‘Shocking’ Number Of Americans Believe Speech Can Be ‘Violence,’ Poll Finds
'Encourages real violence'
Private college that appeased anti-Israel protesters faces major enrollment decline — and layoffs could be coming
A private liberal arts school in Boston is blaming anti-Israel protests for a significant decline in new enrollment.
When anti-Israel protests erupted at Emerson College this spring, school administrators bent over backward for student protesters who violated laws and ended up in jail.
'... we will need to eliminate some staff positions, both vacant and filled, and potentially reduce some faculty positions.'
The college not only praised the "immense bravery" of student protesters but promised not to bring Emerson-related disciplinary charges against student protesters, encouraged the district attorney not to press criminal charges on Emerson student protesters, dispatched Emerson staff to post bail for students who were arrested, and provided protesters with student housing so they could stay in town for court appearances.
Now, school administrators are planning budget cuts and layoffs.
"The size of our projected incoming first-year class for Fall 2024 is significantly below what we had hoped," said Emerson College president Jay Bernhardt in a letter this week.
Bernhardt said the enrollment drop requires "immediate spending reductions" — including potential faculty layoffs.
"We will limit our staff and faculty searches next year and carefully review existing programs and offerings for future savings," he said. "Finally, we will need to eliminate some staff positions, both vacant and filled, and potentially reduce some faculty positions."
The anti-Israel protests, Bernhardt admitted, are partially responsible for the enrollment decline.
He explained:
We attribute this reduction to multiple factors, including national enrollment trends away from smaller private institutions, an enrollment deposit delay in response to the new FAFSA rollout, student protests targeting our yield events and campus tours, and negative press and social media generated from the demonstrations and arrests.
While Beyond Bernhardt admitted to a "significantly" lower enrollment, it's not clear just how bad the figure is. The college's most recent data said that 1,002 first-time students were enrolled for the Fall 2022 school year.
Tuition at Emerson College costs more than $50,000 per year.
At least one Emerson staffer is already claiming the school's announcement is really an attempt to silence pro-Palestinian voices.
"It doesn’t make any sense," Illona Yosefov, an instructional technologist and member of Emerson's Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, told the Boston Globe.
"It feels like exploiting the situation to do whatever you want. It also feels like a way to quiet dissent, to scare people into compliance," she added. "I wonder if [Bernhardt is] trying to signal to all of them to behave come fall, or else."
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Trump promises to ELIMINATE taxes on tips
Donald Trump’s first rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, since his New York City hush-money conviction was as expected: eventful.
Not only did six people get rushed to the hospital for exposing themselves to the blistering heat to support the former president, but he nailed some critiques of Joe Biden’s disastrous immigration policies and proposed eliminating service industry tip taxes.
“The illegal immigrants are turning, and they’re turning at a level that nobody’s ever seen before. They’re fighting our families, they’re totally destroying our black population, they’re totally destroying our Hispanic population, and you know what else they’re destroying?” Trump said to the crowd, adding, “They’re killing unions.”
“They’re not able to survive this onslaught,” Trump said. “Virtually 100% of the new jobs under Biden have also gone to illegal aliens. Did you know that?”
Then, Trump gave service workers some much needed hope.
“This is the first time I’ve said this, and for those hotel workers, and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips, people making tips,” he said before the crowd roared with applause.
“We’re not going to do it, and we’re going to do that right away, first thing in office, because it’s been a point of contention for years, and years, and years. And you do a great job of service, you take care of people, and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved,” he continued.
Sara Gonzales is pleased but doesn’t think he went far enough.
“I don’t benefit from it, but if we can roll back anything in relation to taxes, it’s good,” Gonzales says. “It’s like okay, step one, what is step two? What else are we not going to tax anymore? Let’s just keep going on that, if we can start there and keep going, just use that momentum to talk about other taxes that we are going to roll back.”
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California college has only one pro-Palestinian protester because city is blue-collar and conservative, political science prof says
While pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted colleges across the country, one institution of higher learning in California could only muster one single protester for the cause.
That's because Cal-State University at Bakersfield is too blue-collar and conservative, says one political science professor.
“This is largely a blue collar school where students are more concerned with getting their degrees and getting on with their lives than anything else," said CSUB professor Mark Martinez to KGET-TV.
The Cal-State system was specifically designed to serve students who live in California and can attend classes while still living at home.
“It’s primarily a commuter school, too, and that has an effect on campus culture and therefore the tendency toward activism," he explained.
“Bakersfield is a conservative city, and that plays a role," Martinez added.
KGET spoke to the single, solitary protester who held up a poster with the Palestinian flag on campus.
“My daughter is at UCLA protesting and I thought — I don’t know if Bakersfield was going to join in, but I thought I would just do something," said part-time lecturer Carolyn Lane, "instead of feeling helpless and hopeless, join in.”
She said her 10-year-old daughter painted her Palestinian poster for the protest.
