NYU Will Only Suspend Students for Justice In Palestine If “Policies Are Broken”
In the span of just several days, the credibility of the largest student society for Palestine has taken a major blow following Columbia University’s short-term ban. The university explained the one-semester suspension, stating that the group had engaged in “threatening rhetoric and intimidation”, violating campus policies. Previously, the group was suspended at Northeastern University for the “intimidation” of several students in 2014.
As of this morning, NYU has refrained from commenting publicly, but an unnamed source has indicated that a ban will only materialize if the student group “breaks university policies.”
NYU’s Students for Justice in Palestine protesting against Israel in Washington D.C. (NYU SJP on Instagram)
The pro-Palestinian organization has previously received criticism from the AMCHA Initiative, which published a report in 2015 finding that "the presence of an anti-Zionist student group such as Students for Justice in Palestine" is one of the "best statistical predictors of overall antisemitic activity on a campus." In 2016, a further analysis concluded that campuses with at least one anti-Israel organization were eight times more likely to see widespread anti-Semitism.
Nevertheless, at New York University, the student organization has maintained its presence, sporting over 2,000 followers on Instagram, and thousands of other members. According to one supporter, NYU’s administration has been biased against their activism, disapproving of their right to engage in protests.
However, many Jewish students have raised their own concerns, calling out NYU’s apparent resistance to condemn various questionable anti-Israel activities.
In one case, Jewish students recalled how Students for Justice in Palestine chanted to “globalize the intifada” and demanded to “free Palestine from the river to the sea.” Both slogans have come under major scrutiny, as the intifada has been tied to mass killings of Jews in Israel to achieve a Palestinian state, while the latter chant has become a motto for Hamas’ campaign to eliminate Israel and the Jews from the Earth.
Whether this explicitly breaks NYU’s policy has yet to be addressed, but in the interest of neutrality, some sources believe the university plans to continue its silence.
This past week, the NYPD released its October hate crime statistics finding a 214% rise in anti-Jewish crimes, accounting for a shocking 68% of all hate crimes. The data marked the second consecutive October with Jewish people as the majority of hate-crime victims.
Ethan Morali, interviewed last week by The NYU Review, called out the anti-Israel protestors claiming that they “don’t even know what they are talking about.” Other students have said that they are hopeful that students engaged in such chants are uneducated, or misinformed on the anti-Semitic basis for their chants.
NYU’s Students for Justice in Palestine has openly criticized President Mills for allowing “peaceful discourse,” stating the importance of recognizing their fight for Palestinian rights and liberation.
“While President Mills claims that we, as a university community, are committed to “peaceful discourse”, we recognize that there is no peace in a colonized people living under occupation, subjugation, and apartheid. The path to peace is only possible through the fights for Palestinian rights and liberation and an end to colonial apartheid.”
On a more positive note, this past week President Mills met with concerned Jewish students and has committed to introducing a specialized student center devoted to addressing anti-Semitic bias on campus.
Meanwhile, the tearing of kidnapped posters has continued, with a growing selection of individuals from the Students for Justice in Palestine, calling the posters an object of propaganda.
On Friday, NYU postdoc, Darren King, was filmed outside the NYU Stern School of Business, tearing down hundreds of posters of kidnapped civilians. The current status of his association with NYU is unknown, following massive condemnation across social media.
Regardless, in the eyes of some students at NYU, the administration's neglect to discipline the actions of the Students for Justice in Palestine has enabled a rise in anti-Jewish sentiments, along with a further divide between the appropriate use of free speech and chanting for a revolution against the Jewish population in Israel.
