As a student newspaper, the Bark is in a unique position when it comes to reporting on events and issues outside of the bounds of our campus. To quote our website’s “About Us” page, the Bark “endeavors to inform the Redwood High School student body and staff of happenings in the school and the community beyond.” However, as student journalists, when these “happenings” stretch beyond our school, we must navigate reporting on real global events and conflict alongside professional journalists, with no lesson plan to guide our coverage.
Located in affluent Marin, our newsroom is physically far away from the real impact of these issues, making it near impossible to present any kind of exhaustive, complete coverage of these events as they unfold. That being said, we also acknowledge the impact this war has on students here, whether they have family in Israel or have experienced Islamophobia or anti semitism.What we can offer is a glimpse at (short list referencing content in articles in the package). With this package of articles exploring aspects of the Israel-Hamas war, we aim to shed light on the local response to the conflict and use our focused student perspective to capture a snapshot of what this moment in time means to our Bay Area community.
Student Perspectives: UC Berkeley's pro Palestinian encampment
By Gabriella Rouas
Amid the conflict in the Middle East, students from college campuses across the United States are setting up tented encampments on their school grounds. The purpose? Urging universities to divest from Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war. Protest encampments have been on dozens of campuses across the United States, ranging from the University of Mississippi to Columbia University. Since May 6, more than 2,300 student protesters have been arrested on campuses across the country.
Approximately 21 miles from Redwood, students at University of California (UC) Berkeley launched their own encampment. A historical hub for student protests, UC Berkeley was home to the Free Speech movement in 1964, where students protested against university policy regarding political demonstrations. These protests manifested in the form of sit-ins which escalated into rally style protests and ultimately resulted in the university removing policies that restricted free speech.
Today, however, some UC Berkeley students have taken on a different cause. The encampment was organized by the Black Student Union, a university organization Jewish Voices for Peace and the Indigenous Graduate Student Association. Their demands are as follows: “An immediate end to the Zionist colonization of Arab lands, including the genocidal siege of Gaza; full freedom and equality for Palestinians, from the river to the sea; and the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homes and properties." They are also asking UC Berkeley to divest "from all companies profiting from the colonization of Palestine".
People observing the encampment shared their opinions on protests and the current situation in Gaza. All interviews took place Friday, May 3, 2024 outside of Sproul Hall. All of the interviews were conducted with UC Berkeley students who were observing the encampment.
Andrew, 84
Andrew was passing out leaflets in front of UC Berkeley with a group of senior citizens. The leaflets displayed information in the form of maps of Palestinian land and quotes from top Israeli government officials, regarding Palestinian people and land.
Andrew shared his feelings on the criticism that college encampments have garnered, in the press and from the universities themselves.
“Protesting is free speech and it is an incredibly important subject because of the slaughter that is going on in Gaza. This has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. It is simply free speech,” Andrew said.
Andrew was 16 years old when the protests regarding the Vietnam War swept across college campuses, which has inspired him in his efforts today.
“These protests resemble the anti-war protests [about] Vietnam. They build and they become a consensus and hopefully they will help solve the problem in the Middle East,” Andrew said.
Member of faculty, Student Affairs
This member of the faculty was observing the protests to ensure everything remained peaceful. When asked if they thought this encampment would ultimately involve the police presence as is the case for Columbia University, they said they did not think it would. They believed that this was a peaceful protest and it would remain peaceful, stressing that the students were focused on dialogue and educating others rather than physical conflict.
Female Student, 21
UC Berkeley has its encampment in front of the famous Sproul Hall, the location where students were gassed during the 1960s free speech rallies and where Martin Luther King gave a famous anti-war speech in 1967. A female student shared her opinions on the protests and UC Berkeley’s history of student activism.
“These protests are normal at the Berkeley campus. I feel like there is always a protest going on. This is something that you see almost every day,” she said.
“I think that this is opening the conversation around the conflict that is going on with Israel and Palestine. It has gotten people talking. It is definitely opening up a conversation,” she said.
She said that witnessing these protests on her campus did not cause her to have any reflection on her beliefs and has not furthered her interest in learning more about the conflict.
“I am just focused on [my] studies right now,” she said.
