These faculty members apparently agree with these students. Why else would they defend them?
Campus Reform reports:
UMass Amherst faculty defend anti-Israel students facing criminal charges: ‘This will go on their permanent records.’Faculty members at the University of Massachusetts Amherst condemned what they claimed was the school’s unfair treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters.The group, which calls itself “UMass Amherst Faculty for Justice in Palestine,” published a letter on Feb. 5 on the pages of Massachusetts Daily Collegian that insisted that the university remove penalties it imposed on protesting pro-Palestinian students who are accused of violating the school’s Student Code of Conduct.In total, 56 students and one university employee were arrested on campus last October during a protest against Israel after they trespassed on university property past normal hours, according to NBC Boston.The students demanded that the university end its connection with defense contractors that help Israel and condemn what they refer to as Israel’s “genocide,” as seen on Massachusetts Daily Collegian.One of the groups involved in planning and carrying out the protest was UMass Students for Justice in Palestine, wrote Mass Live.The letter states that the students were “charged with criminal trespass” and adds: “The administration is also sanctioning the students and placing them on probation for staying in the administration building past 6:00 p.m., which it says constituted a violation of the Student Code of Conduct (section 4.1.5.b). This will go on their permanent records and will be visible to any job application requiring a background check. These peacefully demonstrating students engaged in no threats or harassment, no disruption of the educational mission of the University and no property destruction.”In May of 2021, the university suspended three students for going against the school’s Covid restrictions, wrote USA Today, though that occurrence did not seem to inspire the same level of outpouring of support from faculty.
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