Student journalists discuss covering the campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza

Read the Full Transcript

• Amna Nawaz:

  Student protests over Israel's war on Gaza and U.S. involvement continue across campuses nationwide. Hundreds have been arrested so far. Even as the school year comes to an end, administrators are struggling with how to respond.

  Joining us now for a view from their campuses are Spencer Friedland, managing editor of news for The Emory Wheel at Emory University, Aarya Mukherjee, student life reporter for The Daily Californian at U.C. Berkeley, and Neil Mehta. He's editor in chief and president of The Brown Daily Herald at Brown University.

  Welcome to you three. Thanks for joining us.

  Spencer, you have said it's been extremely tense on campus at Emory. Tell me why. What does it look and feel like right now?

• Spencer Friedland, Managing News Editor, The Emory Wheel:

  Yes.

  So, over the last five days, we have had a series of protests in response to the war in Gaza, and also in response to the police going to campus on Thursday and arresting 28 members of Emory community, including 20 people that are directly either students or faculty at the university.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And so you say it's tense. What does that mean? What does that look and feel like there?

• Spencer Friedland:

  Yes.

  So, every day, people are on edge when there are Emory police coming through campus. A lot of Emory police have been — were at the protest on Thursday, and a lot of the student protesters in ESJP or Students for Socialism have kind of been I think affected by the way that the protests were handled on Thursday and have been scared of student protests.

  And then, additionally, I believe a lot of the Jewish students on campus are uneasy with the content of what has been going on the protests, when speech — when chants such as "From the river to the sea" have been used. I have spoken to students have that have called that antisemitic.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Aarya, what about U.C. Berkeley? I mean, you said the encampment began with around 20 tents or so. How big is it now. And have you seen any kind of the tension that Spencer's talking about there?

• Aarya Mukherjee, The Daily Californian:

  Yes I mean, this started last Monday.

  And now we're about — we're up to about 150 tents, when I last checked last night. I mean, so it's been growing considerably. And, I mean, that comes from just students from all over campus just setting up on Sproul Hall.

  And, I mean, as to the police attention, there has actually been very little at U.C. Berkeley as compared to some of these other schools.But it's been fairly, I guess, reserved. And the encampment right now is at least pretty peaceful.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Have there been any of the allegations like we heard from Spencer about some of the protesters engaging in antisemitic remarks?

• Aarya Mukherjee:

  Yes, I mean, like Spencer said, there has been some calls for "From the river to the sea," chants like that, which — which I have spoke to some Jewish students who feel as though that is antisemitic.

  However, I would like to point out that, I mean, some of the protesters at the encampment themselves aren't Jewish . I mean, Jewish Voices for Peace, I have spoken to many members who are there, and they don't feel as those speech like that is antisemitic. So, I mean, it depends on who you talk to.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Neil, meanwhile, at Brown, we know many of the protesters across campuses are looking for divestment from their universities, from any financial ties to Israel.

  And there's news today from Brown. Your highest governing body, the corporation, is going to vote on divestment after university leaders met with some of the protesters. How did that come about and is that kind of divestment likely in a vote?

  Neil Mehta, Editor in Chief and President, The Brown Daily Herald: Absolutely.

  So, to answer the first part of your question, while on the surface, it does seem that Brown's encampment popped up alongside these encampments across the country, divestment has been a question at Brown for quite some time.

  Back in 2020, an advisory committee at the university recommended divestment, but the president said no, citing the fact that it was what she characterized as a contentious geopolitical issue. As a result of that decision, there was quite a bit of activism back in 2020 which has really continued into now.

  So what we're seeing right now at Brown was a success for the protesters in a way that they haven't seen before. It's hard to say what's going to happen in October, when the Brown Corporation votes on divestment. But, so far, the administration that runs the day-to-day of Brown has expressed quite a bit of skepticism about divestments.

  But demonstrators are really optimistic about divestment. And they say that it would be important symbolically, and it could spark a broader divestment movement across the country.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Neil, we should point out there were some students who were arrested during a previous sit-in. After these meetings with university officials, what happens to the charges that were brought against them?

• Neil Mehta:

  Definitely.

  So, those 41 students that were arrested in December in a pro=divestment sit-in did not have their charges dropped. That was a demand that these encampment protesters that have been going on for roughly one week had. But in the final agreement with the university, there was no mention of these charges being dropped.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Aarya and Spencer, I want to come to you on this divestment issue, because this does seem to be central to many of the protesters' demand.

