Last week a former college student who was president of her local Hillel resigned her position and posted about it on her school newspaper in, ““>J Street Delegation Defaces Hillel International Headquarters.” While “defaces” feels like an overly strong word for putting post-it notes on a building, it does illustrate further the sense of entitlement these students have.
A Hillel representative chose to exercise his free speech rights by not speaking at the conference. The students, however, didn’t respect his decision, and went over to Hillel to protest. This is the very height of entitlement. Not only do these students feel that by Hillel setting standards with which they disagree their speech is being limited, they feel they should have the right to demand that others speak at venues where they don’t want to.
It seems to me it’s about time that we all take a step back. Whether or not we agree with where Hillel has chosen to draw the line, they have to draw the line somewhere, and they have every right to stick to that line. It is even possible, perhaps even probable, that the majority of their members like where that line has been drawn, and want it to stay that way.
If you disagree, don’t join Hillel. Or try to convince Hillel members that the line should be changed to someplace else. But don’t assume you’re entitled to have the line drawn where you want it to be drawn, because invariably, others will disagree with you. And don’t assume you have the right to tell others when and where they should speak.
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