Lawmakers grill Rutgers president on Gaza solidarity encampments

Rutgers University President Jonathon Holloway took heat from lawmakers in both chambers Thursday over the student-organized anti-war encampments that were dismantled peacefully last week after university officials ordered them to clear.

Lawmakers pressed Holloway for explanations on why Jewish students weren’t included in negotiations over protestors’ demands, how university officials would deal with future protests, and whether Rutgers is a safe and respectful environment for all of its students.

“As the father of a Rutgers graduate and the father-in-law of a Rutgers graduate, I don’t know if I could answer to my children whether their children would be safe at Rutgers right now,” said Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), who is Jewish.

Holloway said it’s a precarious time on college campuses since protests have erupted over the war in Gaza. Rutgers is home to both the nation’s second-largest Jewish student population and second-largest Palestinian student population, he said, adding that, as the president of a public university, he has a duty to protect students’ right to free speech while also ensuring their safety and education.

Holloway stood by the university’s move to speak with four student protestors and come to an agreement to avoid the protest devolving into violence. He said around 125 police officers from the university, the city of New Brunswick, and the State Police were on standby in case the encampment wasn’t cleared out in time, or if matters escalated.

“Our strategy was so that protests continued strictly within the bounds of the First Amendment, but to make clear that crossing the lines such as disrupting university business, interfering with exams, and impeding student progress would result in swift and sure action,” Holloway said.

In contrast to the University of California, Los Angeles, and Columbia University — where protests turned violent, hundreds were arrested, and graduation ceremonies were canceled — Rutgers students completed their final exams, and the university-wide commencement will take place Sunday, he said.

Holloway’s appearance at the Statehouse Thursday was ostensibly for budget hearings before committees in the Senate and Assembly. But lawmakers on both panels peppered him largely with questions about the encampments.

Rutgers students launched their Gaza solidarity encampment April 29 on Voorhees Mall, drawing varying numbers of students and people not affiliated with Rutgers. It was one of dozens that have popped up on college campuses across the country. The students made a list of 10 demands, including one that calls for Rutgers to divest financial holdings linked to Israel and cut its partnership with Tel Aviv University.

After an early morning protest that disrupted hundreds of final exams, university administrators held a meeting with four student protestors and agreed to some demands, but none that included divesting. Rutgers officials said they would enroll 10 displaced Palestinian students to finish their education at Rutgers and start plans for an Arab Cultural Center on campus.

When Schaer asked why the university didn’t include “people with various ideologies” in these discussions, Holloway said administrators were focused on the “emerging and increasingly unstable situation.”

“In a perfect world, we would do exactly that, but in a very rapidly shifting, and I think declining and divisive environment, we did not have the luxury of time on our hands,” he said.

Sen. Declan O’Scanlon asked Holloway why university officials didn’t make counterdemands to the protestors, a comment that garnered applause from people in the audience wearing “Rutgers: no to antisemitism” shirts. Holloway repeated that the situation was changing so quickly, university officials didn’t want to escalate it.

O’Scanlon said he believes Princeton University handled the encampments on its campus better by not negotiating with protestors and sending in police to deal with the disruption, sending a clear message that they wouldn’t give in to protestors’ demands. There, 13 protestors were arrested, and university officials relocated the protest to a smaller courtyard.

“I think this situation is happening because you missed the decision early on to nip in the bud. But we’re humans, we make mistakes, we learned from this,” O’Scanlon said.

Trenton lawmakers are not the only ones interested in grilling Holloway. He’ll face questioning in front of a congressional committee later this month along with other college presidents on their handling of the protests on campus. And U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Donald Norcross said they sent a letter to Holloway to address the concerns of Jewish students who felt threatened and targeted even before the encampment. They want to know what steps the university is taking to include Jewish students in its decisions.

“Members of Rutgers’ Jewish community have made urgent requests of the administration, as far back as December, pleading with them to take several reasonable steps that would ensure their safety and welcomeness on campus. As far as we can tell, these requests have been largely ignored. As a Jewish faculty member said, ‘We played nice and got little; SJP [Students for Justice in Palestine] broke every rule in the book and got rewarded with amnesty,’” the two congressmen said in the letter.