Sophia, student, 19
Sophia voiced her support for the encampments and their goal to raise awareness. As we spoke, we were surrounded by the Muslim daily prayer ceremony. Muslim students and members of the community prayed while participants in the encampment, alumni, faculty and passersby surrounded them in a protective circle.
“When I watch the prayers, it kind of makes me want to cry, because the vast majority of people do walk by. I feel like even if you don’t support the [encampment], there is a moral objection to standing here and respecting it and witnessing their resistance,” Sophia said.
To the frustration of Sophia, there have been very few comments from the UC Berkeley administration regarding the encampment’s demands for a divestment to Israel.
“I don’t think the chancellor will make any sort of response because he is retiring once [the class of 2024] graduates. We have a new chancellor coming in for the fall. I can see her not giving a response and letting it roll over,” Sophia said.
While other college campuses like University of California, Los Angeles and Columbia University have seen heavy police presence and conflict, Sophia thinks that UC Berkeley's encampments will remain calm.
“I don’t see this escalating because even though there is some security presence, there is almost no police response and not much counter protesting that would spark conflict,” Sophia said.
For some students, the pro-Palestine encampments on college campuses and the protests surrounding them have encouraged students to learn more about the conflict. However, for Sophia and others, they have already been aware of the conditions in Gaza.
“I already knew a lot about what was happening in Gaza. I wish this [the protests] happened sooner,” Sophia said.
At the encampment, Sophia was showing support to her friends who resided inside of the tents. However, she voiced concerns about the energy surrounding the encampment potentially fading.
“I think [the protestors] are definitely high energy. I do worry that once school ends the vast majority of students will not stay on campus. That might diminish their numbers and the support from the outer community as well,” Sophia said.
Male PHD Student, 32
This student was very supportive of the encampment and mentioned how proud he was that this was taking place on his campus. He mentioned that he believes that a majority of the student body stands with the encampment. Similar to Sophia, he had concerns about the administration’s response to the encampment.
“A lot of faculty have joined the community to protect it and are working in their own ways to fight for divestment. I am more skeptical about the administration,” he said.
Similar to Sophia, this student has friends who are currently in the encampment. Some of his friends have been fighting for this cause for years, while others are relatively new.
“Spirits are joyful and sad. People know what they are fighting for,” he said.
There is a possibility that the encampments will dwindle in the student population as summer vacation begins. Anonymous believed that a lot of things could happen within the two weeks left of school stressing that the administration could still do something,
“In intense protests like this one, two weeks can feel like a lifetime,” he said.
I acknowledge that the perspectives I was able to conduct did not include voices who opposed the encampment. To conduct this article I reached out to student organizations, Bears for Israel, Tikvah: Students for Israel, Jewish@Hass and local synagogue Congregation Beth El for an interview and did not receive a comment.
As of Tuesday, May 15, UC Berkeley dismantled its encampment after an agreement with the chancellor in which the university would review its investments. In a letter addressed to students Chancellor Carol Christ wrote that UC university system does not support war and, “We should examine whether UC Berkeley's investments continue to align with our values or should be modified in order to do so.” The encampment will move to UC Merced where it hopes to continue the goal of the original encampment.
A look into UC Berkeley’s rich history of student activism
By Ava Stephens and Aanika Sawhney
The 1950s: New Left, Anti-McCarthyist
SLATE, whose name is not an acronym but rather was meant to reflect a slate of different people with a common goal, was founded in 1958 with the ideas of the New Left in mind. Many SLATE members had previously been involved in sit-ins or other demonstrations advocating for the civil rights of African Americans. They also criticized the House Un-American Activities Committee, known as HUAC, whose hearings in San Francisco were met with large-scale student protest. They advocated for students' freedom of expression, as the school's chancellor banned protesting non-campus-related issues such as civil rights or gender equality.
The students saw these changes as an extension of the McCarythist repression of free thought that required their teachers to sign anti-communist loyalty oaths or face dismissal, another policy that students protested. The publicity of the HUAC protests helped elevate SLATE to prominence and inspired other schools to begin founding similar organizations.
