WASHINGTON - For Singaporeans studying at elite American universities, the tumult on campuses following congressional testimony by three university presidents has been a somewhat fraught though eye-opening experience.
After pro-Palestinian tions broke out across college campuses in the aftermath of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, school administrators came under growing pressure for their handling of prodemonstratests.
A furore erupted across the political landscape after the presidents of Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) gave nearly identical, non-committal responses at a Dec 5 hearing in the House of Representatives when asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated their campus codes of conduct.
The fallout was immediate. The UPenn president resigned within days. And, on Jan 2, Ms Claudine Gay stepped down as Harvard's first black president, only six months into her tenure, amid scrutiny of plagiarism allegations against her.
As the issue played out on their campuses, accompanied by screaming newspaper headlines and outraged commentaries on television, Singaporean students told The Straits Times they were drawn into the debate and felt the need to understand the issues better.
More than 3,500 students from Singapore study at US universities every year.
"There was a lot of open and unspoken tension. Not only among students but also between students, faculty and administration," recalled Ms Althea Lee, a sophomore at Harvard.
"Ours is such a diverse campus, and because people come from different ethnic or religious backgrounds, it can't operate as if nothing has happened outside the campus," said the 19-year-old, who is majoring in government and East Asian studies.
Mr James Ding, 23, a third-year student at Princeton University, said he "thought about it quite a lot in those days".
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 16, 2024-Ausgabe von The Straits Times.
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