Golda Meir was the first female Prime Minister of Israel. What happened to all that talk about how important it is to break the glass ceiling?
Cleveland.com reports:
Kent State students want quote by former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir off a wall
Several student groups have asked administrators to remove a quote by Golda Meir, the former prime minister of Israel, on the wall of a classroom building.
Provost Todd Diacon told students Thursday that the quote would not be removed but it would be painted over with other quotes in the summer of 2017 when the building is repainted.
A photo of Meir is next to the quote:”Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”
The students don’t oppose what she said but object to Meir. They want the quote and photo replaced.
“While she might be a model for some students, her legacy is more complicated for many of us,” wrote Yousof Mousa, president of Students for Justice in Palestine, in a Nov. 1 opinion piece for kentwired.com.
Mousa wrote that Meir had policies and statements that were expressly racist against Africans and once said that Palestinians don’t even exist as a people.
“The fact that Meir’s picture and quote decorate our hallways where we take classes saddens us,” Mousa wrote. “Kent State should be as much our home as it should be for all students. Yet, this is not what home feels like, and this contributes to a climate that makes us feel like we do not belong here.”
UPDATE (by WAJ): The university has rejected the demand, Kent State Refuses to Cave to Pressure by Anti-Israel Groups:
Kent State University is refusing to cave to pressure from anti-Israel student activists to dismantle a display featuring a photo of and quotation by the late Prime Minister Golda Meir — which they claim is a daily reminder of racism on campus — after reportage by The Algemeiner earlier this month generated serious backlash.
The decision comes after university president Beverly Warren initially said that outrage expressed by the head of Kent State’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), as well as by the Spanish and Latino Student Association (SALSA), Ohio Student Association and Muslim Students Association — would be taken into consideration while weighing whether to remove the exhibit.
On Thursday, however, according to a school spokesperson, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Todd Diacon sent a letter to SJP president Yousof Mousa — which was obtained by The Algemeiner — informing him of the school’s decision to leave the display intact.
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