Important Takeaways:

• While few expect this fall’s protests to match the size or ferocity of last spring’s, when tent encampments roiled campuses and several university presidents lost their jobs amid criticism of their handling of the demonstrations, the new round of protests will come just as Democrats try to organize college campuses to mobilize voters for the November election.
• “This isn’t going away. We’re not going away. Young people and their pursuit of justice and equity everywhere is not going away,” said Rania Batrice, a Palestinian-American Democratic strategist.
• University administrators spent much of the summer break planning for potential fall protests, with many campuses imposing new policies to crack down and head off potential disruptions.
• Critics, including the American Association of University Professors, say these new policies “discourage or shut down freedom of expression” in order to “appease politicians” who called for a crackdown, putting campuses once again at the center for bitter free speech debates.
• Still, despite the new restrictions, when classes began Tuesday at Columbia, pro-Palestinian protesters made themselves heard and someone splashed blood-red paint on a landmark campus statue.
• Campuses across the country have seen an uptick in protests as students return, with an umbrella organization for campus pro-Palestinian groups calling for a National Day of Action on Sept. 12.
• Student activists also spent the last few months preparing for the fall semester, attending a “summer school” with veteran activists and promising to return to campus with new tactics to get around restrictions.

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