Student protests and resulting arrests have upended life at some of Virginia’s universities in recent days. And the state’s political leadership has thoughts.
Governor Glenn Youngkin says he stands with law enforcement officials who arrested some students at Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University over the last few days.
Former Republican Governor Jim Gilmore agrees with Youngkin’s law-and-order approach.
"We're not going to stop people from saying what they want to say or their expression. But we have an absolute right to regulate behavior," Gilmore says. "So, when you set up tents and uglify campuses, when you assault Jewish students, when you fail to cooperate with police – this is behavior."
Delegate Joshua Cole is a Democrat from Prince William County who says he visited the campus of the University of Mary Washington where some student protesters were arrested last weekend. He says it's important that students continue to have the right to speak their mind and assemble peacefully.
"We do not stand and support antisemitic statements, behaviors, anything like that," Cole says. "But we do want to make sure that people understand what’s happening to the innocent Palestinians is not right. That doesn’t mean we stand with Hamas either. That just simply says we’re standing with the innocent civilians."
Cole was one of five young Democratic members of the General Assembly who signed a letter supporting the right of students to protest. House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert reacted to that letter by saying the young Democrats are failing to recognize the unlawful nature of some of the protests.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
