SUMMARY

Student protests over Israel’s war in Gaza and U.S. involvement continue across campuses nationwide. Even as the school year comes to an end, administrators are struggling with how to respond. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Spencer Friedland of the Emory Wheel, Aarya Mukherjee of the Daily Californian at UC-Berkeley and Neil Mehta of the Brown Daily Herald.

View the transcript of the story.

News alternative: Check out recent segments from the NewsHour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.

WARM-UP QUESTIONS

1. Who is interviewed for this story?
2. Where are the universities that are represented by the student journalists interviewed in this story?
3. What are some of the student protestors calling for, according to this piece?
4. Why have students across U.S. college campuses started protesting?
5. How have some of the school administrations responded to the pro-Palestine student protesters calling for peace and the counter-protesters, according to this story?

FOCUS QUESTIONS

What do you think might be some special challenges for student journalists covering the pro-Palestine protests and the counter-protests?

Media literacy:

1. What perspectives and access to interviews do you think students might have that journalists from national media might not?

2. There are different labels that media outlets are calling the student protestors on college campuses (i.e. you may come across the terms pro-Palestine protestors in mainstream media outlets; pro-peace or anti-genocide protestors in left-wing outlets; anti-Israel protestors in right-wing outlets, etc.). Conduct some internet research using a variety of sources, so you can see for yourself. How might these different labels affect the way the public understands what is happening on college campuses? Why do you think journalists use these different labels?

Alternative: See, Think, Wonder: What did you notice? What did the story make you think? What would you want to learn more about?

FOR MORE

What students can do: In this story, the journalists describe the stated goal of many of the campus protests being "divestment," or withdrawal of financial investments in companies that contribute to Israel's war efforts.

Watch the following video on divestment demands and discuss — what are the potential impacts of divestment, and why are most universities resisting the demand?

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