Connect with us

Education

How Columbia University’s complex history with the student protest movement resonates today

Published

on

NEW YORK (AP) – Students are taking on space and demanding change. University administrators under pressure to regain control. Police brought in to make arrests. In other schools: students concentrate and sometimes take motion.

Columbia University, 2024. And Columbia University, 1968.

Advertisement

The pro-Palestinian demonstration and subsequent arrests in Colombia, which have now sparked similar protests on campuses across the country and even internationally, are nothing latest for college kids at the Ivy League school. They are the latest in a Colombian tradition that dates back greater than fifty years – which also helped encourage anti-apartheid protests in the Eighties, protests during the Iraq War, and more.

“When you go to Columbia, you know you’re going to an institution that holds a proud place in the history of American protests,” said Mark Naison, a professor of history and African-American studies at Fordham University, who was himself a participant in the 1968 demonstrations. “Whenever there is a movement , you know Columbia will be there.”

Students are aware of history

Students collaborating on this month’s demonstrations emphasize that it is a component of Colombia’s tradition – something recognized by the school itself in a program marking the anniversary and taught in classes.

“Many of the students here are aware of what happened in 1968,” said Sofia Ongele, 23, who was amongst those that joined the camp in response to this month’s arrests.

Advertisement
People take heed to a speaker at a pro-Palestinian camp who advocates financial disclosure and divestment from all corporations linked to Israel and calls for a everlasting ceasefire in Gaza at Columbia University on Sunday in New York. (Photo: Andres Kudacki/AP

The end of the academic yr was also approaching in April this yr, when students took over five campus buildings. There were many reasons. Some protested against the university’s affiliation with an institute that researched weapons for the Vietnam War; others objected to the elite school’s treatment of black and brown residents in the communities around the school, in addition to the atmosphere amongst minority students.

After a couple of days, the president of Colombia authorized the arrival of a thousand New York law enforcement officials who were to remove most of the demonstrators. The arrests, which numbered 700, weren’t lenient. Fists were flying and batons were swinging. Dozens of scholars and a number of other officers were injured.

History has never been forgotten. This includes when pro-Palestinian students calling on the university to chop all economic ties with Israel over the war in Gaza arrange a tent camp earlier this month and greater than 100 people were arrested. This helped spark similar demonstrations on campuses across the country and the world.

The long history of protests is one in every of the reasons Ongele selected Columbia for school and got here here from her hometown of Santa Clarita, California. “I wanted to be in an environment where people were actually socially aware,” she said.

As for the protest, “We have not only the privilege, but the responsibility to continue to follow those who came before us,” Onngele said. The goal, she said: to be certain that “we’re able to take care of the integrity of this university as a very socially conscious university, one where students truly care about what is occurring in the world, what is occurring in our communities and what is occurring in the lives of the students who make up our community.”

Advertisement

Columbia University officials didn’t reply to an e-mail asking about the university’s position on the aftermath of the 1968 events. Those events, like the current protest, “sparked a huge surge in student activism across the country,” Mark Rudd, a protest leader, said in an email to The Associated Press. “I and others spent the entire year after April 1968 traveling around the country spreading the spirit of Colombia on campuses.”

Not everyone supports the protests

But the echoes of the past should not only an inspiration. Then, as now, the protest had its detractors. Naison said the disruption to campus life and law and order has angered many individuals at Columbia and beyond.

Featured Stories

“Student protesters are not popular in the United States,” he said. “We weren’t popular in the 1960s. We have achieved a huge amount. But we also helped move the country to the right.”

This is now having repercussions amongst those critical of the protests, who’re decrying what they see as a descent into anti-Semitism. Some Jewish students said they felt targeted due to their identity and were afraid to be on campus, and university presidents got here under political pressure to make use of other methods, corresponding to police intervention.

Advertisement

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik had just testified before a congressional panel investigating concerns about anti-Semitism at elite schools when the camp began. Even though she demanded police motion the next day due to what she called a “harassing and intimidating environment,” congressional Republicans called on her to resign.

“Freedom of speech is very important, but it does not go beyond the right to be safe,” said Itai Dreifuss, 25, a third-year student who grew up in the United States and Israel. He was near the camp last week, standing in front of posters taped to the wall depicting people taken hostage by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the current conflagration.

Naison said the feeling amongst some students that there may be personal animosity against them is the difference between 1968 and today. The conflict between demonstrators and their condemners “is much more emotional,” Naison says, which he says makes this an excellent more tense time.

“It’s history repeating itself, but it’s also uncharted territory,” he said. “Here we have a whole group of people who see these protests as a natural extension of the fight for justice, and a whole other group of people who see this as a deadly attack on themselves, on their history and tradition. And this makes management very difficult for university authorities.”

