In response to student and faculty outrage over the ongoing genocide in Gaza, a veritable purge is taking place on college campuses across the United States. Administrations are suspending, evicting, firing and otherwise violating the democratic rights of teachers and students protesting the ongoing slaughter.

This crackdown is taking place at some of the most prestigious universities in the country with close ties to the Democratic Party. Last Friday, about 25 Harvard University faculty members were suspended from entering Widener Library for two weeks after holding a silent “study-in” protest in solidarity with students who were suspended for holding a protest similar to the previous month.

Banning faculty from the library, for simply displaying pieces of paper that had innocuous phrases like “Accept Diverse Perspectives,” is unprecedented disciplinary action. Harvard cited “library policy” to justify banning faculty members from the institution’s main library, which would severely impair their ability to conduct their own work.

In addition to more than two dozen faculty members, according to Harvard Crimson, More than 60 students who previously conducted a silent “study-in” at Widener Library against the genocide were also banned from the main campus library for two weeks.

Similar anti-democratic measures are underway on many other campuses:

• to University of Pittsburghat least 17 students and community members are being prosecuted for their participation in Gaza solidarity camps. After police raided the camps, arrested protesters face excessive charges, including felonies. They were also issued “persona non grata” notices, essentially banning them from the University of Pittsburgh campus.

• to University of Chicago Last week, university officials sent police to evacuate and suspend an Arab student who participated in an anti-genocide protest earlier this month. Megan Porter, the student’s attorney, told a local news outlet that while her client was not convicted of a crime, he was still removed from campus. Porter added that he has no family in the state and nowhere to live.

• to Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Dr. Maura Finkelstein, who is Jewish herself, was fired for posting comments on social media in opposition to Zionism and the ongoing genocide. Interviewed earlier this month by World Socialist Web Siteobserved Finkelstein, “our campuses are militarized.”

• to Cornell Universityadministrators suspended four students for three years for their involvement in a September 18 pro-Palestinian protest directed against military contractors who were weaponizing the genocide. Cornell University Ph.D. student Momodou Taal, a graduate instructor, was almost deported earlier this month for participating in the September 18 demonstration.

• to University of California, Santa Cruzmore than 100 students and faculty members have been banned from campus since they were arrested for protesting the genocide in Gaza last semester. The ACLU of Northern California Foundation and the Center for Protest and Litigation Law filed a lawsuit against the university, arguing that the mass suspension is unconstitutional.

• The University of Michigan is pursuing criminal charges against 11 students for participating in anti-war demonstrations in Gaza last spring. The charges include trespassing and obstructing a police officer, a felony punishable by up to two years in prison.