No, Mr. President, We Do Not ”Share” Support for Genocide

Students for Justice in Palestine Planning Group

Friday, Nov. 7 was a global day of action for “students and workers across the country…to demand college affordability, the freedom to teach, learn and research without partisan interference, and safety for vulnerable members of our campus communities.” On that day, Students for Justice in Palestine chalked on the boards of most classrooms on campus to say that that “Trinity is invested in genocide,” “Disclose, Divest, Protest and Free Palestine,” and “Trinity is suppressing freedom of assembly.” Additionally, we organized “Real Talk, Real Change” and wrote letters to Dan Lugo and Scott Jordan, the vice president and chief financial officer, demanding disclosure and divestment and sharing our thoughts about the new policy.

If you do not live under a rock, you have heard about the reactionary Policy on Demonstrations and Protests. The policy’s purpose is to “establish content-neutral time, place, and manner guidelines and an approval process for conducting campus protest,..” Yet, we do not know of any students who have been called into meetings to “clarify” the policy except for students trying to organize action for Palestine. Regardless of the steps taken to engage with the policy, organizers of pro-Palestinian events were called into meetings at a short notice, harassed and talked down to. The policy was tailored and is being used to silence pro-Palestinian voices on campus, affecting other marginalized members, like the QRC as a byproduct (as you saw with the annual QRC chalking). Some of the students who have been called into endless meetings attempted to point out contradictions and inconsistencies in what admin has communicated regarding the policy. Many came to the conclusion that this is in vain, because, again, the real purpose of the policy is to silence Palestinian voices and any form of dissent on campus.

For example, the organizers of the Oct. 7 vigil by SFJP were called into a meeting; the first time, this occurred because the flyer encouraged students to wear masks, which is a right and a duty, the second time because the vigil constituted “expressive activity” according to Dean Robert P. Lukaskiewicz. Later, Vice President Joe DiChristina shared that all other expressive activity on campus must go through an approval process by the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement (SLE) and that is why their organizers are not called into meetings nor harassed. We would like to remind all of you, including our dear admin, that SFJP’s Oct. 7 vigil was approved by SLE.

If you are not aware, the Policy on Demonstrations and Protests prevents “protesters [from] wearing coverings that prevent campus personnel from identifying the protester’s identity and determining whether the person is a member of the College community.” This includes medical masks. This is extremely concerning for two reasons: the first being that Trinity claims to be an open campus, yet ensures time and time again that our student body remains separate from the city that houses us. The second is that this prevention of medical masks is another element of Trinity’s ableist campus, both the physical space and the attitude towards people with disabilities. When admin approved one of SJP’s requests to hold a protest, Associate Vice President Maria del Carmen Flores wrote to student organizers that “if students who want to participate in the protest/demonstration are immunocompromised, they should reach out to the Office of Student and Community Life in advance of the protest.” Later that same day, she said, “as a reminder, if students are immunocompromised, they need to come to the office to seek approval to wear masks at the protest.” This shows how the policy is a tool in admin’s hands, changed at their disposal, to compromise our freedom of assembly.

In relation to restrictions on our long tradition of chalking, we would like to bring up Trinity’s disgraceful decision to erase anti-genocide chalk on the morning of President Lugo’s inauguration. Instead of outlining (in full sentences) what specific guidelines in the protest policy the chalking violated, DiChristina constantly screamed that the “policy states time, place and manner and expressive activity” as a justification to harass the students who chalked and to erase the chalk. Please note that the chalking occurred before the event, not during it, and was not disruptive. This goes to show that the policy was drafted and will be used to “legalize” silencing pro-Palestinian speech now, and dissent in the future. 

Finally, to Dan Lugo: emailing the campus community at 10 p.m. on a Friday to say that activism has no place in our classrooms is shameful. We didn’t know Trinity’s mission is to “prepare students to be bold independent thinkers who lead transformative lives” outside the classroom. We refuse for “our shared values” and “principles that unite us” to be complicity and support for genocide. We do not share these values; we have a conscience and we refuse for our endowment money to be funding genocide. Furthermore, your email shows a clear anti-Palestinian sentiment. On Oct. 6, after opening Trinity’s reading of George Orwell’s “1984,” you shared that “this powerful tradition reminds us that education thrives when ideas-especially the challenging ones — are shared, debated and protected.” Where can support for Palestine be shared, Mr. President? And what kind of challenging ideas are your students allowed to share? 

During all of these interactions, the administration dealt with students with the utmost disrespect, rushing organizers into distressing meetings, texting students on their cellphone to confirm their attendance to a meeting announced two hours in advance, making inappropriate remarks to students and sending campus safety officers who are unequipped to deal with students respectfully. 

And again, this is not the story. The story is that our endowment is invested in companies that fund genocide, apartheid and occupation. The story is that, because Trinity refuses to disclose, we do not know how much of our money funds atrocities. The story is that after two years of genocide, Palestinians in Gaza are suffering irreversible consequences as put by the UN Deputy Relief Chief. The story is that ethnic cleansing and settler violence in the West Bank is only on the rise. The story is that over 100 Palestinian bodies were returned to Gaza with numbers instead of names. The story is that Israel prosecuted the official who leaked a footage of prison officials raping a Palestinian detainee and not the prison officials who raped and assaulted a Palestinian prisoner, as the latter would be “unpatriotic.” The issue is that this decision was supported by the majority of Israeli Jews. And the close issue is that every single one of us has a role in maintaining Israeli apartheid. Policies like Trinity’s are only a way to demoralize students and waste our time by engaging in petty pointless exchanges that leave our students exhausted and our campus complicit in war crimes. The movement needs you now more than ever. Follow @sfjp_trin on Instagram and find out how you can get involved. May Palestine liberate us all.

Free Palestine.