The reverberations from the May 2 rousting of campus protestors by a phalanx of police officers are still being felt in New Paltz. Faculty members at the university and some village elected officers have condemned the tactics used that night, with some complaining that neither protestors nor administrators communicated clearly.
There’ll be further aftershocks. Some in the administration are blaming “outside agitators” for persuading otherwise reasonable local students to defy law enforcement. It has been reported that 45 of those arrested had no connection to the university.
Investigations will follow.
There’s little question that something deeply disturbing happened on May 2. The 132 arrests at SUNY New Paltz was one of the highest totals on any college campus nationwide. The vast majority of those arrested were charged with trespassing, but there were a few instances of more serious charges, including a felony that state troopers allege occurred when one of their own received a facial laceration from a metal bottle hurled by a protestor.
The event was organized as a protest against the methods employed by the far-right Israeli government in the prosecution of the war against Hamas, which occurred due to a brutal sneak attack on October 7 that resulted in more than a thousand Israeli deaths and over 200 hostages being taken.
The focus is now on the concept of free speech, and the circumstances under which its expression should be curtailed.
Less than a week after the nighttime march through Parker Quad that netted the 132 arrests, trustees of the village discussed the events at their May 8 meeting. They invited town council member Amanda Gotto to the table. Earlier in the meeting, county legislator for the district containing the village Grace Harmon shared her thoughts as well.
Earlier that same day, mayor Tim Rogers had attended a “town-gown” meeting, a recurring private coffee at which university and elected officials mingle and informally discuss issues of common concern. There’s no record created about what’s discussed in that more relaxed atmosphere. Rogers recalled “a useful and intensely emotional conversation” among a variety of stakeholder representatives. Those present included university president Darrell Wheeler, executive vice-president of the association of students Wren Kingsley, Wheeler chief of staff Shelly Wright, and both the university and town police chiefs.
The mayor reported acknowledgements of mistakes and communications failures leading up to the police storming the quad. Rogers believes that the ongoing rapport allowed for a level of vulnerability among its participants. It came with an administration acknowledgement that “no one was right.”
Faculty blames administration
Alex Wojcik, deputy mayor, contrasted this conclusion with the “opposite sentiments” expressed at the faculty meeting on campus, held the same day as the village board meeting. No journalists were present at that meeting, either, but several faculty members restated their view for reporters at a press event on May 9.
Over 120 faculty members and retirees signed an open letter calling the police actions “a brutal infringement of First-Amendment freedoms.”
One of those faculty members, political science professor Stephen Pampinella, decried the decision to send in police as “an excessive use of force,” given that demands such as the timely removal of tents had been complied with timely. Characterizing the students as nonviolent and peaceful, Pampinella said that they became “anxious and scared” when “thugs with batons,” supported by drones, helicopters and police dogs, arrived to remove them. “It’s inconceivable on my campus.”
Sociology professor Brian Obach described the events of May 2 as “most horrifying” and “profoundly disappointing.” The vast majority of faculty members felt the campus police action was totally inappropriate, he said. “No one was getting hurt, and there was no [property] damage …. [It’s] most irresponsible to escalate a peaceful situation.”
Soul-searching is needed to assist in SUNY New Paltz healing
There is a growing sense that the arrests at Columbia University spurred this and other similar protests. A 2022 report published in the Police Executive Research Forum made a key recommendation in favor of avoiding mass arrests. Another piece published that same year by the National Policing Institute emphasized the value of communicating with protest leaders over the use of force, which it said should be limited to those committing criminal offenses.
“Incredibly peaceful”
Joel Oppenheimer, assistant director of the counseling center on campus, described the protest as “incredibly peaceful.” “They were kicking around a soccer ball, playing cards, sharing food,” he said. “It was lovely and peaceful.” Oppenheimer witnessed the police escalation, including the banging of batons through the campus, and how when the arrests began the police would hit, sit on, or grab and drag protestors away. “[It was] brutal and terrifying,” Oppenheimer said. “There are no words to describe what I saw. I’ve seen bruises on them, and I’ve heard worse reports.”
English professor Mary Holland was present for about six hours. “I thought I could keep them safe,” Holland lamented. “There was no control over what the police were doing.” Holland described how troopers “swept across in a tight formation” after most of the arrests were made, walking with their dogs and then picking up speed until they “were running at us,” with some stopping to “pile on a student.”
Holland said that those who weren’t there have a hard time believing the stories being shared, She in part blamed sheriff Juan Figueroa for “downplaying the violence, as if justifiable.”
Wheeler’s personal absence from the scene led to the president also not getting the full picture, Holland believes. “There is a sense it really wasn’t that bad,” Holland said. “What we need to hear is, ‘I’m sorry, that never should have happened.’” Professors teach their students to identify and resist power structures, Holland said. “We taught them that.”
