Most college students 'shrug' at pro-Palestine protests, poll shows

NEW YORK CITY - As pro-Palestine protests and counter-protests across college campuses in the U.S. continue to be a salient issue in the national conversation, a new poll by The Generation Lab, shows that the majority of students actually "shrugs" at these demonstrations.

The survey looked at about 1,000 students in the U.S. attending 2-year and 4-year schools between May 3 and 6. The Generation Lab, according to Axios, polls students using a demographically representative sample of college students at community colleges, technical colleges, trade schools and public and private four-year institutions.

The study found that a large majority 81% of students support holding protesters accountable, agreeing with the notion that those who destroyed property, vandalized or illegally occupied buildings should be held responsible by their institutions.

Similarly, a majority also said they oppose the protest tactics, with 67% of respondents saying it's unacceptable to occupy campus buildings, and 58% saying it's not acceptable to refuse a university's order to disperse.

Although the campus protests have been dominating headlines since around mid-April, Axios reports that only a small minority (8%) of college students have participated in either side of protests.

In fact, students ranked the conflict in the Middle East as the least important issue facing them out of nine options, landing behind health care reform, racial justice and civil rights, economic fairness and opportunity, education funding and access, and climate change.

Because of this, Axios and The Generation Lab hint that the war— and the accompanying protests— might not hurt President Biden's election prospects among young voters as much as previously thought.

Despite these figures, students were still more likely to say they support the pro-Palestine encampments than oppose them. Out of the respondents, 45% said they support them either strongly or a little bit, 30% were neutral, and 24% were strongly or a bit opposed.

Student protests across U.S. campuses have been a major topic of discussion in recent weeks. Students in these protests demand "Palestinian liberation" and for their schools to call for a cease-fire and divest their endowments from Israel and companies they say are profiting from the war.

The demonstrations, which include encampments and building takeovers, have been met with suspensions, expulsions, arrests, police force and more. So far, more than 2,000 people have been arrested on college campuses due to these protests.

At Columbia University in New York City, which has been one of the schools with the most notorious encampments, students and the New York Police Department encountered last week when hundreds of police officers entered Hamilton Hall to remove some 46 protesters after they swarmed the building and arrested more than 100 people also assembling on campus.

This incident led to the university being in a state of near lockdown ever since. On Monday, the Ivy League institution announced it would cancel its main commencement ceremony, opting for smaller graduation events for each of its 19 campuses.

The way the administration has handled its pro-Palestinian demonstrators has proved to be deeply unpopular with many students and faculty, according to The New York Times. Officials became concerned that an event meant to unite the campus would divide it further.