Education
Ban Corporal Punishment in Private Schools, New York Lawmakers Say
New York State lawmakers have launched a number of payments that will ban corporal punishment in non-public colleges after The New York Occasions reported that college students in some Hasidic Jewish non secular colleges have been repeatedly hit, slapped or kicked by their instructors.
Democrats and Republicans in each chambers have launched no less than 4 payments to outlaw the follow, which is prohibited in public colleges however not explicitly barred in all non-public colleges. A number of lawmakers mentioned they count on the measures to move with out opposition.
“No so-called educators or academic directors have a proper to place their palms on anybody’s child,” mentioned Charles Lavine, the Nassau Democrat who’s chairman of the Meeting Judiciary Committee and sponsor of one of many payments. “It’s so simple as that.”
The laws is a part of a broader push by some state lawmakers to extend oversight of personal colleges, particularly all-boys colleges within the fervently non secular Hasidic group, in response to the Occasions investigation, which revealed that these colleges had obtained greater than $1 billion in taxpayer funding whereas offering solely paltry instruction in English, math and different secular topics.
The failings occurred regardless of a state regulation requiring non-public colleges to supply an training that’s considerably equal to the one supplied in public colleges. The Occasions report, drawing on 911 calls and interviews with dozens of latest college students, additionally confirmed that academics in lots of Hasidic colleges made common use of corporal punishment to maintain college students in line throughout hours of grueling non secular classes.
Representatives of the Hasidic colleges say that their instructors don’t use corporal punishment and that any remoted incidents happen much less often than in different colleges.
Final month, throughout a joint legislative price range listening to, lawmakers questioned a spokesman for Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish group that advocates for Hasidic colleges. The spokesman, Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, defended the colleges and mentioned they’d no tolerance for corporal punishment.
State regulation requires all non-public colleges to supply an training comparable to what’s in public colleges. In 2015, New York Metropolis’s training division mentioned it could examine complaints in regards to the high quality of secular training in colleges within the Hasidic Jewish group. Right here’s a timeline of the investigation:Timeline: New York’s Oversight of Hasidic Faculties
“These colleges produce residents who’re well-rounded in all areas,” Rabbi Silber mentioned. “Businesspeople, professionals, each stroll of life, household life, communities which are low in crime, low in drug use.”
This week, representatives of a number of Hasidic colleges didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The payments aimed toward elevating academic requirements in non secular colleges embrace proposals that construct off the state Schooling Division’s new laws for all non-public colleges. The laws, which officers had thought-about for years, have been adopted days after The Occasions investigation was revealed in September. They supplied a highway map for holding non-public colleges to minimal requirements, requiring the colleges to show they’re offering a fundamental training or threat dropping funding.
One proposal, launched by Meeting Democrats Kenneth Zebrowski and Deborah Glick, would make clear and strengthen the state’s current regulation. One other pair of payments, by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, would require instruction in sure topics, together with prevention of kid abuse. A 3rd piece of laws, from State Senator Robert Jackson, would reduce off funding for any non-public colleges that fail to certify that they’re offering training in particular secular topics like math, know-how and geography.
Mr. Jackson, a Manhattan Democrat, mentioned in an interview that he had unsuccessfully pushed the invoice in earlier years. He mentioned he had lengthy supported price range will increase for public training however believed colleges that accepted public {dollars} with out offering fundamental instruction in studying or math have been “committing a fraud.”
“Should you’re receiving the cash, you must do what you mentioned you have been going to do,” Mr. Jackson mentioned. “If not, you’re going to be in hassle.”
All of the payments aimed toward enhancing secular instruction in non-public non secular colleges face important opposition.
In January, eight Republican members of Congress from New York State wrote a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul asking that she not intervene with Jewish non secular colleges — often called yeshivas.
“We urge you to do all in your energy to help and empower New York’s yeshiva colleges to show their college students on their very own phrases,” wrote the lawmakers, together with Consultant Elise Stefanik.
State Senator John Liu, the Queens Democrat who’s chairman of the Senate Schooling Committee, mentioned in an interview that he believed that additional laws was pointless as a result of state officers had dealt with the difficulty final yr after they adopted new laws.
The proposal to ban corporal punishment in non-public colleges, against this, has garnered significantly extra help, together with from Mr. Liu and lots of others.
