‘Activists from elsewhere’: Chancellor says Iran-linked agitators fuel protests
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This story is part of Fox News Digital’s Campus Radicals investigative series. Get the full series here.
The President of Syracuse University has stated that he believes he is pro-Hamas. anti-Israel protests Encouraged and potentially orchestrated by Iran while speaking on a panel in Washington, D.C. this week
Chancellor Kent Syverud spoke at a panel On Tuesday, St. Along with the presidents of Vanderbilt and Washington University in St. Louis, he described protest activity taking place on the university campus and at other universities across the country.
“When there are things that I believe are truly encouraged from Iran,” Syverud explained to the audience.”[The protests] many (if any) of our own students did not participate.”
The president of Syracuse University says he believes pro-Palestinian protests are “encouraged by Iran.” (Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Syracuse’s top official also discussed the difficulty of holding individuals, including students, accountable for the use of face masks or coverings intentionally used to conceal identity.
“People were using masks to avoid taking responsibility for what they said and did,” Syverud added, noting that the masked people might have been “activists from elsewhere.”
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Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud and athletics director John Wildhack pose for a photo after a press conference at the Iocolano-Petty Football Wing Auditorium in Syracuse, New York, on July 12, 2016. (Zengin Barnes/Getty Images)
Daniel Diermeier, Chancellor of Vanderbilt in Nashville, also pointed out that the “playbook” for clear coordination and protests is supported by “organized networks” that can motivate or direct students and agitators to demonstrate and disrupt order on campus.
“[Students] we were looking [and] They were using the playbook they had seen at Columbia and other places, and it was the same message. Diermeier explained that this is more than just social contagion. “I think there are also organized networks. And of course we’ve seen that as well.”
University of Washington President Andrew D. Martin also nodded in agreement.
“A lot of the things that happened on our campus, including the attempted camping on campus, we did not allow to happen, and ultimately we arrested people and locked down the campus on Saturday evening,” Martin added. “Three-quarters of these people had nothing to do with the university.”
Edited by panel Campus Justice Alumnia group that brings together college graduates and serves to combat antisemitism on college campuses and throughout the United States
The protests Syverud mentioned shook university campuses mainly after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Columbia faced significant number of protests still occurs frequentlyIt’s just outside the campus gates as the university changed the rules that had previously allowed demonstrations.
Protest stickers are placed on the doors of Butler Library on the Columbia University campus in New York City on May 7, 2025. Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted finals week by staging a demonstration at Butler Library on the Columbia University campus. (Indy Scholtens/Getty Images)
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Last April, more than once 100 protesters arrested After the NYPD was forced to break up an encampment that affected students’ ability to navigate campus.
In May, protesters occupied the Butler Library on the Columbia campus, dubbing it the “Popular University of Basel Al-Araj.” Officers were once again called to the scene and detained several people. More than 70 students were expelled or suspended from school.
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Similar protests took place at other leading universities such as Harvard, NYU and UCLA.
Syracuse University did not respond to a request for comment.
Preston Mizell is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and X @MizellPreston.
