Protests at colleges and universities over the war in the Middle East are dominating the news cycle. The sheer ferocity of the protests is alarming to spectators on and off campuses, and it raises the question of whether the student mental health crisis and growth in loneliness have sparked the fervor with which students have latched on to this cause.

Although many on both sides have deep personal or political ties to the conflict, the majority of college students do not. Groupthink feels like an easy solution to the struggle for connection to other people and to a greater cause, but it just as easily can turn into a destructive force raining chaos on campuses.