Are Gaza Protests Happening Mostly at Elite Colleges? (Yes)

[brooklynite]

Washington Monthly

Student protestors at college campuses nationwide, united by their outrage at Israel’s actions in Gaza, can rightly be described as diverse. Despite the masks, it’s clear that they come from different racial backgrounds, and their views range from the belief that Israel should give up on its war effort to the conviction that Israel should be destroyed entirely.

But one thing is not especially diverse about the protests: the campuses on which they’ve been happening.

Many of the most high-profile protests have occurred at highly selective colleges, like Columbia University. But since the national media is famously obsessed with these schools and gives far less attention to the thousands of other colleges where most Americans get their postsecondary educations, it’s hard to know how widespread the campus unrest has really been.

We at the Washington Monthly tried to get to the bottom of this question: Have pro-Palestinian protests taken place disproportionately at elite colleges, where few students come from lower-income families?

[Deep State Witch]

1. My Alma Mater Didn't Have One

But, it's a small college that 1. Has a Jewish Studies program and 2. Is just down the street from the Tree of Life Synagogue.

My other alma mater, Johns Hopkins has one.

[Mossfern]

2. Looking it up now

will answer on edit.

Hofstra University - undergrad
https://longisland.news12.com/students-take-part-in-pro-palestinian-protest-at-hofstra-university

Pratt Institute - grad
https://nypost.com/2024/04/28/us-news/pratt-institute-red-hands-painting-on-tree-used-to-terrorize-jewish-students-critics-say/

[Voltaire2]

3. Like CUNY. Didn't know they were elite.

Also UCLA: elite now?

[obamanut2012]

7. I know, it is ridiculous

I also think it's people not knowing what being an Elite R1 like UCLA and UC Davis means. They are not elite schools like an Ivy or Duke, it means they meet certain criteria for postgrad/doctoral research. They are excellent STATE universities. These are state schools funded by the state budget.

[Voltaire2]

9. The intent of course is to marginalize and stigmatize

a grass roots protest movement that threatened to spill out of the campus and into the communities around them.

As always there is bipartisan agreement that left wing protest movements must be suppressed by any means necessary.

[David__77]

12. If only this movement had the resources of its opposition...

Things would look quite different.

[brooklynite]

14. So, WASHINGTON MONTHLY is part of the "corporate media"?

[Rob H.]

15. Where did he say that? nt

[brooklynite]

16. That's the usual explanation for media stories people here don't like.

[Rob H.]

17. Ah, so you're putting words in his mouth. nt

[brooklynite]

20. I framed a question that the poster is free to respond to.

[Rob H.]

23. And now you're gaslighting

as if the question wasn’t also an accusation.

[dpibel]

28. "I'm just asking the question!!"

Sounds somehow familiar, doesn't it?

Where, oh where, have I heard that before?

[Rob H.]

34. Exactly! nt

[Brenda]

45. Seems to be a pattern, eh? nt

[Celerity]

10. UCLA absolutely is an elite university. Ranked 14th in global universities in one of the bigger rankings.

2022-2023 Best Global Universities Rankings

These institutions from the U.S. and more than 90 other countries have been ranked based on 13 indicators that measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations. Students can use these rankings to explore the higher education options that exist beyond their own countries' borders and to compare key aspects of schools' research missions. These are the world's 2,000 top universities. Read the methodology »

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings

Harvard University United States|Cambridge (U.S.)

#1 in Best Global Universities

Founded in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest higher education institution in the U.S.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States|Cambridge (U.S.)

#2 in Best Global Universities

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded in 1861.

Stanford University United States|Stanford

#3 in Best Global Universities

Stanford University was founded in 1885 and is located in California’s Bay Area, around 30 miles south of San Francisco.

University of California Berkeley United States|Berkeley

#4 in Best Global Universities

The University of California—Berkeley is situated roughly 15 miles from San Francisco in what is known as the Bay Area.

University of Oxford United Kingdom|Oxford

#5 in Best Global Universities

The exact date of the University of Oxford’s founding is unknown, but the school traces its roots back to at least 1096.

University of Washington Seattle United States|Seattle

#6 in Best Global Universities

The University of Washington is a public institution that was founded in 1861.

Columbia University United States|New York City

#7 in Best Global Universities

Columbia University is a private institution that was founded in 1754. It is located in the Upper West Side of New York.

University of Cambridge United Kingdom|Cambridge (U.K.)

#8 in Best Global Universities

The University of Cambridge, located around 60 miles north of London, traces its history back to 1209.

California Institute of Technology United States|Pasadena

#9 in Best Global Universities

The California Institute of Technology, known as Caltech, was founded in 1891 as Throop University.

Johns Hopkins University United States|Baltimore

#10 in Best Global Universities

Johns Hopkins University is a private institution that was founded in 1876.

Yale University United States|New Haven

#11 in Best Global Universities

Yale University was founded in 1701, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the U.S.

University College London United Kingdom|London (U.K.)