The 1960s: Freedom of Speech, Anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights
These protests, which started in 1964 with the foundation of the Free Speech Movement, are some of Berkeley’s most well-known. While free speech was one of the chief focuses of the protests, the prevailing spirit of protecting one’s freedoms also prompted students to protest against the Vietnam War, the draft, and for civil rights.
The arrest of one student, Jack Weinberg, was a spark for the powder keg of students’ frustrations. Weinberg was placed under arrest after he violated the ban on political activities on campus by advocating for civil rights with CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). In response, thousands of students spontaneously crowded around the police car he was in, making speeches from atop the vehicle and stopping police from bringing him into the station. Shortly after, the Free Speech Movement was born.
This was one of many large-scale protests during the ‘64-65 school year. On Dec. 2, 1964, after student leaders and protestors began to be punished for their activism, students began an occupation of Sproul Hall that reached 1500 people before it was disbanded by the police. By the end of the protest, 773 students had been arrested
As the social dilemmas of the time continued, so did the protests. The spirit of Berkeley’s activism had awoken, and would continue on in the years and decades to come.
1985-1986: South African Apartheid Divestment
On April 16, 1985, 156 students were arrested by police, who violently interrupted an ongoing sit-in led by the UC Divestment Committee and the Campaign Against Apartheid. South African apartheid was a system of racial hierarchy and separation, in which Black South Africans were systematically discriminated against through policy and were excluded from civil participation and elections. International attention to the national resistance from Black South Africans brought this issue to UC Berkeley’s campus.
In response to the police’s use force, students actively boycotted class, physically blocked entrances, and held demonstrative rallies and sleep-ins to call greater attention to their demand for university divestment against the Apartheid National Party government. In these weeks, the Sproul Plaza became known to students as the Steven Biko Plaza, recognizing South African activist Steven Biko, as support from both teachers and local political figures grew. Administrative agreement to a public hearing fueled the campaign's success, yet no divestment resulted.
The students persisted for 44 days until the summer break of that school year. Ultimately, these student efforts led to the divestment of $3 billion in South Africa-related stock holdings. The official UC Berkeley divestment continued a national trend of intolerance across universities and companies, adding pressure to the South African fight against apartheid which was finally won in 1990.
2002-2003: Anti-Iraq War
The Iraq War has been a controversial topic in American foreign policy since the idea of an invasion was first presented. Berkeley's student body was in tune with the war’s many concerns, staging their first protest before the war began. On October 9th, 2002, hundreds of students flooded Sproul Plaza to protest Congress’ vote on former President Bush’s war resolution, which allowed American military intervention in Iraq. As the threat of war loomed closer and closer in 2003, protests started up once again.
The 2003 protests were not limited to Berkeley and spanned hundreds of campuses nationwide with a prevailing message of “Books Not Bombs.” On the first day of the war, March 20th, roughly 1500 people gathered at Sproul Plaza, some of whom also engaged in a sit-in in Sproul Hall. Protests remained peaceful, but 117 people were still arrested for trespassing. According to a national Gallup poll that year, 72 percent of the general US public supported the war.
As it became clear the war was here to stay, protests began to decrease in size and frequency, especially after many members of Berkeley’s faculty held a panel to discuss the war in an open forum in 2003. Many speakers were equally critical of the war effort as some students had been the previous year, representing a slow but steady shift towards an overall disapproval of the war, eventually reflecting the majority’s opinion. A 2019 Pew Research poll determined that 62% of all Americans now believe the Iraq war was not worth fighting; once again, Berkeley students were ahead of the curve.
2011: Occupy Cal
Parallel to the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement originating in New York as result of the 2008 recession, UC Berkeley students reacting to rising tuition costs came together in protest of the economic inequality and inaccess impacting individuals of lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Berkeley’s student government, The Associated Students of the University of California, supported the Nov. 9 demonstration located at Sproul Hall involving over 1,000 students. Although acknowledging the cause, administrators reinforced a “no encampments” policy. Law enforcement pushed past students with linked arms who physically blocked them before they disrupted the Nov. 15 reinstated encampment. Student organizers and the general assembly voted for a public forum with educators and state officials.
