What’s really happening on campuses across North America?

In today’s The Big Story podcast, protests at Columbia University have sparked more protests on campuses everywhere from Texas to Quebec. News reports can sometimes make these encampments — which are mostly composed of students risking their academic careers to speak up for Palestinians — seem huge, chaotic and full of antisemitism.

Justin Ling is an investigative journalist reporting for The Line. “The vibes are pretty chill. Overall, there is not these sort of you know public insurrection that I think you maybe glean from some of this sort of breathless coverage of it,” said Ling. 

So how much of what’s actually happening makes it into short clips and headlines? How does the current wave of protests compare to others in a long history of campus activism? What do the protesters want? And why are many universities trying to crack down so hard on them?

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify. You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.