Fordham's ban of Students for Justice in Palestine accused of violating free speech
By Isabel Ngo
The Los Angeles Loyolan
Fordham University Dean of Students Keith Eldredge vetoed the official club recognition of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the Jesuit university. This decision, made on Dec. 22, 2016, reversed the approval of the SJP by Fordham’s United Student Government (USG) in November. Since then, students have protested Eldredge’s ban, gaining the support of organizations Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Eldredge said that the proposed SJP club constitution promoted polarization rather than dialogue in its purpose. He cited the call for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel” as specific barriers to the Jesuit university’s mission of “mutual learning and understanding,” according to a redacted version of Eldredge’s email which was released on Inside Higher Ed.
LMU English professor Holli Levitsky agreed with Eldredge’s decision. Levitsky, who is also the director of the Jewish studies program, referred to Eldredge’s explanation in the email.
“Fordham University absolutely has the right to restrict student groups, whose sole purpose is to advocate for the ‘political goals of a specific group, and against a specific country, when these goals clearly conflict with and run contrary to the mission and values of the university,’” Levitsky said in an email to the Loyolan.
Fordham students who oppose Eldredge’s decision have called it censorship and violation of free speech and academic freedom. Ahmad Awad, president of Fordham SJP and recent graduate, said that it went against Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act.
“This experience has underscored how difficult it is to talk about Palestinian freedom in America without facing serious suppression,” Awad wrote in a New York Daily News article. He explained the importance SJP had for him and that his relatives had “been forced to live under Israeli military rule for decades.”
Palestine Legal’s Jan. 17 letter to Fordham supported SJP’s formation and reminded the university of the violations of Title VI. “A university may lose its federal funding if it treats a student differently because of his/her national origin, resulting in a denial of a student’s educational activities,” the letter read.
The USG application process for SJP had been delayed and postponed for a period much longer than other club approval timelines at Fordham, as reported in the Palestine Legal letter and Awad’s article.
“It took 12 months of what Palestine Legal and CCR allege were ‘delays,’ ‘interrogations,’ and ‘railroading’ for the USG Senate to hold the vote,” according to the Fordham Observer.
The United Student Government at Fordham met and discussed with the Jewish Student Organization of the university during SJP’s club approval process. Dorothy Wenzel, the director of the Office of Student Involvement, advised with Jewish faculty members before the approval of Students for Justice in Palestine was vetoed. In addition, “a number of faculty members had come to [intended SJP faculty advisor Glenn Hendler] to ‘express worry,’” the Fordham Observer reported.
Najwa Al-Qattan, an associate professor of history and modern Middle Eastern history at LMU, disagreed with Fordham’s decision to veto the approval of SJP.
“I find Fordham’s decision very problematic: first, it equates criticism of Israeli occupation policies of settlement, evictions, and violence with racism,” Al-Qattan said in an email. “Underlying this equation is the dangerous and erroneous assumption that criticism of Israel is the same as anti-Semitic speech.”
Al-Qattan also explained that the social and historic complexity of the Palestine/Israel conflict should encourage and necessitate open and free speech on college campuses.
“I think that the group should not have been denied, unless they had already acted in a radical way, for example making anti-Semitic remarks or promoting intolerance of others’ views or be overly disruptive of campus life.”
LMU had its own officially approved Students for Justice in Palestine social justice club. According to past Student Affairs records, LMU SJP “committed to the promotion of human rights, communal liberation and empowerment, and social and economic justice for the Palestinian people.” Although the club has no longer been active since its former president graduated, there was a general positive reception to the events that LMU SJP organized on campus.
Rich Rocheleau, associate vice president for student life at LMU, was working with Student Affairs at the time LMU SJP was formed in fall 2012. In an email to the Loyolan, Rocheleau said that Palestine Awareness Week, which took place in March 2014, “resulted in a good amount of dialogue among interested students at that time. Students had the opportunity to learn about the issues.”
Unlike the difficult approval process at Fordham, LMU’s SJP was approved after it followed the standards and requirements of the Student Leadership and Development office. “The students satisfactorily followed Student Leadership and Development’s organization registration process and the group was registered,” Rocheleau said.
Students for Justice in Palestine was formed at LMU after alumni Alex Abbasi (‘13) and Ra’eesah Reese (‘14) returned from an Alternative Break trip to Israel in the summer of 2012. However, Abbasi, who is Palestinian-American, “was denied entry [into Israel] altogether and had to fly home,” Al-Qattan recalled.
SJP at LMU was established in part because Abbasi sought to educate the LMU community about the conflict in Israel with interfaith values in mind. He had organized a group of 14 students and faculty of Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish and Christian background for the planned trip.
Speaking on the Palestine Awareness Week, “Our post trip action necessitated something large scale to get the message out about this issue,” SJP founding member Linda Tenerowicz (‘14) said in a previously published Loyolan article.
“After SJP was founded, a chapter of Students Supporting Israel was also established on campus, with the hope of presenting a different point of view and of being able to engage in conversation with others like SJP,” Markowitz stated. “LMU is becoming increasingly more globally and politically aware, and it makes sense that there should be groups that reflect the diverse views on our campus.”
Several interfaith and intercultural organizations as well as students and faculty have signed a petition in solidarity with SJP at Fordham. These include national Jewish Voice for Peace chapters and Showing Up for Racial Justice chapters. While waiting on possible updates of Eldredge’s veto of official club approval, Fordham’s SJP “will continue to meet, continue to organize, and continue to educate ourselves and other students,” according to its Facebook page.
