Pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses have been a topic of debate, with some demonstrations resulting from months of training, planning, and encouragement by longtime activists and left-wing groups. At Columbia University, student organizers began consulting with groups like the National Students for Justice in Palestine, veterans of campus protests, and former Black Panthers. They researched past protests over Columbia's expansion into Harlem, attended community meetings on gentrification and development, and studied parallels with the fight over land between Palestinians and Israelis.
The National Students for Justice in Palestine has been around for two decades and has more than 300 chapters across the U.S., many of which have helped organize the college encampments and building occupations. The group has called on students to stand strong against colleges until they divest themselves of investments in entities doing business with Israel. Some of the group's campus chapters have been suspended by universities, including Columbia. The Wespac Foundation has received and administered donations to NSJP for the last decade, but has not coordinated, trained, or strategized with protest participants or supported organizations that have supported violence, antisemitism, or terrorism.
Columbia University's "Resistance 101" training in March featured guest speakers from Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a group that celebrated the Hamas attack on Israel. The event was banned by the administration due to organizers' known support of terrorism and violence. Columbia students hosted the event virtually, causing Columbia President Minouche Shafik to suspend several of them. Samidoun coordinator Charlotte Kates encouraged students to build an international popular cradle of the resistance.
Political scientist Robert Pape at the University of Chicago argues that outside organizers are only one factor in the protests. He says they are successfully leveraging student anger over the violence in Gaza, which many young people not familiar with the region's history are watching on social media.
Student organizers at Columbia learned the discipline and planning needed to pull off an effective protest movement from their work with veteran demonstrators and outside groups, as well as participating in Black Lives Matter marches or student labor organizing. They learned practical tools, such as raising money via student fundraisers and donations from friends and supporters to buy tents for encampments.
Protesters have denied assertions of antisemitism, noting that many of those in the encampments are Jewish themselves.
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