#12 in Best Global Universities

University College London, or UCL, is a public institution that was founded in 1826.

Imperial College London United Kingdom|London (U.K.)

#13 in Best Global Universities

Imperial College London is a public institution that was founded in 1907.

University of California Los Angeles United States|Los Angeles

#14 in Best Global Universities

The University of California—Los Angeles, commonly referred to as UCLA, is a public institution that was founded in 1919.

University of Pennsylvania United States|Philadelphia

#15 in Best Global Universities

The University of Pennsylvania, also known as Penn, was founded in 1740.

Princeton University United States|Princeton

#16 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Princeton University was founded in 1746, making it one of the oldest higher education institutions in the U.S.

University of California San Francisco United States|San Francisco

#16 in Best Global Universities (tie)

The University of California—San Francisco is a public institution that was founded in 1864.

University of Toronto Canada|Toronto

#18 in Best Global Universities

The University of Toronto is a public institution that was founded in 1827.

University of Michigan United States|Ann Arbor

#19 in Best Global Universities

The University of Michigan—Ann Arbor is a public institution that was founded in 1817.

University of California San Diego United States|La Jolla

#20 in Best Global Universities

The University of California—San Diego is a public institution that was established in 1960.

Cornell University United States|Ithaca

#21 in Best Global Universities

Cornell University is a private institution that was founded in 1865.

University of Chicago United States|Chicago

#22 in Best Global Universities

The University of Chicago is a private institution that was founded in 1890.

Tsinghua University China|Beijing

#23 in Best Global Universities

Tsinghua University, located in northwest Beijing, China, is a public institution that traces its roots back to 1911.

Northwestern University United States|Evanston

#24 in Best Global Universities

Northwestern University is a private institution that was founded in 1851.

Duke University United States|Durham (North Carolina, U.S.)

#25 in Best Global Universities

Duke University traces its roots back to 1838.

[iemanja]

25. It's still a state school

with state tuition, as is Berkeley.

[Celerity]

29. And? So are Oxford, Cambridge, ETH Zurich, The Sorbonne, U of Michigan, U of Washington, etc etc. There are plenty of

elite public universities, and plenty of middling private ones.

[iemanja]

30. The point of highlighting the Ivies

is to show them as distanced from ordinary life, as though decent, typical people wouldn't go near a Gaza protest, that only the rich and privileged care about such things. The quality of a school is not the point. The media wants people to think that regular students don't engage in such protests. UCLA is one state school where protests take place. It happens to be a highly ranked school, but many less highly ranked state schools also saw protests.

Must we really fall into the right-wing trap of defining "elite" in terms of education rather than wealth? You can see from this thread that the people who support the IDF actions in Gaza love nothing more than this depiction of Gaza protestors as elite and out of touch. Why do you want to reinforce that?

[Celerity]

32. I was strictly dealing with the false attempt to claim that UCLA was not an elite university, nothing more, nothing less

Last edited Sat May 25, 2024, 08:10 AM - Edit history (1)

You can see from this thread that the people who support the IDF actions in Gaza love nothing more than this depiction of Gaza protestors as elite and out of touch. Why do you want to reinforce that?

I agree with you about that, but I, again, was only discussing the eliteness of the educational and research output, etc, at UCLA.

I was not at all suggesting people there were out of touch. I apologise if I was not clear on that.

[lapucelle]

47. "Best" is a relative term. For example, globally UCLA is 14th best overall, but 51st best for their business program,

67th "best" for engineering, and 87th "best" for education and educational research.

Furthermore, "best" and "elite" are not necessarily interchangeable terms, and the application of either descriptor may not be a constant across all programs at a given university.

For example, UCLA's medical school has a 1.36% acceptance rate and can be characterized as "elite", while UCLA's graduate business program has a 37.6% acceptance rate which is moderately competitive, but hardly "elite".

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/economics-business?int=994b08
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/education-educational-research?name=ucla
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/engineering?name=ucla

[David__77]

4. Media just chooses to focus on those.

Here’s info on their locations: https://www.palestineiseverywhere.com/

[H2O Man]

5. Lions & tigers & bears!

Oh my!

[obamanut2012]

6. Nope, most are state universities and colleges

Even if they are Elite R1s like UCLA and Davis, that doesn't mean they are ELITE. That isn't what that means. UCLA, UC Davis, Humboldt, Sacramento State, etc. are good to great schools, but are absolutely not "elite."

[David__77]

8. Thankfully lots of working class people have and do attend UC and CSU.

Even with the terrible increases in tuition, there is still a clear pathway.

[obamanut2012]

36. Every student assistant I have

Is first gen from blue collar homes. 15 kids, at a UC "elite." One of them has parents who are farm pickers.

These are smart, talented kids from regular homes, not Muffster and Chadkins with trust funds and prep school backgrounds.

[Celerity]

11. completely wrong in UCLA's case, see post 10

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218974195#post10

[obamanut2012]

35. You are wrong

They are state universities. They are not sxhools for elites.

