US campus protests: ‘Student arrests will be my final college memory’

In January 2020, they were seniors in high school. Graduation was fast approaching. But so has a deadly pandemic.

By mid-March, Covid had disrupted daily life and many students were forced to spend their final months of school at home. Proms have been canceled.

Four years later, those same students are now in college about to graduate. And once again they face a similar sourness towards what would normally be a festive occasion.

Pro-Palestinian protests have erupted on more than 130 college campuses across the United States, as organizers demand their universities cut ties with Israel-linked businesses.

They set up large encampments in the middle of university grounds and defied multiple warnings to disperse, triggering police raids and more than 2,000 arrests.

Three seniors explain for the second time how they are experiencing this tumultuous end to their university careers.

Madison Morris, 22, University of Texas

The day the state agents arrived was also the day I took my last final exam. When I arrived on campus, they were already there and approaching the students.

The tension was super high. I had never been so close to so many police officers before. It was scary.

I didn’t really study for my test later that day – I couldn’t concentrate. I only thought about what I had just seen. I doubt I did as well on the exam as I wanted to.

My last day of class was the day I saw protesters – my fellow students – peacefully gathered on the main lawn, taken away by police and arrested.

It’s something that will stay with me forever. These will be the memories of my last moments at university.

It’s hard to feel happy right now seeing all the negative things happening. I feel like I can’t even really celebrate my accomplishments, because I’m so overwhelmed.

Graduation is next week. I had been looking forward to it for four years, because I didn’t have a real one in high school. Because of Covid we had to wear masks and there was social distancing. It wasn’t the same.

I was really hoping for a traditional graduation this year. I tried to make the most of my senior year and figure everything out, but it’s hard when things like this happen. Like Covid, honestly this whole thing seems super dystopian.

Craig Birckhead-Morton, 21, Yale University

I was one of the 48 students arrested on April 22. I woke up at camp at 6:30 a.m. following warnings from our security marshals that we were surrounded by police. They told us to get up and prepare for arrest. I went to class the same day. It’s been a very difficult time – a whole new level of stress.

I have two final assignments due. I have a project in Arabic to submit. And I’m always late because of everything that’s going on.

Senior year is extremely important, considering my family in all of this. They want to see me graduate. This has been one of my main concerns.

We still haven’t heard about the university’s response. And in many ways, it’s scarier than our actual legal charges.

We may not be allowed to march at graduation. We may not receive our diplomas or final transcripts. For me, transcription is essential. I need it to apply to the master’s program I was accepted into at Columbia.

Personally, I think that all this knowledge that I acquire at Yale must serve a just cause. This is why I deemed it necessary to stay the course on this point. The situation in Palestine is unacceptable.

I remember the first week of March of my senior year of high school. We were sent home and things were kept remote.

We didn’t know it would be the end, but it was. No prom, no graduation. The pandemic has been a major disruptor, as have the Black Lives Matter protests. This was also a crucial part of the end of my high school experience and something that led me to get into the organization and where I am today.

Melissa Manesh, 21, University of Southern California

This is supposed to be a happy time, the last days on campus that we will have as students. And now the protesters are taking it over. There is so much chaos. It’s frustrating.

Protesters are ruining student life. Libraries are not open at a time when most people are trying to study for their final exams.

There are helicopters flying everywhere. Only two entrances are open to campus, requiring some of us to travel very long distances. Protesters are also blocking a large area of ​​campus, making traffic dangerous.

I know that among Jewish students, many of us are afraid. They will yell at you. They will call you a supporter of genocide. We don’t want to see these protesters and their extremely offensive signs. This increases study stress. It’s hard not to think about it when everything is happening before your eyes. It’s extremely distracting.

If you had told me that graduation was going to be canceled, I wouldn’t have believed you. When we found out, we were all really upset and upset. It was supposed to be one of the most important moments of our college careers – the one we’ve all been waiting for – and now it’s gone.

I was also the class of 2020 for high school, and we didn’t graduate at the time because of Covid. This seems really similar, and it’s so sad and so upsetting. But now it seems much deeper and much more personal. This time, not all the graduates in the world are losing their ceremony. It’s just all USC graduating seniors.