Cops on campus: Why police crackdowns on student protesters are so dangerous

Ohio National Guard soldiers move in on anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, in May 1970. Four students were killed and nine wounded when National Guardsmen opened fire on the protesters.& (AP Photo, File) by Roberta Lexier, Mount Royal University The recent violent crackdowns on pro-Palestinian encampments on campuses across the United States have reignited a long debate about the role of law enforcement on university grounds. For those north of the border — despite similar encampments cropping up in recent days at McGill University in Montréal — they may have also reinforced a familiar sense of superiority about our supposedly peaceful nation. A McGill University security guard looks out at the pro-Palestinian encampment set up on the university campus in Montréal on April 29, 2024.& THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi But make no mistake — since at least the 1960s, authorities across Canada have used police to silence peaceful student protests. Take Simon Fraser University, for example. By 1968, the so-called radical campus was accustomed to upheaval. But when approximately 200 students occupied the university’s administration building that year — purportedly to demand equitable admissions processes, though some activists hoped to spark a direct confrontation with campus...