Welcome back to campus! Now that you’ve had your fall semester orientation, our magazine is offering up an alternative education: The New Voices Disorientation Guide, where Jewish student activists and organizers give the low down on today’s hot-button campus issues, including the tips and tricks that university administration might not want you to know. Stay tuned for more Disorientation Guide articles, coming soon.
Jewish students have a proud history of organizing and participating in protests on campus – many student agitators in the 1960s and ‘70s were part of the tribe. That tradition of halting business-as-usual for the sake of justice continues on today as Jewish students return to their campuses this fall. New Voices sat down with Jacequlyn Torres, a student organizer at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to discuss how to make your voice heard through protest.
New Voices: Can you talk about a time you experienced antisemitism on campus? How did your school’s administration respond?
Jacquelyn Torres: I remember on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2020, the Hillel House that sits on the edge of our campus was vandalized. To our disappointment, the administration only reached out with a short email, offering no further resources for students. Due to the pandemic, there wasn’t much students could do but spread awareness through social media.
NV: Organizing on or across campus during the early stages of the pandemic seems like it would be near impossible. But since students have returned to campus, what’s shifted? How are students organizing now?
JT: There have already been some noticeable changes. Administration has been more responsive due to the power that students hold in numbers when they are present on campus. It seems that the administration is afraid of campus vandalism and is willing to do more for students if it will lower the likelihood of destruction of campus property.
NV: Administrators always shake in their boots when they feel there’s a real threat either to their buildings or their reputation, whether that’s because students are disrupting business as usual, or are creating a media spectacle that makes their staff seem incompetent, cruel, or otherwise embarassed.
The 1960s and 1970s are often considered to be the heyday of student protest because of how effectively organizers used these tools. The New Left, which emerged as a part of the Student Power Movement, inspired by the activism of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement, really gives us a framework for student protest today. It’s good to learn from previous generations of campus organizers: they would organize massive marches, shut down buildings and dining facilities with sit-ins, interrupt classes, stage walk-outs, encourage alumni to withhold funds, and even threaten to tear down campus monuments. These things made it impossible for administrators to just carry on as usual, refuse to change, and wait until everyone’s graduated and forgotten the issue in the first place. At University of Wisconsin, Students for A Democratic Society even managed to organize progressive newsletters in almost every department, usually satirizing what they saw as oppressive structures in academia. But today we have access to so many types of media beyond print.
JT: Definitely. I would argue that the most important aspect of protesting and getting the support needed for an impactful protest is taking full advantage of the Internet and social media platforms. Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter can all be useful in spreading important information in a shareable format. It is essential that we ignore the typical aesthetics of our social media profiles in service of important issues and make some noise outside of the campus bubble.
NV: Each of these platforms offers different tools and can help with activism in a slightly different way: Twitter for getting in touch with journalists, Facebook for utilizing campus Facebook groups, and Instagram for giving live updates (often via stories) and sharing petitions (via link in bio). Social media is an advantage that our forebears never had; protests can be digitally organized on a dime, though handing out flyers continues to be an effective and classic tool. Post-pandemic, we also have the advantage of Zoom; using virtual rooms to plan protests or even create easy-to-attend town halls for students to voice their feelings about an issue can be super useful.
Figuring out what social media hubs are popular on your specific campus is extremely useful for communicating to wide groups of students, and even getting folks on board who aren’t usually involved in protest. Never underestimate the value of a meme page.
JT: Yes! For example, for people at large state schools like mine, I might recommend utilizing an app called YikYak for navigating within the college bubble and obtaining the bodies needed to make a protest attention-grabbing. YikYak is an anonymous social media platform that operates within a 5 mile radius of the user’s location. If it’s big on your campus, it can be a great tool. This can share important information to anyone who has the app and is within your radius. Of course, students like to goof around on the app as well, but it was surprisingly effective at creating a large protest at my university in the fight to hold fraternities accountable for their history of sexual assault. This protest was large enough that local news got involved which is exactly the kind of outside attention wanted.
NV: Handing out hard-copy information during protest events can also be useful for gaining momentum for your movement. Never underestimate the importance of literature. An eight-fold, single-sheet zine that explains the gist of the issue, the purpose of the protest, and the goals of your action can majorly increase community support, earn you more student solidarity, help you engage students who aren’t on the same social media platforms as you, and protect against the administration’s attempts to deride or undermine your movement, especially in news coverage. Speaking of news, how do you recommend organizers deal with reporters?
JT: If asked to speak to the news or to do an interview, make sure to speak professionally by staying on the topic of the protest and avoid swearing, although you may feel very emotional. Of course, you’ll feel passionate about your cause because that’s why you’re there in the first place. However, acting calm on camera or otherwise on the record brings less unnecessary criticism to your cause. It’s unfair, but often the more emotional you present yourself, the less credibility outsiders think you have. Do everything you can to turn bystanders into supporters of your cause.
NV: If you’re planning a protest, it can be helpful to designate specific people who are trained or prepared to speak to the press, whether student newspapers or local news coverage. Demonstrating a unified front can be the difference between a movement falling apart or forcing the administration’s hand and winning your goal. It’s also never a bad idea to have writers on deck for your cause, who can pen and pitch opinion pieces for local publications in support of your protest, explaining it to onlookers with eloquence and verve. Student newspapers matter! Give them a tip about your protest ahead of time.
Let’s talk about safety during protests. How have you dealt with police presence at campus protests? Especially when the police, whether campus or local, often escalate or endanger students?
JT: When protests get large enough to be impactful, they often involve police presence, so it is essential to take caution and discuss your strategy beforehand. Not everyone has the same level of risk at protests; students of color are at significantly higher risk of brutality than white and white-passing peers. Students of color are more likely to be arrested or physically harmed in protests that involve police. If things get out of hand, protest organizers should have a strategy to protect students of color. In the past, our campus organizers have tried to protect these students by keeping them toward the inside of the protest, giving them a few layers of others as a buffer.
NV: It’s important to know your level of risk and have a plan. If you come from a family that has the resources to give you legal support or pay for bail, you may be in a better position to risk arrest than peers who don’t. Discuss this ahead of time with other organizers. Research histories of your campus police force and assess how dangerous the situation might be if they or a local unit are called (your college or university’s archives can be super useful for this). Know both your school and municipality’s policies on freedom of protest, or whatever laws might be relevant to your action, including occupying or obstructing a space. Police may show up even if your protest group isn’t doing anything illegal; actions against campus policy can also earn a police presence. If you think you’re risking arrest, carrying an ID, your phone, and some money is recommended. There’s safety in numbers. Always let someone know where you are.
JT: Protesting is serious business and can have serious consequences if not handled properly. Although protesting is a First Amendment right, it is often looked down upon and discouraged for its disturbance. Do not let this stop you from fighting for campus reform. You and your peers deserve to feel safe on campus and it is the administration’s responsibility to make that happen, even if you have to push them to do it.
NV: Pushing for policy change, education about histories of injustice and oppression especially on campus, funding for disadvantaged students or important programs, or better protections and support for marginalized student communities are all fantastic goals that many student protests have fought for over the years. As Jewish students facing antisemitism, these are a few abstract solutions that can go a long way in changing campus climate – and in fighting for a safer climate for Jews, we build coalitions to fight for a safer climate for all students.
JT: The Jewish experience has often been that it is difficult to find people to stand with us in times of need. Do not let this make you become isolated from your community. Instead, continue to fight for marginalized and underprivileged groups even when they are not your own. Uphold the value of tzedek, or justice, and be the change you would like to see. Someone needs to do it, and you may find that person needs to be you.
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