Last spring semester was filled with student protests on and off campus – with war still raging on in Israel and Palestine, protests will continue throughout the fall semester.
The university sent an email to students on Sept. 5, stating the temporary suspension of five student groups was lifted after a completed investigation. The investigation involved what was referred to as “intimidating language.” The interim suspension related to comments posted on the “uwm4palicoalition” Instagram page.
The five associated organizations were Students for Justice in Palestine, the Muslim Student Association, Students for a Democratic Society, Young Democratic Socialists of America and Un-PAC.
Audari Tamayo, a leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), said that though the temporary suspension was lifted on the five organizations, his organization still faces a one-year suspension and another two years on probation. Tamayo said the continued suspension is for multiple actions, which included a Feb. 9 sit-in in Chapman Hall, a protest at the June 6 Board of Regents meeting and various other actions.
Tamayo said he is not aware of any other organization associated with the uwm4palicoalition Instagram account facing suspension since the interim has been lifted.
Student protests since January have raised concern with university officials on how to handle protests on campus. Last Thursday, the Universities of Wisconsin issued a new policy regarding institutional statements.
The new policy says, “all official statements…are limited to matters that directly affect the operations and mission of the university, and that maintain viewpoint neutrality in any reference to a matter of political or social controversy.”
This policy comes just four months after Chancellor Mone’s statement calling for a ceasefire in Israel-Palestine. This was a part of seven statements issued regarding the Palestinian encampment, some of which would likely break the new policy.
Incidents of Alleged Antisemitism
Jewish Professor Shale Horowitz, a Political Science professor, stated his thoughts via email regarding the lifting of the suspensions:
“The student groups’ post used what UWM called “threatening language” to shut down discussion at the university: ‘ANY organization or entity that supports Israel is not welcome at UWM. This includes the local extremist groups such as Hillel, Jewish Federation, etc. We refuse to normalize extremists and extremist groups walking around our campus…. Any organization that has not separated themselves from Israel will be treated accordingly as extremist criminals. Stay tuned.’
UWM lifted the suspension on free speech grounds. But this was never primarily a free speech issue. Wisconsin law specifies the following code of conduct (UWS 17.01): ‘The missions of the University of Wisconsin System … can be realized only if the university’s teaching, learning, research and service activities occur in living and learning environments that are safe and free from violence, harassment, fraud, theft, disruption and intimidation.’ UWM must evaluate whether the post and other activities have violated this code of conduct.”
The Instagram post incident was not the only incident of reported antisemitism on campus.
Hillel, a Jewish student organization, released a statement on April 29, reporting that previously, “a group of protestors encircled Jewish students on UWM’s campus, chanting violent and antisemitic slogans, and forcing Jewish students to flee under police protection.”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Tamayo in response to the statement. “Some of our members spoke to Josh Herman, which is a leader in Hillel, and he admitted to exaggerating on that day.”
“The protestors did indeed encircle us,” said Herman in an email response to The UWM Post. “I did not admit to exaggerating on that day (and do not believe that I did exaggerate).”
Through multiple statements, Mone has condemned antisemitism, including the posts from the uwm4palicoalition Instagram page.
Responses to Claims of Antisemitism
“I don’t think our actions are anti-semitic,” Tamayo said. “It wasn’t due to the fact that they’re Jewish, it’s due to the fact that they’re Zionist. We as SDS, as the coalition, we’ve worked with multiple Jewish organizations.”
Tamayo said the organizations were Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), which was founded in 2014, and Chaburat Tziporah, which also participated in the May encampment.
“I think it’s a matter of Zionism, colonial occupation versus liberation,” Tamayo said.
Horowitz additionally commented on claims of antisemitism throughout campus:
“The IHRA definition of antisemitism, which is accepted by the U.S. government,
includes the following two types of antisemitism—because both involve hostile doublestandards treating Jews diderently from other peoples:
- ‘Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming
that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.’
- ‘Applying double standards by requiring of it [Israel] a behavior not expected or
demanded of any other democratic nation.’The student groups’ chant, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ calls for
Israel and its Jewish population to be destroyed. In other words, the Jewish people do
not have a right of self-determination like Palestinian and other Arabs (21 countries) or other peoples around the world.
In the agreement to end the illegal encampment, Mone officially endorsed the
antisemitic, genocidal rhetoric and methods of the anti-Israel groups. For example, he claimed that an estimate of the total number killed in Gaza were all ‘innocents,’ i.e. civilians; he claimed that Israel had committed genocide or ‘plausible genocide’; he blamed Israel for damage to educational institutions that Hamas used as military
installations; and he took action to support the economic boycott of Israel, which aims at its ultimate destruction. Given that, as discussed, Israel’s efforts and successes in limiting civilian casualties exceed even those of the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq, Chancellor Mone’s agreement is not only based on lies and slanders, but is also antisemitic.”
Looking ahead, Tamayo says that SDS plans to continue protesting on campus, even during their suspension. Most recently, the organization held a protest on Sept. 4 and attended the university’s involvement fair even on suspension.
“In general, we think that we’re doing the right thing,” said Tamayo. “We don’t think anything we’re doing is wrong or illegal, and if it happens to be illegal, it’s still not wrong.”