Campus Watch November 27, 2024

Bay Area High School Fires Teacher for Wearing “Free Palestine” Pin

Bishop O’Dowd High School, a private Catholic high school in Oakland, fired teacher Erin Donevan after she refused to stop wearing a “Free Palestine” pin in class.

The mother of a student complained about Donevan’s pin in an email to school principal Dr. Doug Evans; the email, obtained by NBC Bay Area, stated: “I wish a statement as simple as those two words weren’t so politically and socially charged but as a Jewish Zionist family with very close ties (and family) in Israel, this is not what I expect my son to see at school. [Redacted] is afraid that he will get in trouble or the teacher won’t like him for speaking up about this but I’m glad he mentioned it to me.” 

According to emails obtained by NBC Bay Area, Evans repeatedly requested that Donevan remove the pin after getting complaints from other students about the matter, but Donevan refused, contending that the school was being hypocritical because the school and various teachers have expressed support for causes like Black Lives Matter and Ukraine as it fends off the Russian invasion. Donevan also claimed that she has never said anything in the classroom about the subject. Evans, however, noted that because the school is private, it “has significant discretion to regulate employee speech. Teachers … have repeatedly been advised to maintain neutrality on controversial issues as professionals with positional power over young students.”

Donevan, who taught ninth-grade English for the school, told NBC Bay Area that she views the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip as a genocide and that she began wearing the pin in April “as a way to kind of let students know that I was a safe person to talk to if they wanted to speak about it.” 

Anti-Israel Protest Targets Columbia Hillel

Anti-Israel activists protested in front of The Kraft Center for Jewish Life at Columbia University on Nov. 21 over and event featuring Israeli journalist Barak Ravid. The protesters urged the university and Barnard College to “sever all ties with Hillel,” which is based in the Kraft Center building.

According to the Columbia Daily Spectator, the protesters chanted outside of the building: “Hillel you can’t hide, you invest in genocide,” “over a hundred thousand dead, Robert Kraft your hands are red” and “make sure Hillel knows, we’ll be back.” Anti-Israel protesters also held a walkout at the beginning of the event. The university’s Office of Public Affairs said in a statement, “Any efforts to intimidate the Kraft Center, Hillel and our Jewish community and all forms of antisemitism are unacceptable and inimical to what we stand for as a University.” 

Anti-Israel Protest Outside Harvard Hillel

Anti-Israel activists gathered outside Harvard Hillel on Nov. 18 to protest a speaking event featuring former Israel Defense Force spokesperson Ronen Manelis, The Harvard Crimson reported.

The protesters chanted “Israel is a terrorist state” and “Zionists not welcome here” and held signs stating “Hillel Hosts War Criminals.” The protest was organized by Jews for Palestine; Violet T.M. Barron, an organizer for the group, told the Crimson that “Zionism is, first and foremost, a political ideology, and a genocidal one at that” and that “we’re all Jewish and we say, ‘Not in our name.’” Harvard Hillel Executive Director Jason Rubenstein told the Crimson, “Zionism, the pursuit of Jewish self-determination in the land of Israel, is a central element of the religious identity of thousands of Jewish Harvard affiliates. ‘Zionists not welcome here,’ a call for discrimination against much of our community due to our sincerely held beliefs, is bigotry. I hope that everyone here, no matter your positions on Israel or the current war, will recognize it as such.”

Four Arrested During Anti-Israel Protest at UCLA Obstructed Access to Bruin Plaza

Four people were arrested during an anti-Israel protest at UCLA on Nov. 19 that obstructed access to Bruin Plaza.

The Daily Bruin reported that the protest was held by UCLA’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter and that 150 people showed. The protesters “lined up at the east end of Bruin Walk and blocked people from entering Bruin Plaza,” reported the Bruin. “Multiple people attempted to cross the lines of protesters, with some walking through bushes to avoid being blocked. One student physically engaged with protesters while trying to cross the protest, but they eventually turned and walked around the protest instead.” The Bruin also noted that there were “physical confrontations” between the protesters and counterprotesters. Later that evening, university police posted on X that three people were arrested for obstructing Bruin Walk and another was arrested for interfering with an officer. Jeff Chobanian, administrative division lieutenant of the UCPD, told the Bruin that the protesters violated time, place and manner restrictions.