Advertisement


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com

Education

The Department of Justice has completed a ten -year school desegregation order. Others are expected to fall

Published

on

By

When the Department of Justice raised the order for school desegregation in Louisian this week, officials called his further existence “bad historical” and suggested that others with the Civil Rights Movement must be considered again.

The end of the legal agreement of 1966 with Plaquemines Parish Schools announced on Tuesday shows that Trump’s administration, “re -focusing of America in our bright future,” said the assistant of the Prosecutor General Harmeet Dhillon.

In the Department of Justice, officials appointed by President Donald Trump expressed their desire to withdraw from other desegregation orders, which they perceive as an unnecessary burden on schools, according to a person conversant in the issue that received anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak public.

Advertisement

Dozens of school districts within the south remain as part of contracts enforced by the court, dictating steps in the sector of integration, many years after the Supreme Court limited racial segregation in education. Some perceive the strength of court orders as a sign that the federal government has never eliminated segregation, while officials in Louisiana and in some schools perceive orders as past relics that must be removed.

The Department of Justice opened a wave of matters within the Sixties, after the Congress released the department to follow schools that were based on desegregation. Known as consent decrees, orders may be raised when districts prove that they’ve eliminated segregation and its heritage.

Mark Zuckerberg closes the schools that he launched for colored communities

The small district of Louisiana has a long -lasting case of integration

The Trump administration called Plaquemines an example of administrative neglect. It was found that the Delta Delta of the Mississippi River within the south -eastern Louisiana integrated in 1975, however the case was to remain under the view of the court for the subsequent yr. The judge died in the identical yr, and the judicial register “seems to be lost in time,” in accordance with the court application.

“Considering that this case remained for half a century with zero proceedings by the court, parties or any third parties, the parties are satisfied that the United States’s claims were fully resolved,” in accordance with the joint submission of the Department of Justice and the Office of the Prosecutor General Liz Murill.

SUPERINTENDENT Plaquemines Shelley Ritz said that the officials of the Department of Justice still visited yearly in 2023 and asked for data on topics, including employment and discipline. She said that the documentation was a burden for her district lower than 4,000 students.

Advertisement

“These were data compilation hours,” she said.

Louisiana “gained his act ten years ago,” said Leo Terrell, senior adviser to the Civil Rights Department on the Department of Justice, in a statement. He said that the discharge is corrected by historical evil, adding that “the time had been going to recognize how far we have come.”

Murrill asked the Department of Justice to close other school orders in her condition. In a statement she promised cooperation with schools in Louisiana to help them “put the past in the past.”

Activists for civil rights claim that that is the improper move. Many orders have been loosely enforced only in recent many years, but this doesn’t mean that problems have been resolved, said Johnathan Smith, who worked within the Department of Civil Rights of the Department of Justice in the course of the administration of President Joe Biden.

Advertisement

“It probably means the opposite – that the school district remains sorted. In fact, most of these districts are now more sorted than in 1954.” – said Smith, who’s currently the chief of staff and general adviser to the National Center for Youth Law.

An outstanding pastor notified about the books of the borrowed African American Museum can be returned among the review

Desegregation orders include a number of instructions

According to the files of submitting this yr, over 130 school systems are based on the desegregation orders of the Department of Justice. The overwhelming majority are in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, with smaller numbers in states equivalent to Florida, Louisiana and South Karolina. Some other districts remain on the premise of separate desegregation agreements with the education department.

Orders may include a number of remedies, from bus requirements to district policy, enabling students in black schools to transfer to the fundamental white. Agreements are between the school district and the US government, but other parties may ask the court to intervene after they resumed signs of segregation.

In 2020, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund referred to the Decree of consent within the Leeds school district in Alabama, when he stopped offering school meals in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Civil Rights Group said that it’s disproportionately harmful to black students, in violation of the desegregation order. The district agreed to resume meals.

Last yr, the school board in Louisiana closed mainly the Black Primary School near the petrochemical institution after NACP Legal Defense and Education Fund said that he disproportionately exposes black students to health threats. The Council made a decision after the group submitted a request to a ten -year desegregation order within the parish of St. John the Baptist.

Advertisement

The release caused alarms amongst some who are afraid that this may occasionally withdraw his many years of progress. Research on districts exempt from orders showed that many have recorded a greater increase in racial segregation compared to those that are subject to court orders.

“In many cases, schools react quite quickly and there are new fears regarding civil rights for students,” said Halley Potter, an older worker of the Century Foundation who studies educational inequality.

The end of orders would cause that desegregation isn’t any longer a priority, said Robert Westley, a professor of anti -discrimination law on the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.

“It is really a signaling that the deviation that began some time ago is completed,” said Westley. “The United States government no longer cares about dealing with problems of racial discrimination in schools. This is the end.”

Advertisement

Raymond Pierce, president and general director of Southern Education Foundation.