Everyone has their stories
“Protests are regular here,” said Heather Morrison, who teaches history. With such a “long tradition of activism, it seemed not possible” that this would have ended as it did. Morrison acknowledged that the underlying issues are contentious and require “discernment around the terminology” to avoid escalation. Morrison is also calling for accountability, saying that “every student has been profoundly affected …. Everyone has their stories.” Morrison sees this decision stemmed from the tendency “to see students as other, or a threat.” To Holland, administrators are showing that they do not see the students as humans.
Shock, dismay and disappointment were among the words used by Karl Bryant, who teaches on women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. In addition to accountability, Bryant wants administrators to return to the table to discuss student demands, which include cancelling contracts with companies tied to support of military action in Gaza.
Bryant was “impressed by the moral clarity and organization” of the “student-led peaceful space.” He expressed being “heartbroken” over the sense of betrayal felt by some students in the aftermath.
While President Wheeler has expressed regret or remorse about what occurred, no presidential apology has come. A common theme in the students’ call for accountability is the belief that Wheeler may have been pressured to suppress the protesters. Pampinella pointed to the fact that similar police actions had taken place on several other college campuses in the same 48 hours.
“I have my doubts,” said Obach. “I think it was directed from above. We need an investigation.” While Obach is willing to accept evidence that Wheeler made this call, that’s “not the kind of man I think he is.”
The specific circumstances
Holly Liapis of the communications office for the SUNY system issued a statement: “Making sure our campuses are safe and free of harassment and discrimination of any kind is our first and foremost priority,” she write. “SUNY’s role is to provide training, resources, and support to all of our campuses to ensure student, faculty, and staff safety and protect freedom of expression within appropriate content-neutral time, place, and manner requirements. Campuses make the decision about when to call in outside law-enforcement agencies for support, and law enforcement determines protocols and procedures based on their threat assessment of the specific circumstances.”
Wojcik agreed that communications appear to have broken down. Having encouraged protestors to comply with the demand to remove tents by seven o’clock on the evening of May 2, Wojcik was still on the scene later that night when an announcement from an unknown source informed all in listening range that they had ten minutes to leave.
Dogs, anonymity, body cameras and batons
Wojcik suspected at the time that someone was trying to cause a “crowd crush” by instilling panic in the nighttime darkness. “It wasn’t until police were marching in, hitting shields with batons,” that it was clear to Wojcik what was happening. There was “never an operation like this in our area before …. I’m still really freaked out.”
Harmon, the county legislator, said, “In any contentious situation, we need to make sure we are using the terms in the same way. Not everyone on campus was doing that; what felt incendiary to some felt normative to others.”
Where is the humanity?
“We have to take the time to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again,” said village trustee Stana Weisburd, who said she was “doing a lot of listening.”
“Whether I agree or not, I will support their right to speech and protest,” Weisburd said. “The way this was quashed was unconscionable.” Weisburd did not observe any violent actions at the quad during the protest, but acknowledged that some of the phrases used by protestors were “triggering for some of us, including myself.” Some of the protestors were using words like “intifada” and the phrase, “from the river to the sea,” which has been interpreted as encouraging the exterminations of Jews in that region.
“I sat with them as they chanted, with my feelings and their feelings,” Weisburd said. “I can hold both at the same time. We have to recognize their humanity. We’re better than this.”
Village trustee William Wheeler Murray wanted “to know what happened, and why.” Official statements have been lacking in detail about tactics, Murray said, and it’s not clear who made the call to approach the situation by showing up in force in the dead of night. At NYU, a police raid had also occurred, but during daylight hours, Murray said. “Doing it at night ratchets up the terror.”
Rogers noted that Wheeler was thus far the only university president to speak to protestors in person — but others have pointed out that Wheeler wasn’t there to witness how the police executed their orders.
Tragedy in the college family
The mayor noted that the only demand administrators have any sway over is that of amnesty for protestors. Critics of the police tactics are widely supportive of this being granted. Whether that occurs with violations of the campus code of conduct, it’s possible that many of the charges could be dismissed. That’s partially because of the broad language used in the paperwork officers have filed. Identical wording is used again and again rather than anything specific regarding each individual.
“Those kids need amnesty,” said Weisburd. “Nothing should be held against them for expressing themselves. I wasn’t even there, and I was traumatized.”
Wojcik, who was there, said that these events have disrupted what had been a regular routine of running on campus at night. “I didn’t feel safe at the track last night.”
Some of Obach’s students are showing signs of trauma, the professor believes, noting that all this unrest was taking place against the backdrop of final exams.
Oppenheimer was trying to help the protestors “manage their mental health” as they sat, arms locked, awaiting their turn to be removed, saying things like, “’We all support standing up for your beliefs.” The licensed social worker affirmed that many protesters had been traumatized. Violence to the body impacts the bio-psycho-social system, and it will take time to recover. “Most will in time, but it’s very acute right now.” A cognitive dissonance is created because “your reality goes against those values” and expectations of what’s reasonable. This creates a mental and emotional toll.
“Where is the humanity?” Oppenheimer asked. “This is our family.”
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