HANOVER, N.H. (WCAX) – As pro-Palestinian encampments on local college campuses continue, tensions remain high as rhetoric intensifies between various factions.
A Dartmouth professor is among those reflecting on getting caught up in a mass arrest that took place on the Hanover campus Wednesday night.
“The police lifted me up in the air, slammed me down onto the ground. They threw me down onto the ground on my bad shoulder. They said I was resisting arrest,” said Annelise Orleck, a Jewish studies professor at the college.
The 65-year-old says she was among a handful of professors who showed up to support students at what she described as a peaceful protest, until police arrived in riot gear. “It’s really shameful. In a sleepy little campus, in a rural area like Dartmouth, that they brought in this ridiculous show of arms and strength and violence,” Orleck said.
In the wake of her arrest — and rising tensions — she says she wants the community to stop weaponizing anti-Semitism.
Meanwhile, at the University of Vermont, some Jewish students say religion is part of their experience. “It’s really scary for a lot of Jews here,” said Lexi Sussan, a UVM student. As the encampment goes into the weekend, she says it’s tough to see. “People are feeling afraid to walk by the signs — they’re really harmful to see — and there’s just a lot of fear going around that people have been hiding their Jewish jewelry. They have not been wanting to walk alone anywhere.”
Sussan says she and her Jewish friends have gone to the encampment the last couple of days trying to have a converstaion about how both sides want peace. She says words and slogans the protestors are using are blatantly anti-Semitic. As finals draw closer, she says it’s not only harmful to Jewish students but also a disruption. “It’s disrupting people who are coming here to study and get a degree and it’s getting in the way of other people’s lives,” she said.
Rabbi Zalman Wilhelm with Chabad at UVM says the hurtful signs and other rhetoric is not fair to students and that the campus is not an appropriate spot for the protests. “Most people that are arguing — either side — are lacking a lot of information. Their hearts may be in a good place, but not always do the actions add up to making the world a better place.,” he said.
While Dartmouth is among the universities to break up the protesters’ encampments, UVM has allowed the tents to stay as long as the protests remain peaceful.
Orleck says she was initially banned from the Dartmouth campus following her arrest and her emails to officials went unanswered. A Dartmouth official later said she should not have been banned and that the mistake is being fixed.