At the very least 4 such payments have been launched, however lawmakers seem like coalescing round one filed by State Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher, each Democrats who signify Williamsburg, Brooklyn, house to a few of the most insular Hasidic communities within the state. At the very least six different senators have signed on as co-sponsors.
The proposal defines corporal punishment as “any act of bodily power upon a pupil, nevertheless gentle, for the aim of punishing such pupil or modifying undesirable habits.” It states that no trainer or faculty worker could use corporal punishment.
The invoice is now pending within the Senate Kids and Households Committee.
One other proposal, from Assemblyman David McDonough, a Republican from Lengthy Island, defines corporal punishment to incorporate using timeout rooms.
Except for the Occasions articles, The Albany Occasions-Union reported final yr on greater than 1,000 cases of corporal punishment which have illegally occurred in public colleges lately.
The Occasions articles sparked debate amongst officers over corporal punishment legal guidelines. Whereas the regulation clearly says that corporal punishment is barely barred in public colleges and sure non-public colleges which are registered with the state, some officers identified after the Occasions investigation that “youngster abuse” already was unlawful beneath state regulation, and that corporal punishment may very well be thought-about abuse. The state Schooling Division even issued a proper opinion saying that was its interpretation of the regulation.
Nonetheless, a number of lawmakers mentioned they consider extra readability is required, particularly because it pertains to yeshivas.
State Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan, mentioned she hoped that any corporal punishment invoice the Legislature passes would come with clear enforcement measures and penalties for colleges that break the regulation.
“Frankly, there have been some first rate legal guidelines on the books,” Ms. Krueger mentioned, “however they haven’t been enforced.”
Education
Video: Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
new video loaded: Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
transcript
transcript
Protesters Scuffle With Police During Pomona College Commencement
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to block access to Pomona College’s graduation ceremony on Sunday.
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[chanting in call and response] Not another nickel, not another dime. No more money for Israel’s crime. Resistance is justified when people are occupied.
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Education
Video: Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
new video loaded: Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
transcript
transcript
Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
Police officers arrested 33 pro-Palestinian protesters and cleared a tent encampment on the campus of George Washingon University.
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“The Metropolitan Police Department. If you are currently on George Washington University property, you are in violation of D.C. Code 22-3302, unlawful entry on property.” “Back up, dude, back up. You’re going to get locked up tonight — back up.” “Free, free Palestine.” “What the [expletive] are you doing?” [expletives] “I can’t stop — [expletives].”
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Education
How Counterprotesters at U.C.L.A. Provoked Violence, Unchecked for Hours
A satellite image of the UCLA campus.
On Tuesday night, violence erupted at an encampment that pro-Palestinian protesters had set up on April 25.
The image is annotated to show the extent of the pro-Palestinian encampment, which takes up the width of the plaza between Powell Library and Royce Hall.
The clashes began after counterprotesters tried to dismantle the encampment’s barricade. Pro-Palestinian protesters rushed to rebuild it, and violence ensued.
Arrows denote pro-Israeli counterprotesters moving towards the barricade at the edge of the encampment. Arrows show pro-Palestinian counterprotesters moving up against the same barricade.
Police arrived hours later, but they did not intervene immediately.
An arrow denotes police arriving from the same direction as the counterprotesters and moving towards the barricade.
A New York Times examination of more than 100 videos from clashes at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that violence ebbed and flowed for nearly five hours, mostly with little or no police intervention. The violence had been instigated by dozens of people who are seen in videos counterprotesting the encampment.
The videos showed counterprotesters attacking students in the pro-Palestinian encampment for several hours, including beating them with sticks, using chemical sprays and launching fireworks as weapons. As of Friday, no arrests had been made in connection with the attack.
To build a timeline of the events that night, The Times analyzed two livestreams, along with social media videos captured by journalists and witnesses.
The melee began when a group of counterprotesters started tearing away metal barriers that had been in place to cordon off pro-Palestinian protesters. Hours earlier, U.C.L.A. officials had declared the encampment illegal.
Security personnel hired by the university are seen in yellow vests standing to the side throughout the incident. A university spokesperson declined to comment on the security staff’s response.
It is not clear how the counterprotest was organized or what allegiances people committing the violence had. The videos show many of the counterprotesters were wearing pro-Israel slogans on their clothing. Some counterprotesters blared music, including Israel’s national anthem, a Hebrew children’s song and “Harbu Darbu,” an Israeli song about the Israel Defense Forces’ campaign in Gaza.
