Essential California – L.A. Times | Israel-Hamas conflict divides college campuses
The Hamas-Israel war is dividing college campuses
Good morning. It’s Monday, Oct. 16. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
- Israel-Hamas conflict divides college campuses
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- 8 great places to learn to sew in L.A.
- And here’s today’s e-newspaper
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Tense demonstrations unfolded across California’s college campuses all week after Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 Israelis, and Israel declared war, laid siege to the Gaza Strip and flattened neighborhoods with bombs. The death toll in Gaza has topped 2,600 and is growing fast. “The already yawning gulf between students supporting Israelis or Palestinians widened,” Times reporters Teresa Watanabe, Priscella Vega, Debbie Truong and Jenny Gold wrote in a recent story chronicling the campus conflicts. Students and faculty at UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, USC and Cal State Long Beach told them the climate on their campuses has created a chilling effect on speech and efforts to discuss the conflict civilly. My colleagues wrote: . While universities are supposed to be bastions of open inquiry, academic freedom and robust debate, the escalating Israel-Hamas war has elevated campus tensions across the country this week, underscoring how much those values have withered as polarization hardens amid the social media age. Stanford was among the universities that made headlines in the last week. Campus leaders wrote that some Palestinian students reported receiving threatening emails and phone calls, while some Jewish students have voiced concerns about antisemitism on the campus. The school is also investigating allegations that an instructor downplayed the Holocaust in class and grouped students into “colonized or colonizer groups depending on their family countries of origin,” my colleagues reported. Officials there have declined to weigh in on the conflict, saying that while Stanford is “unambiguously opposed to all forms of racial, ethnic, or religious hatred,” the university does not take positions on geopolitical issues and news events.” “This is grounded in a principled belief that the appropriate role of university administrators in relation to geopolitical events is not to take positions or issue statements, but to create an environment in which faculty and students are free to develop and exchange ideas free from institutional orthodoxy,” administrators wrote in a recent statement. At UCLA, two professors who planned an “emergency teach-in on the crisis in Palestine” were met with threats and harassment that led them to hold the event online for safety concerns. Students across the state expressed fears of being doxxed for expressing viewpoints critical of Israel and worried they’d be labeled antisemitic, similar to what happened to some Harvard students. With some students grieving lost loved ones, angry over this latest eruption of bloodshed and fearing what’s next — both for the Israeli and Palestinian people overseas and for the people speaking out here in the U.S. — some are finding it difficult to find a peaceful path forward. “I’ve spent my whole career trying to build bridges and try to hear from other voices and understand the Palestinian perspective,” ChayaLeah Sufrin, executive director of Beach Hillel, told The Times. “I feel very hopeless about the situation.” Read more of the Times coverage The latest from Sacramento Education More big stories L.A. fans go all out for Taylor Swift movie — and reveal how much they’ve spent on her. Our photo and video teams went to the movies Friday to capture L.A. fans’ excitement for the “Eras Tour” concert film — and learn what it costs to be a Swiftie. Other great reads Going out Staying in Show us your favorite place in California! Send us photos you have taken of spots in California that are special — natural or human-made — and tell us why they’re important to you. Today’s great photo is from Jen Hankins of Newbury Park: The Minarets in Mammoth Lakes. Jen writes: Not only does it distinguish Mammoth from all other peaks in the Eastern Sierra, but it provides a breathtaking view year round. Have a great day, from the Essential California teamThe Hamas-Israel violence conflict is dividing college campuses
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