Two Jewish Students Assaulted at DePaul University
Two Jewish students were assaulted at DePaul University on Nov. 6 while expressing support for Israel.
The two students were reportedly attacked from behind by two masked men; one of them (who served in the Israel Defense Force) suffered a concussion and the other suffered a fractured wrist. One of the victims, Max Long, told ABC7 WLS that he took “quite a beating while I was on the ground.” Local police are considering the incident a hate crime.
The other victim, Michael Kaminsky, told WLS: “They may have tried to physically attack us, they may have hurt us, but our spirits aren’t broken. If we don’t have conversations, then nothing gets resolved.”
Columbia Students Hold “Martyrs Day” Protest on Veteran’s Day
A group of Columbia University student protesters held a “Martyr’s Day” demonstration on Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day.
According to The New York Post, a flyer for Martyrs Day protest stated that “Veterans Day is an American holiday to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of veterans. We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it. The American war machine should not be honored for the horrors unleashed on others. Instead, we will celebrate Martyrs Day in honor of those martyred by the Israel-US war machine. A day to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of those martyrs.” The protesters sat on the lawn in front of the university library.
Around 30 students (some of whom are veterans) responded to the protest by planting American flags where the Martyrs Day protest was going to be held and then threw around a football and played music. Air Force veteran Sam Nains, a Columbia graduate student, told the Post that their “main goal was to take oxygen away from” the Martyrs Day protest and instead “focus on the veterans who are celebrating Veterans Day at the Veterans Day Parade.” “We weren’t provoking anyone,” he added. “We weren’t insulting. We had faculty members give us the middle finger. We had students with keffiyehs on their faces trying to intimidate us. But we kept our composure. That just to me really spoke to the unsung heroism of the veterans.”
UMich Faculty Senate Censures Regents Over “Climate of Repression” on Anti-Israel Protests
The University of Michigan Faculty Senate censured the Board of Regents over the university’s handling of anti-Israel protests, which the censure said resulted in a “climate of repression.”
The censure motion, which passed by a vote of 1,487-559 with 255 abstentions on Nov. 8, stated: “The Regents have fostered a climate of repression at the university, by authorizing police violence against students; the use of chemical irritants against students, faculty, and staff at protests; hiring private security which have maintained a presence on campus since the spring; increased surveillance and intimidation of students on and off campus; enlisting Student Life staff in the policing of students; and disciplinary action, campus bans, employment bans, and formal criminal charges to repress student activism and political speech on campus.” The motion also criticized the regents for implementing an institutional neutrality bylaw before it was reviewed by the Senate.
Convicted Terrorist to Teach Social Justice at Canadian University
A man who has been convicted of bombing a Paris synagogue in 1980 is reportedly teaching a social justice course at Carleton University in Ontario, Canada.
The Algemeiner reported that Hassan Diab, a former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, was sentenced to life in prison by a French court over the bombing, which killed four people and dozens of others. Diab has denied being behind the bombing and the university’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology has called for Canada to reject France’s request for extraditing Diab, as the department believes he is innocent. B’nai Brith Canada said in a statement that the university’s “decision to continue to employ Diab not only presents a danger to the well-being of its students, but it is an insult to the memory of innocent victims of his heinous crime and an affront to all Canadians who value law and order.”
MLA Rejects Vote on BDS Resolution
The Modern Language Association’s (MLA) Executive Council unanimously rejected a resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, blocking it from going to a vote before the MLA Delegate Assembly.
MLA Executive Director Paula Krebs told InsideHigherEd in a Nov. 6 article that the reasoning was because the organization has contracts with states with laws barring the government from conducting business with entities that engage in boycotts, as well as private institutions that have similar rules in place. “To carry out our mission, we depend on these contracts with state institutions,” she said. “They’re absolutely key to our operations, and that’s a difference between us and why we can’t do this but the Middle East Studies Association could, for example.” Krebs still expects “a very lively discussion” on the matter during the MLA Delegate Assembly’s convention in New Orleans.
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