OHIO — Over the past several months, campuses across the country have often become the place where students make their voices heard, especially when it comes to the current situation in the Middle East.

What You Need To Know

  • Students on college campuses say they are anxious due to the threat of escalation in the Middle East

  • Israel’s latest attack on Iran is leaving students unsettled 

  • Students say emotions are high from organizations on both sides 

  • They said while each side is trying to make their voices heard, they would like to gain a better understanding of each other

Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested on Columbia University’s campus in New York Thursday, and there are more protests popping up across the U.S., including a protest at Ohio State University Friday afternoon.

In Northeast Ohio, students at Case Western Reserve University said the school is targeting anyone who speaks up against the Israeli government and in some cases charging students more than $2,500 for posting fliers on campus. The school declined to comment, but students said emotions are high.

“I have a lot of friends here that have family, in the, in the Middle East and when you see these, these tensions, these escalations in conflict, that just produces anxiety for the entire campus both for those who have family in Israel as well as those who have family in Palestine or Jordan or Iraq or Lebanon and Syria like the whole region is completely unstable,” said Jad Oglesby, a student a Case Western Reserve University and the vice president of Students for Justice In Palestine. “This issue has a lot of emotion behind it, a lot of controversy behind it, and I think everyone on both sides of the conflict are just tired of seeing this. And if it can be put this stop. I truly believe that both sides would want it to stop.”

At Ohio State University, Ethan Dobres, a sophomore at the university and a member of the Ohio State University Hillel, said any time an escalation happens in the Middle East, tensions also rise on campus.

“Even though it's thousands of miles away, with social media, we're all connected, we're all following the news,” Dobres said. “I mean, I think people on this campus like campuses across the country have family in Israel and family and Gaza and the West Bank, and we're all scared is something I've really been emphasizing. I feel like it just raises the level of tension, of tensions on campus. This has been a really tense year for students at Ohio State.”

The students said while each side is trying to make their voices heard, they would like to gain a better understanding of each other.

“I feel like there's so much in common between the Jewish community and the Palestinian community at Ohio State,” Dobres said. “You know, we're both suffering. We're both scared. We're both really greatly disturbed about what's going on in the Middle East, and I would love to see us come together and just sort of bond over our shared, distress over the situation.”

Oglesby echoed those sentiments.

“We've made strides to kind of have a better understanding. Both sides of the conflict are hosting events and both sides are showing up to these events, and although we might not all agree when it comes to a lot of things due to our background or due to our political leanings, I do believe that the threat of an escalating confrontation is, is not really there or I haven't really seen that be present here on campus,” Oglesby said. “There is a lot of solidarity between these groups of students on campus, you know, granted, sometimes having conversations about Israel and Palestine is still difficult among students, but I truly believe that it's been getting a lot better.”