Silencing pro-Palestinian speech on campus

The UC has double standards when it comes to Palestinians and their right to free speech, writes Kanazi. Israeli apartheid When asked about his reaction to the report, UCLA Students for Justice in Palestine member Rahim Kurwa said, “it reflects an attempt to put the brakes on campus discussion that is rapidly shifting from whether Israel is practicing apartheid to what we should be doing about it, namely divesting from companies profiting off of Israeli apartheid.” Another extremely troubling aspect of the report is the clear conflict of interest of one its two advisory council members: Richard D Barton. Rebecca Pierce, a Jewish African-American student interviewed for the report at UC Santa Cruz, said, “Both former Leviathan Jewish Journal editor, Shani Chabanksy, and myself personally gave the advisory council representatives articles written by Jewish students at UC Santa Cruz who felt the Department of Education complaint and investigation into our university was being used to silence campus criticism of Israeli policy. UC President Yudof was clear in his condemnation: “The constitution does not protect the right to suppress the speech of others.” President Yudof further hailed the punishment as an accomplishment in making the campus safe for Jewish students, falsely equating challenging Israeli war crimes with anti-Jewish action. Reaffirming this sentiment, SJP’s Rahim Kurwa stated, “These efforts at censorship will not stop us from speaking out against apartheid; in fact, they will only embolden our efforts to detach the UC from its ongoing financial complicity in Israel’s occupation.” As a powerful opposition attempts to hinder a steadfast network of students standing up for Palestinian rights, attacks on free speech remain one of the biggest threats facing UC campus climate today.