Don’t be fooled by college protests, Gen Z wants dialogue on Israel and Palestine

After two tumultuous weeks of campus protests, it's evident that colleges are the American battlegrounds for dialogue on the Gaza war. From the blockage of Israeli students getting to class, to demonstrators shattering windows and hundreds of student arrests, these incidents paint a stark picture of how Gen Z navigates dialogue and dissent.

Except, it’s wrong.

We’re seeing a vocal minority on campus take control of the conversation — or lack thereof — around Israel and Palestine. These voices are being aided by "outside agitators" taking advantage of student anger. While universities grapple with how to navigate these protests, they're missing the fact that students want spaces to talk and be heard. 

In fact, these students are the majority. Understanding this will help us navigate this conversation, and other contentious issues, going forward and pave a better path for finding solutions.

My organization, BridgeUSA, held a listening session with student leaders at the University of Southern California, Columbia University, New York University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of California at Berkeley. Their takeaways from campus were that most students are refraining from conversation due tension on campus and fear of having their voices drowned out by those dominating media coverage. Not only that, but they also said students are looking for spaces on campus for constructive discussion, and that the universities can be valuable partners in creating these.

“Students on campus are very avoidant,” said Lucy, a student leader at UC Berkeley. “If you don’t agree with the majority, you don’t want to talk about it. It’s extremely loud and extremely radical in areas where people all agree with each other.”

“The one thing that has united our student body is our frustration towards our university’s response,” said Duncan, a student from USC whose graduation was canceled due to the protests. “This is about not being able to express their opinion, and people feel like they’re not being heard. Because of that, people are getting louder.”

While colleges have historically championed free thought and dialogue, recent years have seen a decline in constructive discourse and a rise in political intolerance. This has been made worse since October as universities grapple with response efforts to student engagement on Israel and Palestine. Because of this, the narrative has now shifted to the idea that higher education can no longer handle conversation and dissent on campus.

The problem is not that students don’t want to talk — the problem is that the majority of students don’t feel there is the right space and structure to have a productive conversation. It’s that we’re focusing on the vocal minority when we should be elevating the majority of students who are seeking spaces for conversation. We need to flip this narrative that young people don’t want dialogue, and instead be proactive in elevating stories of success.

Eleanor, another student at USC, reflected on recent Israel-Palestine discussions she’s attended, saying, “All have been very productive, and people had good things to say.” 

Sam, another student at UC Berkeley, said, “There are people who are forming mini-groups to come and discuss these issues.”

To understand why these conversations aren’t more mainstream, we must acknowledge the culture of fear pervading college campuses. In Oct 2023, the Buckley Institute found that almost 60 percent of college students feared sharing an opinion in classrooms or on campus. Additionally, over one in three professors said they were more likely to censor themselves during lectures. 

Not only is this self-censorship antithetical to the college experience, but most students aren’t learning how to talk and disagree respectfully, leaving many of the conversations to be dictated by those with the loudest voices and most extreme temperaments.

Gen Z craves dialogue, and universities should give them more chances to do so. Understanding this should give more universities clarity into how they should respond to current demonstrations.

Harvey, a student at Columbia University, said feelings of frustration “are being addressed through protesting,” and that a lack of facilitation, and fear of confrontation from students, are preventing real dialogue.

We can’t let a vocal minority control the narrative that universities and their students aren’t equipped for political discussion, or that they don’t want it. It’s up to the silent majority to take charge and show what productive dialogue looks like. And it’s up to the media to tell the stories of students who are engaging in constructive discussion. To resolve issues in the long run, we need to have a culture of dialogue rather than a culture of fear. It’s time to heal our divides so that we can solve our problems.

Jessica Carpenter is chief marketing officer of BridgeUSA, a youth-led nonprofit fighting political division on campus.