Further police interference resulted in two arrests being made, and student asks were largely ignored. Eventually, after the encampment was raided, a few participants met with the Vice Chancellor of Equity and Inclusion, and no agreement or continuation of the conversation was reached. Former State Senator Kevin De Leon additionally voiced support for the student concerns. Negotiations with the university were not reached as participants continued some efforts into the spring semester.
2020: Black Lives Matter, Anti-Police Brutality
The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery became a catalyst for national attention on movements resisting institutional racism informing recurring police brutality. At Berkeley, the response was no less, in one demonstration the Black Student Union (BSU) led 3,000 people in a march starting at Grove Park to Martin Luther King Jr. Way. With representatives from local government and activists, the commitment to its Black community members and equality was renewed in a series of speeches. The event held moments of silence as the names of police brutality victims were read. Chants rallied marchers and led to a reflective conversation on UC Berkeley’s police department’s role and actions.
University values and responses aligned with the larger human rights declaration. On June 10, a statement from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health was made.
“We stand with the millions of people protesting across the globe in stating, unequivocally, and with the utmost clarity: Black. Lives. Matter.” UC Berkeley School of Public Health Leadership said.
Across campus this movement permeated. At the core of the movement the BSU as the political liaison, the office of African American Student Development (AASD) with focus on Black students’ quality of life academically and otherwise, and the Black Recruitment and Retention Center (BRRC) as advocates of Black representation joined together to support the Black student body. In many conversations, the demand to defund campus police and reinvest the money into student experiences was made.
2023-2024: War divestment, Free Palestine Encampments
Berkeley’s student body established an encampment after demonstrations on Columbia University’s Campus sparked a nationwide movement urging schools to express disapproval of Israel’s actions in Gaza and divest funds from Israeli companies or companies contributing to the war. Depending on the school, particular investments change but demands for divestment usually refer to weapons manufacturing companies, defense contractors, surveillance companies, or corporations with development contracts in occupied Palestine. “Disclose and divest” demands led the chief executive officer of the UC system to disclose they had 32 billion dollars worth of investments that currently violate the protestors’ propositions. However, no action has been taken to begin the divestment process.
Although these demands are economic, the goals of divestment lean in a more symbolic direction. Demands for divestment serve as a way to represent the students’ disapproval of their tuition money being used for war.
Cal student solidarity with the Palestinian people looks different from the adjacent encampments across other colleges. Because of the school’s storied history with political activism, campus authorities are well aware of how to continue school life while working around demonstrations. Encampments have been allowed to take up space on campus without police interference, avoiding much of the violence that has been seen at other schools.
Any divestment decision would have to be made by the entire UC system as opposed to on a school-by-school basis. With this in mind, the encampment was taken down after Cal’s administration agreed to review and discuss whether their collective investments align with the values of the UC school system as a whole.
Navigating campus protests: Balancing education, sensitivity and effective activism
By Nadia Massoumi
Throughout American history, college campus protests have significantly influenced reform movements. In the 1960s and early 1970s, anti-Vietnam War protests swept college campuses, successfully advocating for the end of the draft and America’s withdrawal from the conflict. Now, nearly 60 years later, the Free Palestine Movement echoes the enthusiasm of past protests. Both movements faced opposition from school administrations, counter-protesters and law enforcement. But to many, these protests differ from the past as they have been deemed anti-Semitic and aggressive. As summer approaches, encampments are dwindling, raising questions about the success of these protests and whether they have supported or hurt the Free Palestine cause.
Protests against the Israeli government began taking place after the Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) response to the Oct. 7 attacks. Many protestors have accused the Israeli government of committing apartheid and genocide against Palestinians and have demanded that their colleges cut endowment ties to Israel. Many believe that these protests have been successful in terms of their ability to spread awareness for the Palestinian cause. Indeed, coverage of the demonstrations has even reached the Palestinian people, who have displayed gratitude for the support they are seeing worldwide.
According to an interview with NBC News, Reem Musa Suleiman Abu Shinar, a former law student now living in the Palestinian enclaves, expressed these same sentiments.
“I feel proud that there is a group of students who feel what we feel now — and are helping and supporting us,” Abu Shinar said. For many, the attention received worldwide for these protests is a sign of success in itself.