“I figured a protest of one was better than none," she added.
Freshman Brayan Garcia told KGET that it just wasn't in the nature of the students at the school to protest.
“They don’t really like making that much noise. I mean, we don’t have a football team to begin with, if you get me," said Garcia.
Martinez went on to offer another reason students didn't care to protest against Israel.
"I think the relative lack of interest in the Study Abroad program is a factor. Study Abroad is an important program because it fosters an understanding of global events and attitudes. Many students here at CSUB just see it as a luxury they don’t have the time or money for,” he added.
While the campus continued to stay relatively peaceful, after this report aired, a larger number of pro-Hamas protesters showed up at the university. Officials said the protesters organized the one-hour rally with them.
The CSU system said in a statement that it did not intend to change its investments in relation to the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Bakersfield is a city of about 400,000 residents in the San Joaquin Valley about 113 miles north of Los Angeles.
Here's more about CSU Bakersfield:
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Northwestern University agreement with anti-Israel protesters includes Palestinian student scholarships and visiting faculty
Northwestern University officials announced Monday that it had reached an agreement with anti-Israel protesters that included funding for Palestinian scholarships and for Palestinian visiting faculty members.
The agreement comes five days after the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began building an encampment in the middle of Deering Meadow on the Evanston Campus.
WBBM-TV reported soon after the agreement was announced that tents were already being dismantled.
“This agreement was forged by the hard work of students and faculty working closely with members of the administration to help ensure that the violence and escalation we have seen elsewhere does not happen here at Northwestern,” said University President Michael Schill in a campus-wide email.
Schill said that university officials agreed to allow peaceful demonstrations to continue until June 1 but that the demonstrators must agree to observe their security regulations. The university will provide funding for two visiting at-risk Palestinian faculty members for two years and for five visiting at-risk Palestinian students for four years.
Some of the protesters were angry that the deal was struck with a small group of demonstrators that they claimed were not representative of the entire group.
Schill also said that the demonstrations could only include students, faculty, and staff in order to exclude outside participants.
“Acts of antisemitism, anti-Muslim/Arab racism, and hate will not be tolerated, and community members who can be identified participating in such acts will face disciplinary action,” he wrote in the email.
Junior Abhi Nimmagadda told WBBM that the agreement was a tremendous achievement for the anti-Israel movement.
"No other university, to my knowledge, has been able to secure wins this great," said Nimmagadda. "I don't believe my heart has been fuller. I'm very, very proud of everything we have been able to achieve."
But other students were reportedly angry that the university did not agree to concrete steps to end any investments that might be tied to the state of Israel. WBBM reported that they felt "blind-sided" and accused those who made the agreement of being "sellouts."
The university did agree to relaunch an advisory council to review the organization's investments and answer protesters' questions within 30 days.
The private research university serves more than 23,400 students and is located in Evanston, Illinois.
Here's more about the protests:
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Fetterman tells anti-Israel protesters blocking traffic doesn't help their cause: 'It just makes you an a**hole'
Democrat Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania continued to show his support of Israel on Tuesday after berating and mocking pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked traffic to demand a ceasefire.
On Monday, protesters launched several demonstrations in the U.S. shutting down traffic and targeting companies they accuse of supporting Israel's military operation against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. One protest shut down traffic on the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco for hours, angering many residents.
On Tuesday, Fetterman posted a video of a protest in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and responded with his own suggestion on what they should demand.
"I don't know who needs to hear this, but blocking a bridge or berating folks in Starbucks isn't righteous, it just makes you an a**hole," said Fetterman.
— (@)
"Demand Hamas to send every hostage back home and surrender," he added.
The Democrat has previously trolled anti-Israel protesters by waving an Israeli flag as they were being arrested at the U.S. Capitol in November.
Fetterman has been lambasted by leftists who are opposed to Israel striking the terrorists who organized the heinous Oct. 7 massacre that led to 1,139 deaths and 250 people taken hostage.
Some of his critics continued their barrage after his latest missive.
"What does sending bombs to Israel that are being dropped on children make you, Senator?" responded Nina Turner, the former spokesperson for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
"Pretty sure politically covering for a genocidal army as they slaughter 14,000 children and 9,000 women in 6 months makes you an a**hole," replied a commenter who self-identified as Palestinian.
"I don’t know who needs to hear this but taking buckets of cash from the Israeli lobby turns you into a genocidal psychopath willing to say babies should be bombed," read another response on social media.
An official with the California Highway Patrol told reporters that police had arrested 38 people in the protests in San Francisco and Oakland. The protesters were charged with a slew of offenses, including unlawful assembly, refusal to comply with a lawful order, and false imprisonment, among many others.
Some of the drivers stuck in the traffic protest told KGO-TV that they were missing a colon surgery and a stem cell replacement procedure because of the delay.
Here's more about the anti-Israel protests:
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