Op-Ed on Campus Protests Misses the Point: Disruption Is the Goal

To the Editor:

A recent op-ed by Eboo Patel admonished campus protesters for their troublesome tactics (“Where Should the Nonprofit World Stand on Campus Protests?” May 9). Patel argued that the encampments set up by the protesters halted vital work at these universities, which he noted are registered 501(c)(3)s. Unfortunately, asserting the nonprofit status of these institutions does little to negate their involvement in unjust and harmful practices, whether on-campus or elsewhere.

Patel paints a disparaging portrait of these so-called “disruptive demonstrations.” Yet, for such encampments to exist requires collaboration, giving, and taking. Many of the encampment organizers shared lists of needs and requests for donations. This transformed donors from distant onlookers into participants. In addition to providing food to fellow protesters and the larger campus community, the protesters also held fundraisers to help fleeing Palestinians.

Even when visitors, faculty, and students were barred from Columbia University’s campus, a video showed observers pushing food for the protesters through the school’s wrought iron gates. The scene not only demonstrated the careful meeting of a need, but also mirrored the widespread blockade against the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gazans. Does this distract from “the dire need at hand,” as Patel claims, or does it instead highlight our collective vulnerability?

Campus protests also called attention to higher education’s participation in the military-industrial complex. At Boston University, where I’m a graduate student, encampments for Palestine brushed shoulders with the picket lines of striking graduate workers on the campus’s Marsh Plaza. In a recent statement of solidarity, members of the Boston University Graduate Workers Union connected student labor to the university’s involvement in defense weapons technology used around the world. Such links between seemingly disparate social movements demonstrate the close connections between transnational political demands.

Protests are disruptive by nature. They disturb the normal flow of capitalism and colonialist legacies. They’re designed to inconvenience those seeking to maintain the status quo. And yes, sometimes, as Patel describes, they make people miss a flight.

If nonprofits truly seek to address structural inequalities, their leaders should realize it is just as important to turn inwards and critique their own funding practices. It is only through scrutinizing both our complicity in unjust systems and capacity to effect change that we can forge just futures.

Salwa Tareen
PhD Candidate in Anthropology, Boston University
Member, Boston University Graduate Workers Union