Despite the attention they have garnered, there is something to be said about the inability of these protests to achieve divestment. Critics argue that the protestors’ demands are unrealistic and that their unwillingness to compromise and sometimes resort to violence hinders their ability to achieve their goals. At Columbia University, for example, protestors were captured destroying buildings and occupying an on-campus building in an attempt to force the administration to hear their demands. Yet, the administration refused to fully meet their demands and punished protestors for violating university policies. According to a statement released by Columbia’s President Minouche Shafik, this clash transpired after several failed attempts at “constructive dialogue” between the schools’ academic leaders and student protest organizers. Opponents of the protest, such as Protest Historian Steven Mintz at the University of Texas at Austin, argue that the protestors’ disregard for university policy and their insistence on radicalism is at fault.
According to an article by CBS News, “Their protests are threatening basic civility in our society,” says Prof. Mintz, who claims the protesters mostly lack achievable goals or a message that can inspire Americans. ‘I would call it performative radicalism. It has nothing to do with the larger cause, it’s all about ‘me.’ If the goal of the protest was to develop sympathy, empathy for the suffering of people in Gaza, it's done almost the exact opposite.’”
On the other hand, those supporting the protests have argued that it is within these protesters’ rights to exercise free speech and that university retaliation infringes on those rights. More than 2,000 student protestors across college campuses, many of whom are from Columbia, have been arrested, according to the Washington Post. Those in support of the protests have argued that there are clear disparities against the student protestors, by law enforcement. Many question the authority of university officials to enact such a powerful response against their own students, with law enforcement often in riot gear.
As an outside viewer of the protests, whose cultural background puts them at odds with unilaterally supporting either side, I believe that the most successful protesters have been peaceful and willing to compromise, achieving tangible results without aggressive rhetoric. At Brown University, for instance, protestors agreed to take their encampment down and in exchange got their university’s officials to hear their side and vote on divestment. The encampment on Brown’s campus faced no retaliation from law enforcement, and the encampment faced little to no backlash regarding instances of aggressive or anti-Semitic rhetoric. Brown’s encampment, then, can serve as a model for how successful protests should be conducted.
This contrasts with unsuccessful protests, whose main problem is not their radicalism, but rather their ignorance. In order to be passionate enough about a topic to protest it, you must have some level of knowledge on what it is you're protesting against. In fact, I believe you should know more about the topic than the average person. With that in mind, there have been far too many videos circulating of protestors being asked about the conflict their protest is centered around, with their responses being inaccurate. It is because of this ignorance that many of these protests are being deemed “anti-Semitic” by these collegiate institutions — institutions that are therefore unwilling to hear their position. If you are chanting “From the river to the sea,” and “globalize the Intifada,” you should know that the “river” is the Jordan River, the “sea” is the Mediterranean Sea and that the Intifada refers to either of the two popular uprisings initiated by Palestinians against Israel’s occupation (Britannica). While these phrases have different connotations depending on who you ask, if you don’t know the events and locations they refer to, your authority to decide whether or not they are anti-Semitic is questionable and your authority to scream it is null and void. The effectiveness of these protests, then, largely depends on the approach and knowledge of participants. Uninformed actions are likely to undermine any cause and will stand in the way of bringing about desired change.
The Redwood Perspective
By Grace Gehrman
Having widespread impacts across many demographics and countries, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has stirred global controversy. Among this growing polarity, questions about the role of educators rise in tandem. Public teachers, entrusted by the government to instruct and mold young minds, certainly have an academic responsibility for youth– but on significant geopolitics, their role is less clear.
The policy outlined by the Tamalpais Union School District (THUSD)– which encompasses Redwood High School, Tamalpais High School, Archie Williams High School, San Andreas High School and Tamiscal High School– is based largely on their Policy 6144. It was adopted in 1993 and seeks to inform the district on how to address ‘controversial issues’.