As counterprotesters tossed away metal barricades, one of them was seen trying to strike a person near the encampment, and another threw a piece of wood into it — some of the first signs of violence.
Attacks on the encampment continued for nearly three hours before police arrived.
Counterprotesters shot fireworks toward the encampment at least six times, according to videos analyzed by The Times. One of them went off inside, causing protesters to scream. Another exploded at the edge of the encampment. One was thrown in the direction of a group of protesters who were carrying an injured person out of the encampment.
Some counterprotesters sprayed chemicals both into the encampment and directly at people’s faces.
At times, counterprotesters swarmed individuals — sometimes a group descended on a single person. They could be seen punching, kicking and attacking people with makeshift weapons, including sticks, traffic cones and wooden boards.
In one video, protesters sheltering inside the encampment can be heard yelling, “Do not engage! Hold the line!”
In some instances, protesters in the encampment are seen fighting back, using chemical spray on counterprotesters trying to tear down barricades or swiping at them with sticks.
Except for a brief attempt to capture a loudspeaker used by counterprotesters, and water bottles being tossed out of the encampment, none of the videos analyzed by The Times show any clear instance of encampment protesters initiating confrontations with counterprotesters beyond defending the barricades.
Shortly before 1 a.m. — more than two hours after the violence erupted — a spokesperson with the mayor’s office posted a statement that said U.C.L.A officials had called the Los Angeles Police Department for help and they were responding “immediately.”
Officers from a separate law enforcement agency — the California Highway Patrol — began assembling nearby, at about 1:45 a.m. Riot police with the L.A.P.D. joined them a few minutes later. Counterprotesters applauded their arrival, chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.!”
Just four minutes after the officers arrived, counterprotesters attacked a man standing dozens of feet from the officers.
Twenty minutes after police arrive, a video shows a counterprotester spraying a chemical toward the encampment during a scuffle over a metal barricade. Another counterprotester can be seen punching someone in the head near the encampment after swinging a plank at barricades.
Fifteen minutes later, while those in the encampment chanted “Free, free Palestine,” counterprotesters organized a rush toward the barricades. During the rush, a counterprotester pulls away a metal barricade from a woman, yelling “You stand no chance, old lady.”
Throughout the intermittent violence, officers were captured on video standing about 300 feet away from the area for roughly an hour, without stepping in.
It was not until 2:42 a.m. that officers began to move toward the encampment, after which counterprotesters dispersed and the night’s violence between the two camps mostly subsided.
The L.A.P.D. and the California Highway Patrol did not answer questions from The Times about their responses on Tuesday night, deferring to U.C.L.A.
While declining to answer specific questions, a university spokesperson provided a statement to The Times from Mary Osako, U.C.L.A.’s vice chancellor of strategic communications: “We are carefully examining our security processes from that night and are grateful to U.C. President Michael Drake for also calling for an investigation. We are grateful that the fire department and medical personnel were on the scene that night.”
L.A.P.D. officers were seen putting on protective gear and walking toward the barricade around 2:50 a.m. They stood in between the encampment and the counterprotest group, and the counterprotesters began dispersing.
While police continued to stand outside the encampment, a video filmed at 3:32 a.m. shows a man who was walking away from the scene being attacked by a counterprotester, then dragged and pummeled by others. An editor at the U.C.L.A. student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, told The Times the man was a journalist at the paper, and that they were walking with other student journalists who had been covering the violence. The editor said she had also been punched and sprayed in the eyes with a chemical.
On Wednesday, U.C.L.A.’s chancellor, Gene Block, issued a statement calling the actions by “instigators” who attacked the encampment unacceptable. A spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized campus law enforcement’s delayed response and said it demands answers.
Los Angeles Jewish and Muslim organizations also condemned the attacks. Hussam Ayloush, the director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on the California attorney general to investigate the lack of police response. The Jewish Federation Los Angeles blamed U.C.L.A. officials for creating an unsafe environment over months and said the officials had “been systemically slow to respond when law enforcement is desperately needed.”
Fifteen people were reportedly injured in the attack, according to a letter sent by the president of the University of California system to the board of regents.
The night after the attack began, law enforcement warned pro-Palestinian demonstrators to leave the encampment or be arrested. By early Thursday morning, police had dismantled the encampment and arrested more than 200 people from the encampment.
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