On Monday evening, Barnard President Debora Spar delivered the opening remarks at an event, titled “Race, Violence, Resistance: From Gaza to Ferguson,” hosted by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine. Curiously, Spar mentioned neither Gaza nor Ferguson in her remarks. Instead, she spoke about how Barnard has always valued free speech and discussed the importance that Barnard “engage in discourse on every conceivable topic, no matter how challenging that topic might be.” President Spar rarely participates in student events. So why did Spar choose to speak at last night’s event if she was only going to deliver remarks so generic that they didn’t even incorporate any details from the event’s topic? Shezza Abboushi Dallal’s remarks after Spar left the podium provide some context.
In her address, Dallal, a member of SJP, referenced Barnard’s decision this past March to remove an SJP banner that had been placed in front of Barnard hall. SJP had gone through the necessary protocol to hang their banner, but that did not include close scrutiny of the banner’s content. The banner read, “Stand for Justice, Stand for Palestine” and had a map of the State of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza painted entirely in green with no internal borders. Many students— ourselves included—were offended by the banner and the image it depicted. Like the chant “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” we feel the banner implies a call for the destruction of the State of Israel. We think both the banner and the chant are uncompromising and do not promote conversation. Although we found the banner offensive, we recognize that every group has a right to free speech—in fact, that was Aryeh’s (then LionPAC) position at the time. The issue, as articulated in a statement, was that the placement of the banner made it appear as though Barnard was implicitly endorsing a statement the college doesn’t explicitly endorse.
Dallal said on Monday that the removal of the banner trampled on SJP’s right to freedom of speech. Between her comments and Spar’s remarks, it was clear that free speech was the topic on everyone’s minds. These statements, as well as an SJP facebook post that read: “in response to recent discourse on freedom of speech in the realm of Academia and the recent removal of the CSJP banner, please join Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and Deborah Spar at this upcoming event” lead us to believe that President Spar’s participation in the event is a quid pro quo for the “injustices” committed by the administration in the taking down of the banner. But President Spar’s active involvement in Monday’s event poses the same problem as the placement of SJP’s banner in front of Barnard Hall.
Though President Spar was clearly cautious in crafting her remarks and delivered a neutral statement about the importance of open dialogue, we worry that her active presence could be taken as a tacit endorsement of the event’s message.
We also find it ironic that President Spar emphasized the importance of open discourse at an SJP event; SJP has a policy of not recognizing or meeting with any pro-Israel organization, which flies directly in the face of open dialogue and free discourse.
Finally, we take issue with the insensitive comparison of Gaza to Ferguson. From the No Red Tape protest to the 9/11 flag memorial, SJP has continually capitalized on others’ tragedies in order to further their political agendas. In her remarks, Dallal spoke about the inappropriateness of asking any group on campus to “wait their turn” before talking about the justice they seek.
It is not a question of time, but context. SJP is and should be free to express their beliefs whenever they want, but they should stop minimizing the suffering of the people they ostensibly represent and are trying to protect by conflating the challenges they face with those faced by rape survivors, 9/11 victims and their families, and the people of Ferguson. In doing so, they do a disservice not only to themselves, but to justice seekers all over the world.
Leeza Hirt is a Columbia College first-year with a prospective major in history. Daniella Greenbaum is Barnard College sophomore majoring in English. They are both members of Aryeh, although this is not written on Aryeh’s behalf.
Correction: The sentence “And that is not something the president of Barnard should endorse.” was added during the editing process. It did not reflect the author’s views, and as such, has been removed. Spectator regrets the error.
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