Israel-Hamas war protests: What’s next for universities?

Protests over the war in Gaza have rattled and divided university campuses across the United States over the past few months. Now some university leaders are preparing to testify before the US Congress about their handling of the protests and accusations of antisemitism on campus. Some researchers fear that the hearing will further inflame a volatile situation, writes Jeff Tollefson for Nature.

The protests have been unprecedented – both because of their scale and because of universities’ use of law enforcement to exert control. Thousands of US students and some faculty members have been arrested during the past few weeks in confrontations – some violent – with police.

“I have personally protested every war that has happened in my lifetime, and I have never seen a reaction like this,” says David Hogg, an astrophysicist at New York University. Nature examines what’s happening now on campuses, what’s at stake in the 23 May hearing and what researchers studying the protests are learning.
Full report on the Nature site