Essentially, the policy acknowledges that teachers have a right to discuss important, controversial issues that may impact the student body or staff, despite the issues’ polarity. However, it must have some relation to the content or subject matter of the course. Also, it must be approached with sensitivity and an emphasis on facts. Specifically, the board states that teachers must approach the topic with impartiality and factual content, disregarding any of their potential biases. If teachers do include their own biases, however, they must supplement it with an equal acknowledgment of the other perspectives.
According to the student body at Redwood, teachers have largely not mentioned the Israel-Hamas conflict in class, with only twenty-six percent of students hearing about it from their teachers; instead, the majority (57 percent) of students have heard about it on the news, with another 38 percent having heard about it from their parents and 30 percent having heard about it from their peers.
As for the district’s specific address of the topic, they have sent out a few emails to staff, regarding the policy (and some others that are tangentially related) and an email to the entire district directly following the attack in Israel in October of 2023, where Tara Taupier provided some educational links and acknowledged the response of president Joe Biden. The district also mentioned the conflict in its November newsletter, which cited local racial incidents and the ongoing effect of the conflict on the THUSD community.
The centrist perspective on the conflict in Israel and Palestine.
By Jace Harms
On Oct. 7, a conflict erupted in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas, quickly becoming a political issue in America due to the presence of ethnically Jewish and Palestinian people in the country, economic ties to the region and ethical arguments about the nature of the conflict. Consequently, Americans in various environments have taken action to convey their support for either side of the conflict. However, there is a perspective that isn't discussed frequently in the media: Americans who hold an ambiguous stance, inhabiting a "gray area" in an issue that others may see as black and white.
Media outlets have devoted their front pages and prime-time coverage to display protests that have become common amongst the nation's colleges and universities. These protests are attempting to reform school's endowment investments. Many schools invest in Israeli companies whose profits generate revenue for Israel.The revenue has a part in financing the war. These protests have been met with counter-protests, whose participants claim that the demonstrations are invigorating a spirit of antisemitism. A Google search of Columbia University will show headlines representing only the outnumbered students who decided to protest for either Israel or Palestine. The media avoids covering centrism and the people who contend that disruptive protests are discourteous to the general student population.
According to Axios, an American news outlet based in Virginia, only 8 percent of American students have been involved in either side of the protests. Meanwhile, 81 percent of students believe the protesters must be held accountable for destroying and vandalizing property or illegally occupying buildings. Many students who do not support the protests are more concerned with their disruption than their cause.
However, many students and Americans do not see themselves in the messages of either the "Free Palestine" movement or the "Stand with Israel" movement. According to Pew Research, 18 percent of Americans are unsure which side they sympathize with, while 26 percent say they sympathize with both sides. The ideology of this undecided group is centered around humanitarianism. They mourn losses and casualties on both sides of the war and are advocates for Israel's right to exist while also believing in Palestinians's right to self-determination.
International conflict is often a complicated affair. Advocacy for one party or another can seem as if you are endorsing both that side's successes and failures, especially in a messy and deep-rooted conflict like the one between Israel and Palestine. People who claim to stand with Israel are criticized for supporting the siege in Gaza — a conflict that has led to the starvation and deaths of many innocent Palestinians. On the other hand, many who advocate for the Free Palestine movement are criticized for supporting a government that took innocent Israeli hostages, some of which have also met a fatal end.
It is easy to feel isolated when learning about both sides of the conflict. However, the polarization between other Americans and how they advocate for their beliefs regarding the conflict can only make one feel even more isolated.
Realizing and understanding where you stand in this conflict is essential, and the best way to do so is to educate yourself about the facts of the conflict and think individually. Yet, it is also impactful to stand with the innocent civilians on either side and not condone the actions of either government as long as hatred is not being spread toward ethnic Israelis, Palestinians, Muslims and Jewish people.
Individuals who adopt a centrist position on the conflict are purposefully opting not to align themselves with either side of the war or with America's response to it. It is essential to acknowledge the viewpoints of these individuals who resist the pressure to pick a side. Refusing to align oneself with either side can effectively weaken the spread of hateful messages that have become increasingly prevalent on this issue.
Centrism can seem like a curious stance to take on such a polarizing issue. Nevertheless, centrism is the most pragmatic stance that someone can take to not further aggravate the political divide growing in America, as the war in Israel and Palestine continues to rage on.