President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the right to protest but insisted that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the country face unrest over the war in Gaza.
“Dissent is essential for democracy,” he said at the White House. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.”
The Democratic president also said the protests have not caused him to reconsider his approach to the war. Mr Biden has occasionally criticised Israel’s conduct but continued to supply it with weapons.
Mr Biden said the campus protests have not prompted him to rethink his Middle East policies, and he opposes sending in the National Guard.
Republicans have tried to turn scenes of unrest into a campaign cudgel against Democrats.
Tension at colleges and universities has been building for days as some demonstrators refuse to remove encampments and administrators turn to law enforcement to clear them by force, leading to clashes that have seized attention from politicians and the media.
But Mr Biden’s previous public comment came more than a week ago, when he condemned “antisemitic protests” and “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians”.
The White House, which has been peppered with questions by reporters, has gone only slightly further than the president.
On Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden is “monitoring the situation closely,” and she said some demonstrations had stepped over a line that separated free speech from unlawful behaviour.
“Forcibly taking over a building,” such as what happened at Columbia University in New York, “is not peaceful,” she said. “It’s just not.”
Despite the White House’s criticism and Mr Biden’s refusal to heed protesters’ demands to cut off US support for Israel, Republicans blame Democrats for the disorder and have used it as a backdrop for press conferences.
“We need the president of the United States to speak to the issue and say this is wrong,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said on Tuesday. “What’s happening on college campuses right now is wrong.”
Mr Johnson visited Columbia with other members of his caucus last week. House Republicans sparred with protesters while speaking to the media at George Washington University in Washington DC on Wednesday.
Former president Donald Trump, his party’s presumptive nominee, also criticised Biden in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
“Biden has to do something,” he said. “Biden is supposed to be the voice of our country, and it’s certainly not much of a voice. It’s a voice that nobody’s heard.”
He repeated his criticisms on Wednesday during a campaign event in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
“The radical extremists and far-left agitators are terrorising college campuses, as you possibly noticed,” Trump said. “And Biden’s nowhere to be found. He hasn’t said anything.”
Mr Biden will make his own visit to a college campus on May 19 when he is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Morehouse University in Atlanta.