[Celerity]

37. No, I am not wrong. I never once said they are 'schools for elites'. That is your construct.

Last edited Sat May 25, 2024, 08:10 AM - Edit history (1)

You are conflating two different things. As I stated in in another reply:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218974195#post32

Celerity (44,004 posts)

32. I was strictly dealing with the false attempt to claim that UCLA was not an elite university, nothing more, nothing less

You can see from this thread that the people who support the IDF actions in Gaza love nothing more than this depiction of Gaza protestors as elite and out of touch. Why do you want to reinforce that?

I agree with you about that, but I, again, was only discussing the eliteness of the educational and research output, etc, at UCLA.

I was not at all suggesting people there were out of touch. I apologise if I was not clear on that.

[TheRealNorth]

13. fake populism

Is all the OP is peddling.

[SoFlaBro]

38. So it seems like there is some fuckery afoot here with what is being presented?

[Model35mech]

18. There may be a syntax problem in your subject line

There are no protests in Gaza at it's funtioning colleges/univerities, because the 13 institutions that existed there are no longer functioning.

[Model35mech]

19. Attacks on the "elites".

This is turning toward quite frequently used conservative talking points.

[duckworth969]

24. Yep

[betsuni]

21. I've been wondering about this, didn't think it was happening at community colleges or non-elite schools.

People have lives, jobs, obligations, preparing for careers. As the article says, conflict in the Middle East is a low priority for them.

Also, maybe those going to elite schools have focused so much on academics and activities to be accepted that they don't have as wide a range of life experience. More idealistic perhaps. Picky eaters, too.

And it's hilarious that suddenly, "attacks on elites" is a bad thing. The irony.

[AnrothElf]

33. "Picky eaters, too." LOL

It's hard to take them seriously. That's the problem.

Another good point you made: "conflict in the Middle East is a low priority for them". That's because it's not news. Conflict in the Middle East is unending. I was there when Thomas Sutherland came home from Iran. I marched against Gulf War I & II.

My oldest son is 29 and getting married in August. Until Biden got us out of Afghanistan, he had never known a day without the US at war. I don't want to leave that legacy to my kids!

It's OUR responsibility. We who are ALIVE NOW.

It's up to us, The Living, to fix shit as much as we can before we die.

[betsuni]

40. No wonder protesters were told not to give statements to the press!

For such an old problem nobody seems to know anything, just repeating slogans.

In the '80s when I was in college Palestinian children throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers was on the news a lot and everybody felt sorry for the conditions there. I wanted a keffiyeh to add to my international scarf collection because I thought it was cool, but when I finally got one wore it once and never again. It felt shallow, disrespectful, almost offensive. Was I actually supporting the PLO? I didn't know anything.

[AnrothElf]

41. Yup, here in the US we seem infected with nostalgia from the 1960s anti-Vietnam War movement.

Even then, there were failures in tactics. And then, too, the "left" defended its flank.

I'm not defending this shit. They're on their own.

[Mossfern]

42. I posted that the schools

that I attended (certainly not elite) had pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Surely the youth of the hoi poli care as well.

[betsuni]

44. "Surely the youth of the hoi poli care as well"

...

[iemanja]

22. They are happening at state colleges and universities too

The media is focusing on the Ivys because they know the public is prejudiced against them and will fall into the anti-education prejudice that is so common among the right.

[marble falls]

26. Not so much, actually, unless state colleges are "mostly elite" ...

... https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/pro-palestinian-college-protests-encampments.html

Ivy League schools get better press. Just like during the anti war protests on campuses during the 60s and 70s.

Columbia had a photographic spread in Look Magazine, at at Kent State and Jackson State students got shot.

Why is this becoming a classist?

[Demsrule86]

27. Naturally, I worked two or three jobs...did Camp WE WoK in the summer and Caldors (like Walmart)

I would not have had time to protest something that is happening in another country...especially if I have no leverage. I would have been pissed if my college had been shut down and I lost the semester...this seem like mostly wealthy kids who have Moms and Dads who can get them out of trouble. They likely won't have consequences...but kids they interfere with who need to get on with their education likely don't.

[iemanja]

31. "It seems like"

happens to be false. You want to promote that notion because you want to deligimate the protests--and seemingly now all protests--because you don't like the cause the students are protesting against. Students from universities and colleges throughout the nation, including many state schools, have engaged in protests about the Gaza war, just as they engaged in protests about the US War on Central America, Vietnam, and Civil Rights. You seemingly are upset that any of those protests disrupted campus life. You are entitled to your view, of course, but social change happens despite such views.

[Brenda]

46. Exactly. I heard the same right-wing comments about Occupy Wall Street.

Oh, they're just bored rich kids! Even after I pointed out that union airline pilots were protesting along with OWS.

In the southeast many of the students protesting the Gaza war are black and middle eastern. No one would call any school in the southeast "elite."

Lot of ignorance in this country.

[lapucelle]

48. Duke University is elite. N/T

[betsuni]

43. +1

[Tom of Temecula]

39. Being a useful idiot is privileged behavior