Colleges, police blame 'outside agitators' for campus protests. Experts say it's not so simple

As the dust settles and the number of pro-Palestinian student encampments dwindle, claims of “outside agitators” among the protesters are being put under the microscope as colleges say those unaffiliated with them caused most of the trouble, an accusation dismissed by critics as a fig leaf to ignore the demands of students. 

Some universities have reported that most of those arrested during the protests on their properties were in no way affiliated with the institutions, but the trope...