One of the things that worried me about the protestors (i.e., the encampers), most of whom were affiliated with the consortium UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP, one of whose subgroups is the Students for Justice in Palestine), is that they will attempt to disrupt graduation on Saturday by making noise, chanting, and generally creating a ruckus with their pro-Palestinian vigor. These were, after all, the people who were largely behind the Encampment, and their main function seems to be disrupting campus activities. Even though they’ve gained nothing I can see from all legal or illegal demonstrations, and in fact have angered a lot of people with their performative activism, they’ve vowed to keep on keeping on, and that includes disrupting graduation. (The Encampment didn’t make the administration yield to any of the protestors’ demands.)
As The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday, the University of Chicago is withholding the degrees of four students who participated in the encampment, all pending resolution of formal disciplinary hearings about their participation. This doesn’t mean they won’t graduate if the hearings exculpate them, but if they’re found guilty they don’t get their degrees. As the Tribune said:
A U. of C. spokesman said the school could not comment on individual student disciplinary matters, but noted that the process is standard practice after a formal complaint is reviewed by the university’s Disciplinary Committee.
“The recent protests on campus brought about multiple formal complaints alleging that students violated University policies, including by engaging in disruptive conduct,” the university said. “Once a formal complaint is received and, if the Disciplinary Committee faculty lead concurs that the complaint is credible, the matter may be referred to the Standing Disciplinary Committee on Disruptive Conduct to determine if policies have been violated.”
The four students are still able to participate in graduation and other end-of-year events, and their degrees can be later conferred depending on the resolution of the disciplinary process. But if the committee finds that certain policies have been violated, their degrees could be denied, despite four years of coursework and tuition.
Undergraduate tuition for the prestigious institution exceeds $67,000, and rises to more than $93,000 after including housing, food and other miscellaneous expenses.
The four students under investigation (the article implies there are others as well), along with many in the community in general, are furious that any such punishments are being levied on those who violated University rules. (The old notion of taking your punishment for civil disobedience seems to have vanished.)
My own view, which I’ve expressed here often, is that punishments for the guilty are needed if we’re going to tamp down the degree of illegal disruption on campus. So far the University doesn’t seem to have had much stomach for punishment, but that, of course, will only guarantee that disruption of campus life will continue. The war in Gaza is going to last a while, and it’s easy to see that unless there are sanctions on the table, illegal disruptions could continue for several years. (I’m not, of course, opposed to pro-Palestinian demonstrations so long as they don’t violate the “time, place, and manner” rules of the University. Legal demonstrations are a manifestation of the free speech for which the University of Chicago is famous.)
Unfortunately, UCUP is not only threatening to disrupt graduation (an illegal activity), but is making concrete plans to do so. Have a gander at these two posts from the UCUP Instagram page (each screenshot links to the post):
Note: “Be sure to bring drums and noise makers as we rally for Rafah.” You know what that means: a lot of shouting, chanting, and banging during a ceremony that is really important to many graduates.
You might expect that UCUP would let these graduates enjoy the formal termination of their studies here, but you would expect wrongly. UCUP wants to disrupt, and are apparently heedless that they would lose sympathy from the community if they screw up graduation. But changing minds is not, I think, their main aim.
Here’s another screenshot.
Rally at 10 AM on Saturday, with the location to be arranged (it’ll be given out on private chatrooms). Since the convocation (the ceremony) is scheduled to start at 9:15 a.m., this will be right when the ceremony is under way. I’ll be around to report what happens.
Do you think the tent people actually completed all their coursework and showed up for their exams? Aside from any rules they may have broken that would render them losing their good standing which, as discussed before, would justly prevent them from receiving their degrees.
Comrades – mmmmmm!
Maybe the world’s most mismanaged college. Forget the antisemitism. Who the hell would go to a place of such general chaos?
I believe that in due course, these four students will get their degrees. I think that the response to these protests by administrators is mostly theater, very little else.
And very poor theatre at that.
Sad, but predictable.
But do these protests really do the organizations that sponsor them any good? My guess is that people are sick and tired of this behavior, and that patience has worn thin. As disruptive as these protests may be, they may be self-limiting as the screw turns against them.
Disgraceful. I feel so sad for this generation of university students (the majority); the start of their degrees disrupted by covid, the end by these idiots.
Who do the protestors think suffer from their despicable behaviour? Just their fellow student. I’d withhold degrees from any of those who protest their awarding to others.
This year’s college protests provide all of the elements needed to create a fascinating freshman seminar for future students and perhaps, new faculty members. So, film the commencement protest. Interview protest leaders on film. Film interviews with parents and students on their 2024 commencement experiences. Collect films from the encampment phase of the protests. Interview members of the university community who were negatively impacted by the encampments. Create a seminar that uses these protests including footage from the films, to teach students about free speech, the limits of free speech, the university’s rules on time and place, and, using interviews, the feelings of students, faculty, and staff about the impacts of the protests on their college experiences or responsibilities. Make sure the overwhelming majority of the group producing the syllabus for the seminar believes in its mission.
Done well, a seminar of this sort might help orient new students to the UC approach to free speech. By showing them the impacts the protests had on people who felt victimized by some of the things protestors said and did, some students may be innoculated a bit against the oppressor/oppressed framework for understanding the world that they will encounter in some or more of their classes at the university. Empathy can be a weapon against that form of group think. I hope.
Worth a try, but empathy can be a weapon for group think. You know, empathy for your ingroup (Gazans) vs none for the outgroup (Israelis).
Ty, you’re right. But at least they’ll also hear from those people victimized by some of the tactics used by the protestors. Empathy for both sides maybe? Cognitive dissonance is a gift to everyone and may be a new gift for young scholars.
“But if the committee finds that certain policies have been violated, their degrees could be denied, despite four years of coursework and tuition.” This makes the violators sound like victims. Oh they worked so hard, and now the mean university is going to dash their hopes over some “certain policies”. More accurate: the students violated the contract with the university when they did what they did and now they are paying the price, and it is they who are throwing away 4 years of coursework and tuition.
However, I agree that this is all show. They’ll be given their degrees after the “investigation”.
“Scholasticide” is pretty good though.
The university will have to decide whether it wants to support the hardworking students on their special day (the majority), or whether it will indulge a small group of people who only want to disrupt and destroy.
The actions taken, or not taken, by the university will show its true values, regardless of whatever is written down in its formal “mission statements” or formal proclamations of values.
Well, over the past months the administration has consistently kowtowed to the loud minority of policy breakers. And to add insult to injury, the president thinks that he is doing a great job according to his communiques.
DEI lives: Deport, Expel, Indict.
I agree with #9 that “scholasticide” is pretty good. By the same token, the drums and noisemakers that U. Chicago can look forward to on Saturday should obviously be called “Commencementcide”. That performance will probably serve as dress rehearsal for a similar show during the Democratic Party national convention in Chicago later in the summer.
If changing minds is not their main aim, what is? Serious question.
Semi-serious answer: performative wanking.