BY ALAN SINGER

On May 3, fifty-nine students and other protesters were arrested at New York University and The New School, a partner institution, who had created an encampment protesting against the continued Israeli assault on Gaza. According to New School president Donna Shalala, she asked the NYPD to arrest demonstrators because they were blocking access to a campus building. At NYU, students were asleep in a building corridor when the police arrived. The arrested students were suspended by the schools. The New School later announced it would not press criminal charges against the student protesters who were demanding that the universities divest from Israel because of its actions in Gaza. It is not clear whether the protests obstructed any university functions.

Gothamist reports that NYU is requiring that these students write essays on what they have learned about character, morality, and ethics from their violations of the university’s code of conduct. Students who do not submit the essays may be banned from campus and have a disciplinary note attached to their transcripts.

The requirements for the reflections are very precise. Students are told “it is expected that you will take time to reflect on the selected topics (as indicated below), and write a clear, well-developed response that demonstrates that you have thought about all aspects of the issue/decision/behavior that resulted in your involvement with the Office of Student Conduct. While this is intended to be a reflective assignment, be advised that your paper cannot serve to justify your actions, evaluate the actions of others, or challenge a conduct regulation.”

At City College over one hundred students and faculty were recently arrested when CCNY president Vincent Boudreau ordered police to end campus protests against the Israeli assault on Gaza. Boudreau himself was arrested at least five times in the 1980s while a student at Cornell University protesting apartheid in South Africa, efforts that included a sixty-five–day “shanty town” students erected on campus. “Reflecting” on his past involvement, Boudreau told CCNY faculty that he wished he had cleared the Gaza war protesters sooner.

I took part in similar antiwar protests in the 1960s while a student at the City College of New York. I never had to write a reflection essay so thought it would be interesting to do now.

Dear CCNY Disciplinary Committee,

I have been reflecting on my participation in anti–Vietnam War and antidraft protests during the 1960s for more than fifty years. Although CCNY has not required a “reflection” essay, I am using this statement on character, morality, and ethics to explain what I learned from my involvement in those protests and from any violation of the university code of conduct.

In December 1967 I participated in antidraft rallies at Battery Park. On Monday there was a major protest, but on Tuesday there was a much smaller group. I was still living with my parents and my father forbade me from attending, but I snuck out of the apartment before he got up to go to work. There were thousands of police including a mounted battalion between the park and the draft center. At about seven a.m. the mounted police charged the protesters with batons flailing away and we ran. I was with a contingent that fled uptown blocking traffic and eventually we ended up outside a hotel where the Secretary of State was scheduled to speak. We set up a peaceful picket line but were bombarded with construction debris thrown at us from across the street. I naively went up to a police officer to ask for help and was promptly arrested and thrown in a police car with two other protesters where we were hit with a nightstick. I was defended by the National Lawyers Guild and charges were eventually dropped. From my experience at the draft center, the hotel, and in the police car, I learned that the police were not my friend. I also realized that the police strategy of mass arrests and court delays were designed to suppress attendance at the antiwar rallies.

In November 1969, about two hundred students at CCNY set up a sanctuary in the student center for a soldier who had deserted from the army rather than being sent to Vietnam. We slept in a large communal room and did not disrupt any university activities. One night we were ordered to evacuate the building by university officials, and I left with about half of the group. Those who remained were arrested as hundreds of police swarmed into the building. From this experience, I learned that symbolic arrest didn’t make sense because all our efforts now went into getting our friends out of jail and charges dropped, rather than organizing against the war and the draft.

In both actions, we did not destroy property. The only destruction was by the police. At CCNY, we did not prevent anyone from attending classes. In fact, my friends and I continued to attend classes while the sanctuary was in operation.

As a result of my participation in the 1960s antiwar demonstrations, I became a community organizer, a lifetime political activist for social justice, and a teacher to help empower young people. I learned that only through organizing for social change and protesting injustice can we have a more humane and just world. My father, who banned me from participating in antiwar activities in 1967, started joining with me in antiwar marches in 1970.

My advice to students protesting the Israeli action in Gaza is to use their experiences to become lifetime activists for social justice. There will be many more issues in the future to rally around. My advice to university administrators is to stand up to pressure from politicians, donors, and trustees and insist that campuses are places for freedom of speech and expression, even speech and expression they might disagree with.

Alan Singer is a historian and teacher educator at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. His most recent books are Social Studies for Secondary Schools, 5th edition (Routledge, 2024) and Class-Conscious Coal Miners (SUNY Press, 2024).