“We the undersigned faculty of Vassar state our full support for VSA students to vote in accord with their conscience and to administer student funds. We acknowledge the reasonable, respectful and conscientious manner in which the VSA has conducted their process. We wish to express our disagreement with any course of action that would result in funds being removed from under the control of the VSA if the VSA votes to support BDS. We emphatically condemn any form of intimidation tactics from all individuals or parties who have threatened students supporting BDS or any other form of conscientious objection.”
- Carlos Alamo
- Giovanna Borradori
- Colette Cann
- Heesok Chang
- Mita Choudhury
- Alexander Dressler, Blegen Fellow
- Eve Dunbar
- Rebecca Edwards
- Thomas Ellman
- Donald Foster
- Maria Hantzopoulos
- Diane Harriford
- Susan Hiner
- Maria Hoehn
- Mark Hoffman
- Hua Hsu
- Julie Hughes
- David Kennett
- Timothy Koechlin
- Elías Krell
- Amitava Kumar
- Kiese Laymon
- Candice Lowe Swift
- Zachariah Mampilly
- Lawrence Mamiya
- Erin McCloskey
- Molly McGlennen
- Kristen Menking
- Annie Menzel
- Quincy Mills
- Seungsook Moon
- Lydia Murdoch
- Joseph Nevins
- Molly Nesbit
- Barbara Olsen
- Sam Opondo
- Hiram Perez
- Ismail Rashid
- Joshua Schreier
- Tyrone Simpson
- Vinay Swamy
- Eva Woods Peiró
22 out of the 31 signatories to this were among the infamous “39 professors” who, in 2014, wrote a letter supporting academic boycott of Israel, spoke of “the considerable violence and brutality that the Israeli state has inflicted and continues to inflict upon the Palestinian people and other minoritized populations,” and railed against “checkpoints, apartheid legislation, and control of movement (which) deny Palestinians self-determination, freedom, and basic human rights.”
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Today’s response by these 31 faculty members in support of the VSA has nothing to do with their opinions regarding the VSA or its role at Vassar. It is purely another part of the signatories pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic agenda. VSA REPRESENTATIVES: Do not let these faculty members use you as pawns.
Trevor Brown
Trevor, I think you made everyone’s point for them in mentioning the violence inflicted upon Palestinians, (Israeli Arabs, black Jews, and others). Given that the government of the state of Israel enacts apartheid policies, all people of conscious who support justice ought to seek the reform of such policies and transformation of the structures that lead to them.
“We emphatically condemn any form of intimidation tactics from all individuals or parties who have threatened students supporting BDS or any other form of conscientious objection.”
I wonder why these concerned faculty do not support the first half of their own manifesto: “We emphatically condemn any form of intimidation tactics from ALL individuals or parties who have threatened students.”
At Vassar, protesting over the right brand of hummus and loudly denying free speech to those with whom you disagree has become the new Vietnam. It s a shame that, in 2016, all that energy cannot be directed at actually helping someone. Focusing on ostracizing Israelis will do nothing to build anyone else up.
Do you even understand the difference?
“At Vassar, protesting over the right brand of hummus and loudly denying free speech to those with whom you disagree has become the new Vietnam. ”
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Well ummmm Paul, how exactly did they deny anyones free speech at Vassar. Oh wait, your’e just projecting “victim” status. The usual.
If it were South Africa instead of Israel, no one would object to a boycott. The Israeli government does not represent Judaism or Jews. It does represent apartheid and genocide. Do not let Israel’s fascist system destroy American free speech and democracy.
Today a Palestinian terrorist stabbed a US Army veteran to death in Tel Aviv and wounded 14 others including a pregnant woman. Not in a settlement, not in beyond the Green Line, in downtown Tel Aviv. The victim was a Vanderbilt student on a school trip. The Palestinian murderer is representative of the people BDS and SJP supports. Vassar students have picked the wrong side in this conflict.