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Campus Protests in USA: A Welcome Sign of Sensitizing Education and Free Speech
The United States is the country with the most traditions of college protests, as students have always used their voices to call for change on their own campuses and in the world.
These protests often escalate into massive rallies, and while the circumstances of each protest are different, the story is familiar: Young people seeking change and their enthusiastic protests often conflict with the authorities.
Lately, the protesters that are pro-Palestine have occupied some of the college campuses in the U. S., demanding the end of the war in Gaza and the divestment of Israel. The protests caused arrests and clashes with the police, and some universities canceled graduation ceremonies during the trouble.
Despite these obstacles, free speech experts urge the students to keep on peacefully protesting in open campus spaces to cut the conflict. The ongoing wave of protests is not new. During the 1980s, students from all over America took part in the protest’s apartheid in South Africa, which led to the divestment campaigns and, eventually, the Congressional action.
In the past, the University of California, Berkeley, has been involved in the free speech protests that started in the 1960s. With the approach of graduation, colleges have the enmeshment of free speech and safety to balance. Some institutions inform the students about the rules of the graduation ceremonies, and some others cancel the speeches or cancel the in-person classes for the time being.
Although most of the protests have been peaceful, some have turned aggressive, and the Jewish students have expressed feelings of awkwardness. The strong feelings on both sides have created a mood that has made both Jewish and Muslim students feel unsafe on the campus because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict position.
College administrators are now setting a limit on the suspension and expulsion of students, which has, in turn, led to heated debates about the limits of acceptable protest behavior.
Nevertheless, campus protests are still a symbol of a healthy speech climate on American college campuses, as they provide the means for generations of students to vividly describe their views on certain issues in public places on campuses.
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