I compare this to the clowns running Columbia University.
I'm appauled by what Israel is doing in Gaza also but I haven't moved into a tent at Northwestern University. Actually, there uncomfortable, you get no sleep and my back starts to get stiff. On second thought, I'll just go out to Arl Heights road and block traffic.
New Round of Arrests at University of Texas as Protesters Defy Governor
Days after a crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters, at least 50 people were arrested after new tents were erected on the Austin campus.
By Neelam Bohra and J. David Goodman, NY Times
Ap 30, 2024
Police officers from the University of Texas at Austin and state troopers in riot gear swept in on Monday to clear a small number of tents erected on campus by pro-Palestinian protesters, arresting dozens of people and briefly deploying pepper spray against demonstrators who were chanting “Off our campus!” and trying to block law enforcement vehicles.
Officers cleared the small encampment within three hours, arresting about 50 people, but then found themselves confronting an even larger crowd near the edge of the university’s central mall, where the tents had been erected.
After a brief standoff, the police backed up and allowed the crowd to pass back onto the mall. Some students returned to the spot where the short-lived encampment had been reduced to a tangled pile of tarps, trash and folding tables.
The encampment and subsequent eruption of support from a large number of students was a direct challenge to both university leaders and Gov. Greg Abbott who last week moved swiftly to stamp out a much larger gathering at the state’s flagship university, a crackdown that led to more than 50 arrests.
Monday’s operation doubled that number, after officers formed a cordon around the encampment and moved in. Around them, a large number of students and onlookers chanted in support of the protesters. Those who were arrested could be seen resisting the police by going limp or pulling against officers who tried to dismantle the encampment.
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“No encampments will be allowed,” Mr. Abbott wrote in a statement after the arrests had begun. “Instead, arrests are being made.”
The university suggested that those assembled on Monday were more threatening than other groups of protesters who had gathered on campus to oppose Israel’s war in Gaza, including those arrested last week.
Brian Davis, a spokesman for the university, said the organizers of the protest on Monday had made threats online over the weekend. On Monday, he said, the protesters “physically engaged with and verbally assaulted Dean of Students staff who attempted to confiscate” their tents. He added that “baseball size rocks” were found “strategically placed within the encampment.”
The latest protest began shortly after midday on Monday, the last day of classes for the year before finals. Commencement takes place on May 11.
The group of protesters — which included both students and people unaffiliated with the university, according to campus officials — erected around a half-dozen tents on the university’s South Mall.
The campus police department issued a dispersal order almost as soon as the encampment was set up. An assistant chief, Shane Streepy, said in a message to the campus that protesters would be arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, riot, criminal trespassing and obstructing a passageway if they did not leave.
Soon after, dozens of state police in riot gear arrived, a showing similar to what occurred last Wednesday. After the previous arrests, the university said that it had moved swiftly to prevent any tents from being set up or any other occupation of the campus.
“It all goes back to rules. We enforce our rules,” Mike Rosen, assistant vice president for communications, said in a telephone interview. “And as our president says, our rules matter.”
He added: “We’ve seen what happens at other universities when you don’t enforce your rules.”
Excessive heat was a factor in the protests on Monday as several people were brought out who appeared to be suffering. In one instance, officers prevented supporters from throwing water into the encampment.
Catherine Roland, a sophomore and psychology major, was not part of the encampment but came to support it after hearing about the dispersal order. “It’s disgusting,” she said of the police response. “We pay good tuition to go here and our rights are being violated,” she added.
Other students, while supportive of the protests, appeared to be wearying of the interruptions on campus.
“To be honest, I think the situation is unfortunate,” said Giulia Mayhua Pezo, a junior in biochemistry. “It’s really nice to see people fight for something they believe in,” she said, “but it’s getting crowded. If you’re walking to class, it can be unpleasant and a lot of streets are shut off.”
Roughly three hours after the first tents appeared, the encampment was gone.
But by the evening, students had returned to the lawn, milling about. Some chanted slogans in favor of the Palestinian cause. Nearby, police officers made some additional arrests of protesters who were attempting to block a vehicle that carried people who had been arrested earlier.