  Just briefly, what do you know about the possibility of your university or college actually engaging in that, being able to see that through?

  Aarya, I will begin with you.

• Aarya Mukherjee:

  Yes, I mean, obviously divestment is one of the key aspects of these encampments.

  I mean, the coalition that is supporting encampment is called the U.C. Berkeley Divestment Coalition. And, I mean, their primary goal is the complete divestment from the U.C. system as a whole and U.C. Berkeley specifically from any organization, company, corporation that supports Israel's war in Gaza, as they say.

  And, I mean, we have talked to some campus administrators, and they have no plans for divestment at this time. However, the protesters themselves, I mean, that's their primary goal. We have talked to them. They said they're willing to be suspended, expelled or arrested until this goal of divestment is met.

  So, they're really at a stalemate here between the administrators and the protesters.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Spencer, what about over at Emory?

• Spencer Friedland:

  Yes.

  So, President Fenves has not responded to my e-mails for comment on the situation. But, yesterday, a university administration member accepted a letter of demands from student activists that calls for divestment from both Israel and also divestment from Atlanta's — quote, unquote — "Cop City," which is a police training facility that's being built on Muskogee land that a lot of protesters are very concerned with.

  And Emory's issue is kind of different from a lot of other issues, as the protests have really been twofold, in that it's both ESJP and a free Palestine movement, but also a stop Cop City movement as well.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And, Aarya, I want to point out you recently, as part of your reporting, spent 24 hours inside the encampment there. There's been a lot of focus on divestment. But I'm just curious what you heard from the students you talked to about what brought them out there in the first place. Like, what was it that motivated them? What's keeping them there now?

• Aarya Mukherjee:

  Yes.

  So, I mean, we didn't spend necessarily 24 hours inside the encampment. It was more observing. So we were sitting right outside. But, of course, we were — we went into the encampment on many occasions. I mean, we spent a lot of time with people inside the encampment. We interviewed many people.

  And, I mean, there's this kind of feeling of community within the encampment, where people feel as though they're moving — they're trying to gain something great. They feel as if this is a national movement where people from around the country are coming together in support.

  And, I mean, it's honestly very happy and lively within the encampment, and people playing music. I mean, they have all sorts of activities planned throughout the day. They have teach-ins about divestment. They have teach-ins about what's happening in Gaza.

  I mean, it's pretty lively attitude. And they have community members from outside the university from people in Berkeley or in the community at large that have been supplying the materials, resources, food and support. I mean, it's gone to the point where the encampment has said they want to stop accepting food donations because they have been getting so many.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Obviously, the rest of the country and some parts of the world are paying attention to what's happening on each of your campuses, but you are there.

  So I want to ask you — and, Neil, I will begin with you — what do you make of the way that the national news media has been covering and talking about what you're living through and covering there on your campus?

• Neil Mehta:

  One thing I want to really commend the national news media on doing is centering the voices of student journalists.

  These journalists know the administration and their campuses and other students just in and out, especially their demands and the histories of these activism movements because they have been covering them for years. So I'm really glad that student journalists' voices are being platformed as national media takes a look at what's going on with these encampments.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Spencer, what about you?

• Spencer Friedland:

  Yes, I feel like the national media has done a great job at portraying the initial events that happened on Emory's campus.

  Obviously, on Thursday, the police arresting people, Tasing people, and using irritant gas was very significant, as opposed to how other police forces have handled other encampments.

  But one thing I would say is that after that initial media coverage, we haven't really received as much national attention for the peaceful protests that have been going on in the recent days as other schools have their encampments, and the news media coverage has kind of moved on from Emory.

  So I think it's kind of been a little, I would say, quick to judgment almost about like — or not even quick judgment, but very over the top on the days where there is violence and there is brutality by police possibly, but not so much when there is just peaceful protests that have been happening in the days since.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Well, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to join us and for continuing to cover this story as journalists on your own campuses.

  That's Spencer Friedland from Emory University, Aarya Mukherjee from U.C. Berkeley, and Neil Mehta from Brown University. Thank you to you all.

• Aarya Mukherjee:

  Thank you.

• Spencer Friedland:

  Thank you.

• Neil Mehta:

  Thank you.