of Minnesota reached deals with protesters to curb protest activity. The universities did not promise to divest, but they did agree to more financial transparency and, in some cases, amnesty for student protesters in return for dismantling encampments.
At Columbia University — where the arrest of protesters who set up an encampment became a rallying cry for students across the nation — negotiations failed, and students faced suspension and more police intervention. Protesters have been arrested and face disciplinary action.
President Joe Biden said Thursday that people have the right to protest, but “not the right to cause chaos.” Asked if the demonstrations would make him reconsider U.S. policy toward Israel, he responded, “No.”
Emory University has become the primary battleground for this issue in Georgia. Behind the protests is a mercurial group of students and organizations. Protesters often don’t know who the leaders or organizers are on a given day. Different clubs are hosting different events. It’s usually decided the night before, said Zachary Hammond, the co-president of Emory Students for Socialism who has been involved with organizing protests at the school.
“I think people are not ready to stop putting pressure on this university,” Hammond said. “They’re all coming out because they recognize what Emory is doing is too far.”
The momentum has been strong. Hammond said that more people are coming out than ever before. But part of that could be due to a desire of students to protect their own rights on campus. The decision from university officials to send in the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia State Patrol to disband the encampment, and the subsequent use of pepper balls, chemical irritants and at least one Taser by those officers, represents a more pressing threat to some students.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Sophomore Maysam Elghazali, with Emory’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), said protesters have three demands of administrators: they want the school to divest from Israeli companies and the Atlanta public safety training center, provide ‘amnesty and protection’ to students who were arrested last week, and disclose all of the university’s financial investments.
However, she said university officials haven’t responded to the group’s requests to meet in person.
“One thing that we have not received at all from the Emory administration is simply direct communication and an opportunity for negotiation or at least dialogue about the events that have been unfolding,” she said.
Following the lead of faculty who have taken a similar route, the school’s Student Government Association voted unanimously to host an undergraduate-wide no-confidence vote on President Gregory L. Fenves. The College Council, which represents just students in the College of Arts and Sciences, also voted that it has no confidence in Fenves.
“President Fenves has failed to address police violence or condemn the use of brutality,” the council’s resolution reads in part. It goes on to cite Emory’s Open Expression Policy, which states that arrests must be a last resort. “We argue that ... (the arrests were) not the option of last resort and that President Fenves be held accountable for his negligence in caring or protecting the community he represents.”
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
In this, students have a direct path torward getting university leaders to do what they want. Divestment, on the other hand, is a big ask. Experts say in a globally connected economy, disentangling from Israel or companies that do business there would be very difficult to do. And at least in the short-term, divestment would likely have little practical impact on companies, the Israeli government or Israel’s economy.
Fenves said a few days after the arrests that Emory will review how it engages external law enforcement agencies.
Emory’s student body, though, is not united in the pro-Palestinian protests. Many students have not joined, saying they were focused on final exams or not informed enough on the issue. Jewish students, who make up nearly one-fifth of Emory’s student population, have held their own demonstrations. Eytan Davidson, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said the call for divestment originated from a group that is “fundamentally antisemitic.”
Atlanta criminal defense attorney Andrew Fleischman says to be effective, protest organizers need to be informed of the law. Fleischman is assisting with the case against Atlanta’s public safety training center and has represented protesters in the past. He says if students plan to break the law they need to be purposeful and should plan to be arrested.
“Back in the Civil Rights Movement, people were trained on how to respond to arrest,” he says. “That’s important. One problem with these people who are sort of ‘Johnny-Come-Latelys’ to protests is that they aren’t being advised or guided. They’re just showing up and seeing what happens.”
Staff writers Michael Kanell and Fletcher Page and freelancer Sarah Davis contributed to this report.
