Charles Darwin害羞草研究所檚 theory of evolution. Stephen Hawking on the Big Bang. Millions of students for civil rights and against the Vietnam War.

They were provocative in their times, products of an ideal that holds universities as sacrosanct spaces for debate, innovation 害羞草研究所� and even revolution. But Hamas害羞草研究所� deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the resulting war in Gaza are testing that perception, as anger over the brutal military campaign collides with election-yearpolitics and concerns about antisemitism in places where freedom of expression is supposed to rule.

害羞草研究所淲here there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making,害羞草研究所� wrote poet John Milton, an alumnus of Cambridge University, in his 1644 treatise against censorship in publishing. 害羞草研究所淕ive me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.害羞草研究所�

That lofty principle has clashed with the stark reality of the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas militants who crossed the border killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage. Israel害羞草研究所檚 drive to root out Hamas has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to the local health ministry, and left millions on the edge of famine.

Administrators on some campuses have called in local police to break up pro-Palestinian protesters demanding that their schools divest from Israel in demonstrations that Israel害羞草研究所檚 allies say are antisemitic and make campuses unsafe. From Columbia University in New York to the University of California, Los Angeles, thousands of students and faculty have been arrested in the past month.

害羞草研究所淐olumbia,害羞草研究所� read one sign held aloft there after arrests on April 30, 害羞草研究所淧rotect your students (Cops don害羞草研究所檛 protect us).害羞草研究所�

Historically, universities are supposed to govern 害羞草研究所� and police 害羞草研究所� themselves in exchange for their status as 害羞草研究所渟omething of a secular sacred ground,害羞草研究所� said John Thelin, University of Kentucky College of Education professor emeritus and a historian of higher education.

害羞草研究所淥ne has to think of an American college or university as a 害羞草研究所榗ity-state害羞草研究所� in which its legal protections and walls include the campus 害羞草研究所� grounds, buildings, structures facilities 害羞草研究所� as legally protected, along with a university害羞草研究所檚 rights to confer degrees,害羞草研究所� he added in an email. Calling in the police, as administrators did at Columbia, Dartmouth, UCLA and other schools, represents the 害羞草研究所渂reak down of both rights and responsibilities within the campus as a chartered academic institution and community,害羞草研究所� he said.

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The crackdowns are reviving memories of student-led protests during the American civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and the pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing害羞草研究所檚 Tiananmen Square.

Student activism in the 1960s led campus officials to call law enforcement. And on May 4, 1970, the National Guard opened fire on unarmed students, killing four at Kent State University. Four million students went on strike, temporarily closing 900 colleges and universities. It was a defining moment for a nation sharply divided over the Vietnam War, in which more than 58,000 Americans were killed.

A half-century later, the Israel-Hamas conflict has lit another fuse, with claims that 害羞草研究所渙utside agitators害羞草研究所� have infiltrated the protests to inflame tensions.

害羞草研究所淭he scale, fierceness, the short time frame since the Hamas attacks, the irreconcilable demands of current competing protestors, and their occasional violence, has tested university leaders on how to respond,害羞草研究所� said John A. Douglass, a senior research fellow and professor of public policy and higher education at the University of California, Berkeley.

Most major colleges and universities have their own police departments, 害羞草研究所渂ut inviting and soliciting help from local community police departments in riot gear, and not only called on to disperse encampments but protect rival protestors from each other, is a relatively new phenomenon,害羞草研究所� he said.

What害羞草研究所檚 lost when the police are called in?

害羞草研究所淭rust between the university and significant parts of its most important constituency: its students,害羞草研究所� said Anna von der Goltz, a history professor at Georgetown University. The cost, she said, also potentially includes the university害羞草研究所檚 credibility 害羞草研究所渁s a community that is capable of setting its own rules and dealing effectively with violations of those rules.害羞草研究所�

The wave of pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses took inspiration from demonstrations at Columbia that began on April 17.

As protesters set up their encampment that day, the university害羞草研究所檚 president, Minouche Shafik, was called for questioning before Congress, where Republicans accused her of not doing enough to fight antisemitism on the school害羞草研究所檚 Manhattan campus. The next day, university officials called in the New York City police, who arrested more than 100 protesters 害羞草研究所� among them, the daughter of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who had questioned Shafik in Washington.

Similar scenes played out across the country: The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony after disallowing its student valedictorian, who is Muslim, from giving her keynote speech. Police arrested hundreds of protesters at New York University and Yale. At Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, President Sian Leah Beilock called in police to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment just a few hours after it went up.

Inspired by the protests in the United States, pro-Palestinian encampments popped up in the U.K. andEurope earlier this month as administrators there confronted the same question: Allow or intervene?

At Cambridge University, idyll of Darwin and Hawking, an encampment of about 40 tents in front of the Gothic spires of King害羞草研究所檚 College appeared disciplined and orderly after three nights, with a posted schedule that included meals, training, traditional Palestinian kite-making 害羞草研究所� and strict message discipline as passersby stopped to talk under rare sunshine.

Cambridge protester Jana Aljamal, 22, a Palestinian student from Jerusalem, said she doesn害羞草研究所檛 think the U.S. protesters want the focus on themselves: 害羞草研究所淲hat害羞草研究所檚 happening in Gaza is more important.害羞草研究所�

害羞草研究所淲e have our own guidelines,害羞草研究所� she added of the Cambridge protest. 害羞草研究所淭o protect the freedom of protest, the freedom of expression and the ability to have these conversations, the ability to have a community behind us, the ability to raise action.害羞草研究所�

The scene was more tense last week at several European universities, with the University of Amsterdam canceling classes after pro-Palestinian demonstrations turned destructive. But the protests haven害羞草研究所檛 yet approached the intensity of demonstrations in the United States.

Will there be a reckoning of how administrators handle protests over a conflict with no end in sight? Von der Goltz said the strategies employed at schools like Rutgers and Brown, where administrators negotiated an end to the protests, will get scrutiny.

害羞草研究所淲hat did they perhaps do that other administrators didn害羞草研究所檛?害羞草研究所� she wrote. 害羞草研究所淚 expect there to be some kind of reckoning at Columbia, UCLA, etc., because things have clearly gone very wrong there on multiple levels.害羞草研究所�

___

Kellman reported from London.

Laurie Kellman And Jocelyn Gecker, The Associated Press