As outside groups look to limit conversations on Palestine, academic freedom needs to be prioritized

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Earlier this month, The Daily Orange reported on a document sent to the United States House of Representatives that was created by Syracuse University students and parents alleging the university administration is turning “a blind eye to antisemitism.”

The document demonstrated a lack of care necessary for campus conversations surrounding antisemitism both in its inaccuracies and how it defines antisemitic actions.

For this reason, The D.O. didn’t attach the report to its original article. After further consideration, The D.O. decided it is important for the public to have access to this document. It is embedded at the bottom of the article with names redacted for safety purposes.

The D.O. reached out to the group who wrote the letter and was directed to a member of The Lawfare Project. After first emailing questions on Feb. 13, they did not respond.

Foremost among The D.O.’s concerns was the misidentification of Renée de Nevers as a professor who described the Israeli Defense Force as “terrorists.” While the document hedges its claim by writing that de Nevers was “believed to be” the professor, documents alleging antisemitism should not be sent to the federal government without complete assurance of their accuracy.

Both The D.O. and an SU spokesperson confirmed de Nevers was not the professor who made the statement.

Within the report itself, there were also several claims that inflated and distorted the magnitude of situations on campus.

In one example, the report refers to students at the School of Architecture writing to Dean Michael Speaks asking him to release a statement “condemning the genocide occurring in Palestine.” The report calls out Speaks’ response to the letter stating his “approval and encouragement of the letter is hostile, discriminatory and antisemitic.”

While the letter did criticize the Israeli government and its military’s actions, The D.O. believes that neither the letter, nor Speaks’ response, was antisemitic. The conflation of antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government is dangerous to academic freedom at SU.

Exhibit 14 by The Daily Orange on Scribd

Exhibit 15 by The Daily Orange on Scribd

Another example given in the report references a teaching assistant “prominently” displaying a poster and encouraging students to attend a “Protest to End the Gaza Occupation.” The report describes this as an “abuse of power” and an “unwarranted and hostile insistence on adherence to antisemitic views.”

Exhibit 6 by The Daily Orange on Scribd

Both assertions are made without an understanding of the dynamic between students and instructors on a college campus. Political posters are often displayed in classrooms and on bulletin boards, and it is not rare for a professor or a teaching assistant to encourage students to attend events.

An academic institution should stand for many things. It should be a place to share ideas and conflicting viewpoints. It should foster conversation and encourage discussion on difficult topics, not hide from them. It should be a space where educators can teach and opine without the fear of being shunned, fired or named in a report sent to the federal government. In order to maintain this, educators must be protected.

The university administration itself has also fostered an environment not conducive to academic freedom. At a University Senate meeting in November, Chancellor Kent Syverud said the administration is placing student safety “over academic freedom and free speech.” These are not mutually exclusive goals. The assertion that one should be placed above the other displays a lack of regard for academic freedom more than anything else.

Concern was also expressed in the report with the university’s offer of a visiting scholar faculty position to Palestinian poet and SU graduate Mosab Abu Toha, who was previously detained in Israel. Abu Toha wrote in The New Yorker that he was beaten by the Israeli military while detained.

Abu Toha’s offer was through the Scholars at Risk Network, which, according to its mission statement, is “committed to protecting threatened scholars, preventing attacks on higher education, and promoting academic freedom and related values.” It is not a political statement.

The report questioned his hiring, stating that its writers were “curious about the record timing of the poet’s employment offer.” They also wrote that “coupled with the seemingly growing collection of Palestinian-viewpoint faculty, parents and alumni (have become) concerned about the dearth of viewpoint diversity issues and other issues this new hire presented.”

Abu Toha is not the first to be offered a position through the program. SU currently employs Ukrainian visiting professor Tetiana Hranchak, a hiring the report notably does not take issue with.

Part of ensuring academic freedom is maintaining accessibility to diverse worldviews and perspectives. By participating in networks such as Scholars at Risk, academic institutions such as SU develop these viewpoints. It shouldn’t matter what country or region a scholar is coming from.

While saying this, it’s crucial to recognize that there is undoubtedly antisemitism on SU’s campus. Since Oct. 7, there have been three antisemitic bias incidents that were made public, according to the university’s Bias Incident Tracker and Archive report.

One incident reported antisemitic language that was discovered on a desk in Bird Library. Another incident was “reported by residents on the third floor (of Day Hall) who discovered the word ‘Jew’ carved into a door,” according to the Oct. 12 incident report. Concerns over the university’s handling of antisemitism were also one of the driving issues of #NotAgainSU.

While people can disagree regarding the Israel-Hamas war, a difference in ideas should not be labeled as antisemitic as it will only dilute the gravity that legitimate claims of antisemitism deserve.

Instead of sending concerns to the House of Representatives, students and parents alike should engage with the campus community regarding the Israel-Hamas war and concerns of antisemitism, or any other act of hate, at the university.

Academic institutions should be fostering communication within the university culture. These conversations should be happening in the classroom, through public lectures, teach-ins and through the news.

The D.O. hopes to use this Editorial Board as a means to encourage others to contribute to this conversation by sending in Letters to the Editor regarding their thoughts on the Israel-Hamas war and its impact on the Syracuse community.

The Daily Orange Editorial Board serves as the voice of the organization and aims to contribute the perspectives of students to discussions that concern Syracuse University and the greater Syracuse community. The editorial board’s stances are determined by a majority of its members. You can read more about the editorial board here. Are you interested in pitching a topic for the editorial board to discuss? Email opinion@dailyorange.com.

Submission on Behalf of Students of Syracuse University by The Daily Orange on Scribd