The chancellor of Syracuse University has revealed he believes Iran was behind the pro-Palestine protests that swept across US campuses.
‘When things happened – that I really believe were encouraged from Iran – it did not have the involvement of very many if any of our own students,’ Chancellor Kent Syverud said on Tuesday.
He revealed his hypothesis on a panel with other chancellors from Washington and Vanderbilt Universities.
It has not been confirmed that there was outside influence on the chaotic protests which overwhelmed campuses across the country.
Syracuse students were among those who staged a sit in on campus to protest the war in Gaza.
They set up an encampment on the quad, lasting 16 days, according to CNY Central. The university had to designate negotiators to handle the problem.
The encampment eventually disbanded voluntarily.
Syverud said it was hard to discipline students for the demonstrations on campus because many were wearing face masks to ‘avoid accountability’.
‘When things happened – that I really believe were encouraged from Iran -it did not have the involvement of very many if any of our own students,’ Syracuse University Chancellor, Kent Syverud, said on Tuesday
He revealed his hypothesis on a panel with other chancellors from Washington and Vanderbilt Universities
He also said it was hard to determine who were students and were not due to protesters wearing facial coverings.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Syverud and Syracuse University for comment.
Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier agreed, saying he, too, believed the protests were backed by ‘organized networks,’ while speaking on the panel.
‘[Students] were looking at [and] were using the playbook that they had seen at Columbia and other places, and it was the same messaging. It’s more than social contagion,’ he said.
‘I think there are organized networks as well. And for sure we saw that.’
Washington University Chancellor Andrew D. Martin also agreed, stating: ‘Many of the things that happened on our campus, including an attempted encampment, we didn’t allow it to take place and ultimately had folks arrested to shut it down on a Saturday evening.’
Martin said, like Syracuse, many of the participants were not students.
‘Three quarters of those individuals had nothing to do with the university,’ he said.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the leader of Iran. It has not been confirmed that there was outside influence on student protests
Syracuse students set up an encampment on the quad, lasting 16 days. The university had to designate negotiators to handle the problem. The encampment eventually disbanded voluntarily
Protests across campuses, including Columbia University (pictured), took place last year. Other chancellors agreed outside influences may have been involved
The group that organized the panel, Alums for Campus Fairness, works to combat antisemitism.
President Donald Trump amped up his attacks against elite colleges, like Columbia University, over the protests.
Title IV of the Civil Rights Act prohibits institutions of higher education from receiving any federal funding if they participate in or enable discrimination based on race, national origin, religion or other characteristics.
By invoking the act, the Trump Administration paused grants and contracts with several university, including Cornell University and Northwestern.
He also stripped $400million from Columbia and repeatedly attacked Harvard, including temporarily blocking them from allowing international students.
