Maryam Alwan figured the worst was over after New York City police in riot gear arrested her and other protesters on the Columbia University campus, loaded them onto buses and held them in custody for hours.

But the next evening, the college junior received an email from the university. Alwan and other students were being suspended after their arrests at the “ Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” a tactic colleges across the country have deployed to calm growing campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

The students’ plight has become a central part of protests, with students and a growing number of faculty demanding their amnesty. At issue is whether universities and law enforcement will clear the charges and withhold other consequences, or whether the suspensions and legal records will follow students into their adult lives.

      • brianorca@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Not all of them have been peaceful, and it’s still private property and they can ask you to leave, with legal consequences if you don’t. And a lot of the rhetoric and chants have advocated violence.

          • EndlessApollo@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            The ones made by zionist counterprotestors as a false flag. Because they know they have no ground to stand on, they need to deceive the rest of the country to get the support they need

    • Omega@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The consequence should be the inconvenience of protesting. Even if you’re willing to go to jail doesn’t mean you want to.

    • stembolts
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      7 months ago

      No, and that you thought it might have been is the scariest thing to me. This is why people should exercise their rights, otherwise the population doesn’t even know what rights are there and which aren’t. And not knowing those rights, can’t see them being encroached.