Pro-Palestinian students at The New School – with annual tuition costs of nearly $60,000 – accused the Manhattan university of engaging in a “massacre of people in Gaza,” and demanded it sever ties with the Israeli music conservatory and expel its students from campus.
A chapter of the radical group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) sent an open letter Thursday to the New School administration with a list of tough demands, including calling on the college’s leadership to side with the Palestinians and condemning Israel’s actions in response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas.
The authors of the ultimatum ominously warned that if their demands were not addressed by December 1, they would “respond accordingly and by any means necessary” – with a veiled threat typed in red letters.
“We have watched as this Administration has remained silent or otherwise sidelined in this time of great loss,” the preamble to the six-page long list read, in part, “and we have remained in the dark as to whether or not our tuition dollars are being used to fund the war.” The State of Israel against the Palestinian people.”
A chapter of the group Students for Justice in Palestine sent an open letter Thursday to the New School administration.Robert Miller
One of the four demands listed in the SJP letter is a call for The New School to end its 14-year association with the Israel Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv on the grounds that it is located “on land stolen from the Palestinian people.”
“Israeli universities form an important part of the ideological infrastructure of the Israeli colonial regime and produce knowledge that contributes to the subjugation of the Palestinian people,” the letter declared. “We refuse to participate in the erasure of Palestinian identity, and demand an end to the partnership between this University and the Israel Conservatory of Music.”
The author takes particular issue with The New School’s decision to welcome Israeli students — including former Israel Defense Forces soldiers — following the 2008-2009 Gaza War, known to many Muslims as the “Gaza Massacre.”
“The active or inactive presence of Israeli soldiers enacts both symbolic and psychological damage to Palestinian students on our campus,” SJP members fumed.
SJP’s letter demands that the school end its relationship with the Israeli conservatory in Tel Aviv.Robert Miller
The group’s other demands include urging The New School to publicly label Israel a “settler colony” – rather than a state – which has displaced Palestinians from their land and enacted apartheid policies, and which is now engaged “in a genocidal campaign against the people of Gaza and the West Bank West.”
“To refer to this reality as a ‘war’ is an impersonation of a non-existent party,” said SJP. “The New School must affirm: this is not war, this is genocide.”
The activists also demanded that The New School administration protect students and faculty members from “surveillance and retaliation” allegedly for speaking out against Israeli state policies, which they claim are not “inherently anti-Semitic.”
Student activists ask schools to condemn Israel’s war as “genocide.” Robert Miller
Thursday’s lawsuit comes in the wake of a recent decision by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his state’s university system to impose a US ban on the local chapter of SJP as part of a “deterrence” sparked by the group’s alleged “support for terrorism.”
SJP’s national office hailed the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel as a “historic victory for the Palestinian resistance” and called for a “day of resistance” a few days later, with demonstrations by its chapter at more than 200 colleges across North America.
On Friday, Columbia University followed suit and suspended its own SJP division until the end of the fall semester, citing a violation of university policy.
SJP’s final demand is that the private college disclose all of its financial ties to Israel through investments in companies that activists say have been “known to have abetted and benefited from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.”
Protesters held signs and spoke through megaphones during the rally.Robert Miller
In addition to The New School’s SJP chapter, which is leading a pro-Palestinian campaign on campus, the letter was signed by several other left-wing student groups, including the Student Workers Union Organizing Committee, Young Democratic Socialists of America and Gender Riot at The New School.
In a statement Friday, The New School said it was “aware of the letter” and “reviewed it.”
“Maintaining a safe, civil, and respectful campus environment is our top priority,” the statement continued. “We strongly condemn threats of violence, hatred or harassment against any member of our community.
“The university is committed to the free exchange of ideas and perspectives, while adhering to the rules and policies under our university code of conduct. We will continue to work with our students, faculty and staff to foster a sense of safety and belonging for all.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
