In a flashback to the anti-Vietnam movement of the 1960s, college campuses have been the sites of mass arrests as students protest U.S. support for Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Around 35,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the October 7th Hamas attack. Students holding peaceful demonstrations have been jailed at elite institutions like Columbia, NYU, and Yale in recent days as outcry grows. Maud Mandel is the president of Williams College, a private liberal arts college in northwestern Massachusetts. She spoke with WAMC about her reaction to the police crackdown on campus speech.
MANDEL: Well, I'm obviously following things really closely. In some ways, these are unprecedented times. So, student activism has waxed and waned over decades, really, but we're obviously in a highly intensified moment, and so, I'm keeping a close eye on it as we watch things unfold at other institutions.
WAMC: What was your reaction to scenes of mass arrests on the campus of Columbia in Manhattan? You're someone who could be faced with a similar situation in Williamstown- Is that a decision you could imagine yourself making?
Well, I'm not the president of Columbia. And so, I'm glad I have not had to make a decision like that in my career. I would say- I wouldn't predetermine decisions I would make before any kind of events were to unfold on our own campus. Right now, we don't have any reason to even consider such an option. And I certainly hope we are never in such a circumstance.
Williams has for a long time really made a case about its commitment to freedom of expression-
Yep.
Do you think that that kind of demonstration falls into those terms that the college has stood behind for so long?
You know, every campus has its own rules and regulations, and so, I don't actually want to weigh in on what the rules are at Columbia and whether or not students there transgressed to those rules. I do believe that freedom of expression is an important part of what we seek to support on a college campus, and as long as we are not harassing individuals or calling for violence, then I think there should be a wide space for people to say and talk and debate and engage and learn from each other.
At this time, do you have a message to the Williams community about this conversation? You know, again, you guys are certainly well out of the fray, certainly compared to the campuses we're talking about- But, you know, as this seems to intensify and spread, do you have any message to the wider Williams community?
Well, I hope – and I have no reason to think otherwise – that we can continue to have a conversation at Williams, where people who feel very strongly about issues from a wide range of perspectives can figure out a way to engage with each other and talk with each other and even argue with each other and debate and question and learn in a way that allows space for everybody to have those points of view, be heard without intimidating one another. And again, I have no reason to think that our campus can't do that. We have a long history of doing that and will continue to do so.
Do you feel like you have the resources right now that, should something like this kickoff, that you could address this in a way that is a little more sedate than at Columbia or Yale?
Well, I don't know. I mean, I don't say that because I I'm worried about it, I'm just saying again, I don't want to predetermine the future. But if the past is any indication of the future, then I would say, you know, we're just fine.
