Students at Emory University, including Jewish students, woke up this week to find eviction notices taped to their dorm room doors. The notices were posted by ‘Emory Students for Justice in Palestine’ as part of “Israeli Apartheid Week.”
Tom Regan reports at WSB News:
Students leave controversial eviction flyers on dorms in support of PalestineAn investigation is underway at Emory University into a controversial flyer that was posted outside dorm rooms.At first glance, it looks like an official eviction notice stating the dorm would be demolished, but the flyer then criticizes what it calls “the destructive policy of Israel, toward Palestinians.”The students who made the flyer said it was done for justice in Palestine. They say their purpose is to call attention to forced evictions of Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories.”They posted it on every door,” said student Jamie Guillen.Guillen woke up Tuesday morning to find what looked like an eviction notice posted on the door of her dorm suite.It said it would demolished in three days. Looking at the bottom, she spotted a disclaimer saying that it’s not a real eviction notice, it was a political statment on behalf of Palestinians.”I wasn’t offended by it, but I could see why people would be offended by it,” Guillen said.”I find it racist, anti-Semitic and absolutely offensive,” said Rabbi Russ Shukles, executive director of Hillel of Georgia.The head of a Jewish student campus organization said there’s no evidence the flyer was targeted at Jewish students, but many called to say they felt that way.
Here’s an image of the notice:
This disgusting tactic has been used at other schools in the past and the notices were identical:
In a piece for the Emory Wheel, writer Anthony Wong praises ESJP for ‘starting a dialogue’ about this issue. He also mentions that this stunt was approved by Emory Residence Life:
After Eviction Notices, Dialogue About Palestine is CrucialSome Emory students woke up to find fake eviction notices posted on their doors on April 2. These flyers were posted by members and allies of Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP) to raise awareness about forced evictions of Palestinians. The protests were a part of Israeli Apartheid Week, which coincides with Emory’s Israel Week. Emory Residence Life approved the flyers, but they removed those put on students’ doors because they violated a policy against posting flyers on students’ doors without their consent. Nonetheless, the conversation about Palestinian rights is one that must continue.ESJP deserves credit for starting the discussion. Their notice stated that 27,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed and 160,000 Palestinians have been left homeless since 1967, citing the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions for these statistics. The United Nations estimates that over 60,000 Palestinians are homeless in the occupied Gaza Strip and 70 percent of the population relies on international aid. B’Tselem, an Israeli non-profit organization, states that Israeli authorities have torn down at least 1,964 Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since just 2006.
When this happened five years ago at two other schools, Northeastern and NYU, Professor Jacobson covered both incidents.
In March of 2014:
Anti-Israel student group suspended at Northeastern for vandalism, intimidation, disruptionNortheastern University in Boston has a long history of anti-Israeli agitation and intimidation by students groups and some faculty.Students for Justice in Palestins (SJP) has been one of the prime movers in the climate of fear instilled among Jewish and other pro-Israel students, leading to warnings from the Northeastern administration.This is not surprising. SJP campus branches are notorious for their aggressive behavior. At Cornell in 2012, SJP students assisted by three Cornell faculty members disrupted a rally by a pro-Israel group, including using loudspeakers to try to drown out the pro-Israel rally. (added) Cornell SJP also has defaced pro-Israel posters.At Northeastern, SJP already was on probation for vandalism and disruption when, in conjunction with “Israeli Apartheid Week” SJP served mock eviction notices on students in dormatories. Not only did the distribution of flyers in dormatories violated campus policy, it was a deliberate act of provocation towards pro-Israel students where they live.
And a month later in April of 2014:
Dorm storming at NYU targets Jewish students (Updates)Students for Justice in Palestine frequently is the perpetrator of these dorm stormings, as happened at Northeastern University recently, resulting in SJP’s suspension.The point of sliding political flyers under dorm doors, rather than handing them out on the street as students enter and exit, is to intimidate students in their most vulnerable place, their bedroom, and at their most vulnerable time, while they sleep. That is why many if not most universities ban the practice.Universities have a legitimate interest in protecting student privacy in their homes (dorms) and bedrooms (dorm rooms)…The latest dorm storming was at Palladium Hall at New York University early this morning, before students awoke, as reported by NYU student Laura Adkins at The Times of Israel. (added) According to an email forwarded to me, such dorm storming would violated Palladium policy: “All people/clubs must have their flyers approved for posting at the Palladium RC. No flyers are permitted to be slid under apartment doors.”
What is wrong with some people?
Featured image via Twitter.
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