“This is a disregard for education for a large part of America. It is a disregard for America’s need for an educated labor force,” he said. “And it is a disregard for the rule of law.”

Trump signs executive orders focused on universities, as well as efforts in the field of school capital

(Tagstranslate) Education

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
Advertisement
Continue Reading

Education

The youngest graduate of FAMU 2025 will cross the scene this spring

Published

on

By

FAMU, Florida A&M University, chief of staff, Carmen Cummings-Martin

Famu, Florida A & m University, Chief of Staff, Carmen Cummings-Martin

Curtis Lawrence III was on the headlines in 2021 as the youngest student who enrolled at HBC Florida A & m University, at the age of 16. Now he will finish this spring at the age of 20. He will receive a bachelor’s degree in biology, announced that he had accomplished Summa Cum Laude.

Lawrence’s academic journey in the range included a rigorous course of the course. He participated in classes at Florida State University and was involved in various campus activities. He plans a master’s degree in biology at the University of Villanova as a presidential member. He strives for a profession in the academic environment, specializing in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Lawrence, from Washington, began his journey to College even earlier. He signed up for George Washington University at the age of 14, after he skipped his younger and senior years in schools without Walls High School. Later He selected the famous HBCU Offers of institutions corresponding to Yale and Harvard, accumulating over $ 1.65 million in Merit scholarships.

Thinking about his time in Fam, Lawrence said: “Four years in which I was here, I did a lot and changed a lot as a person and I am ready to go to the next chapter.”

Advertisement

His parents, Curtis Lawrence Jr. And Malene Lawrence, they expressed great pride of their son’s achievements.

“We are incredibly proud of his perseverance and consistent dedication of perfection,” said Curtis Lawrence Jr. “His journey reminds that it is possible with faith, hard work and support.”

Lawrence’s brother, Corey, also attends FAM and is predicted to graduate in two years, continuing his family’s educational heritage.

FAMU starting ceremony They are scheduled for May 2-3 in the multifunction center Alfred Lawson Jr.

Advertisement

Lawrence’s amazing journey is an inspiration for a lot of. His journey is an example of the impact of dedication, support and commitment to perfection.

(Tagstranslate) Education

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
Advertisement
Continue Reading

Education

Harvard University cancels funds for black studies and other affinity group celebrations

Published

on

By

This 12 months, the graduation season may look different at Harvard University. This week, the institution of the Ivy League announced that the university will now not be visible or financed by the affiliate group celebrations in the course of the weekend weekend in the sunshine of the US Education Department at Dei.

In E -Mail sent to student affinity groups on Monday afternoon, the university stated that these groups would now not receive “financing, staff or space for affinity celebration.”

Advertisement

“Harvard remains involved in building a community in which people who bring a wide range of origin, experiences and perspectives to learn, develop and develop, and equally involved in compliance with the law,” said spokesman for the University of Jason A. Newton, on Harvard Crimson.

E -Mail continued: “We are ready to answer questions or fears during this passage.”

The NACP lawsuit says that the Education Department

Harvard was one among the many colleges that received federal financing from the US Education Department, if he didn’t meet the tickets of the Trump administration to dismantle the range, equality and inclusion initiatives. After the President of Harvard University, Alan M. Garber, revealed the refusal of the University of Trump’s demands, Ivy League was still fighting the threats related to freezing funds for many billion dollars from the US Education Department.

During the start of 2024, Harvard hosted 10 affinity ceremonies for Arabs, black, native, Latinówka, the primary generation, low -income graduates, Asian, Pacific Islander and Desi. In response to this message, Harvard’s Black Alumni Society began a campaign to lift funds in the quantity of USD 50,000 to finance the Black Graduation ceremony in 2025.

“This is an unfortunate message, but HBA will continue to focus their energy and resources on the protection of the experience of black students,” said the We -Mail organization for graduates. “Your contribution, regardless of the size, will directly strengthen their current students and ensure these important aspects of their Harvard travel will remain intact.”

Advertisement

When universities attempt to take a break from these mandates to dismantling Dei, NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Education Department of anti-dei orders. Derrick Johnson, president and general director of NAAC, described the department’s orders as “a gross distortion of reality that tries to remove the live experiences of millions of black and brown children in this country.”

“The Education Department, for the task of responsibility for the protection of civil rights of all children, instead claims that system racism does not exist – effectively sanctioning discrimination itself, that our regulations regarding civil rights have been designed to prevent”, Johnson added “meanwhile, children in color consistently take part in segregated, chronically uncomposed schools, by which they receive less educational opportunities by which they receive less educational and greater opportunities by which they receive less Discipline doesn’t deny them the reality – that is replaced by our request.

The Education Department threatens the financing of public schools over Dei - but does not explain what counts as Dei

(Tagstranslate) Education

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending