Statement to Board of Governors on Student Protests

Jonathan Holloway, President

May 6, 2024

This is among the most divisive times in higher education. Ideological factions seek to tear us apart. It has rarely been harder for people to feel heard. To listen sincerely. To assume good intent.

For weeks we have watched universities struggle to respond to unrest and violence on campuses across America. Schools that appear stable one day are overwhelmed the next. My leadership team and I have cautiously believed that Rutgers can be different, indeed that Rutgers is different, and that we can maintain our delicate peace.

I want to talk about how it is at Rutgers.

At Rutgers we abhor bigotry. Antisemitism is a scourge that we must and will always fight. I feel the same way about Islamophobia, racism, and other ideologies that foster hate and seek to divide.

From the beginning of the protests following the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7 and the war that has followed, we have prioritized the safety of our community members. We have prioritized safety through consistent communication with the RUPD, local, county, and state level law enforcement. We have enhanced security across our campuses and increased police presence at sensitive areas. In fact, the RUPD is present whenever there is a protest—around the clock if need be. We have also worked with the FBI to be briefed on their threat assessments. We emphasize, repeatedly and consistently, how to report concerns of bias and harassment—and we underscore our commitment to following up on these reports.

We have assured safety by enforcing our policies.

Sometimes the outcome of policy enforcement is loud: this past Friday, Chancellor Francine Conway announced the outcome of an investigation into the targeting of a Jewish student in Demarest Hall. Two Rutgers–New Brunswick students have been charged with harassment in connection with this incident.

Last week, we announced the arrest of the individual who vandalized the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University on our New Brunswick campus.

We thank our law enforcement partners for their diligence in resolving both terrible incidents.

Sometimes the outcomes are intentionally quiet, in accordance with federal regulations and our confidentiality policies, like individual student conduct cases.

Let me speak now specifically about the protest last week and our response.

Our guiding principles have been to maintain a safe and controlled environment, to protect Rutgers students and Rutgers property, and to assure that our students’ academic progress—taking finals and completing the semester—are not impeded.

These principles underpinned every decision we made.

The protest began on Monday as a statement regarding Palestine and the war in Gaza.   At first it was peaceful, like the tent protests that have been an on-again/off-again feature of the spring semester at Rutgers for twenty years or more. Those protests have been focused on issues ranging from tuition to environmental issues and any number of issues deemed important to our students at the time.

But by Thursday morning, this year’s protest had become disruptive.  

Some people have said I should have engaged police to clear the protest and arrest those who resisted. We were prepared to do so. I am grateful that we did not have to.

By Thursday afternoon, the mall was an unstable mixture of protestors and counter-protestors that we have seen far too often on other campuses. Some participants were our own students, faculty, and staff; others were outsiders in pursuit of their own goals and ambitions. It was clear to me that we had to take some action before the situation veered toward violence.

People have said we should not have engaged in discussions with the protestors. What I say to that is that we talked with Rutgers students. They asked for consideration of several requests that concern academic and student affairs—a cultural center, trainings, course offerings. The chancellor’s Advisory Council on Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian Life, comprised of faculty, staff, and students, will address those requests.

Some people have wrongly come to believe that Rutgers agreed to divest from companies that do business in Israel. We did not. We have a policy already in place for investment decisions and we are adhering to it and the process that flows from it. We did agree to meet with the students who made the request and nothing more.

While it is not within my authority to make a decision regarding divestment, I will reiterate again that I believe the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement is wrong. I think divestment from Israel is wrong. I believe that enlightenment comes from involvement and that lasting progress and peace are the outcomes of diplomacy and discussion.

There also appears to be a misunderstanding about our relationship with Tel Aviv University. We were asked to sever that relationship. We will not. Period.

We were asked to establish a relationship with Birzeit University. We already have one. It has been in place since 2022.

I called at the start of this semester for civil discourse. There have been too many instances, in the fall and in the spring, where members of our community have failed in this regard. Some of the statements that I have heard are disgraceful and have no place at a university. Collectively, they represent a gaping wound in our community, a wound that has the power to infect and cause permanent damage. I still maintain, however, that the only way to address that injury is to do everything that we can to air it out and recommit to educating our community so that it comes to understand that there is a better way to discuss and debate contentious ideas.

Since Voorhees Mall was cleared, I have received thousands of emails in which people express their frustration or dismay. To everyone who wrote, I hear you. I know that many of the decisions that we made last week are challenging. What was clear before the encampment and what has become clearer since, is that we have work to do at Rutgers. The healing will take time, but I am committed to it. Part of this work will require addressing gaps in our Jewish student, faculty, and staff experience. For that, we will lean on the wisdom and insights of the Advisory Council for Jewish Life. Chancellor Conway has already started that work.

I am confident in our decisions. They allowed us to maintain a safe and controlled environment, to protect Rutgers students and Rutgers property, and to assure that our students’ academic progress—taking finals and completing the semester—was not impeded.

The result of our actions was a peaceful return to the normal course of business. And for us at this time of year, that course of business means celebrating excellence: saluting the faculty members who have earned our annual awards for teaching and research; celebrating our five newest members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and three newest members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; congratulating our students earning Fulbright, Goldwater, Udall, Churchill, and Truman scholarships; and getting ready for this coming week, when more than 18,000 of our students will receive their hard-earned degrees from Rutgers University.

I hope you’ll join me in applauding these outstanding achievements.