TITLE:
A Critical Discourse Analysis of University Responses to Gaza Encampments: A Comparative Study of Columbia, Oxford, and Trinity College Dublin
AUTHORS:
Ibrahim M. Alsemeiri, Ciarán O’Carroll, Yousef M. Aljamal
KEYWORDS:
Gaza Encampments, Western University Responses, Genocide in Gaza, Institutional Power Dynamics, Geopolitical Discourse
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.13 No.4,
April
24,
2025
ABSTRACT: This study critically examines how Columbia University, Oxford University, and Trinity College Dublin responded to the 2024 Student Gaza Encampments through their official statements. While some universities framed their responses around free speech and campus safety, others actively rejected student demands, reinforcing ties with Israeli institutions. These responses reflect deeper ideological, geopolitical, and power dynamics that remain underexplored in existing literature. This research investigates how these universities construct and articulate their responses to the encampments, particularly in relation to student demands for academic boycott and divestment from Israeli institutions, and the discursive strategies they employ to present their positions. It explores how these strategies reflect institutional priorities, geopolitical concerns, and ideological influences, especially in light of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Using a hybrid discourse analysis approach, this study synthesizes elements from the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) (Wodak, 2001), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (van Dijk, 2015), and Narrative Analysis (Riessman, 2008). Findings indicate significant differences in how the three universities constructed their responses. Columbia and Oxford framed the encampments as security threats, using bureaucratic and procedural discourse to dismiss student demands for academic boycotts and divestment. Their statements prioritized institutional continuity and depoliticized the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In contrast, Trinity College Dublin engaged more substantively with student concerns, situating its response within a broader human rights discourse while refraining from fully endorsing student activism. This research reveals that universities do not operate as politically neutral spaces but as institutions embedded within national and geopolitical interests. It further highlights the absence of true academic freedom in the U.S. and the U.K., where institutional responses to student activism are often shaped by political and ideological pressures rather than the principles of free expression and academic inquiry.