close
close

Debate continues at University of Rochester over allegations of anti-Semitism

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Debate continues at University of Rochester over allegations of anti-Semitism

play

A day after four University of Rochester students were arraigned in a city courtroom for their alleged involvement in what campus officials called anti-Semitic vandalism, more than 100 of their supporters gathered on campus to denounce the arrests and demand leadership university to drop the charges against them.

Four students – Samantha Escobar, Naomi Gutierrez, Jefferson Turcios and Jonathan Bermudez – were arrested Tuesday by UR Public Safety officers and spent the night in the Monroe County Jail. They face felony charges for allegedly covering hundreds of posters across campus with thick glue, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

The “wanted” posters accused teachers of involvement in the deaths and displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip due to their alleged ties to Israel. Although the flyers did not mention the man’s background, many of the teachers featured are Jewish.

Latest: The UR students were brought to trial on charges of posting wanted posters. They face up to 7 years in prison.

Students and university officials have clashed repeatedly over the past year over protests related to the war between Israel and Hamas, sparking debate over freedom of speech, political expression and censorship.

On Thursday, UR professor Rosa Terlazzo called law enforcement’s intervention a step too far.

“I encourage my students in class to think about justice and take it outside the classroom,” said Terlazzo, who teaches social and political philosophy. “I think it’s our responsibility as educators and as an institution to help students do it and talk to them if they’re doing it poorly, rather than treating it like a criminal matter.”

Debate continues over allegations of anti-Semitism

Protesters, including UR students, faculty and members of outside community groups, said the university waged a smear campaign against students before “caging” them.

According to court documents, the students were arrested because of damage to campus property, not because of the content of the posters. However, university officials argue that while the leaflets do not meet the legal threshold for a hate crime, they constitute a “targeted and biased” act of anti-Semitism.

“While we always hope to address the issue of student misconduct from an educational perspective, there are some actions that require criminal prosecution,” UR President Sarah Mangelsdorf wrote in a letter Tuesday. “I am sad that any member of our community would be harassed and intimidated.”

What did the posters say?: “Campus Activism Becoming Hate Speech.” UR Professor and Schumer Condemn Wanted Posters

Miller Gentry-Sharp, a junior and co-president of the student group Jewish Voices for Peace, called the university’s statements last week a “shameless abuse of the term anti-Semitism.”

Jewish student organization UR Hillel last week condemned the posters as a hate campaign. Gentry-Sharp said he viewed the leaflets not as an attack on the Jewish community, but as a criticism of United Nations involvement in the genocide in the Gaza Strip.

He said ongoing discussions about anti-Semitism over the past week “oversimplify” real-life discrimination and have alienated the Jewish community on campus.

“It’s much harder to have these nuanced discussions when there are messages from the top down that say this is anti-Semitism and you should call it anti-Semitism, and if you treat it as anything other than an anti-Semitic hate crime, you promote anti-Semitism,” he said. “As someone who looks at these posters (and doesn’t see it), I find it really isolating. I find it really alienating.”

A box truck drives around campus calling for students to be expelled.

Some protesters said the university’s messaging put students at risk.

A large van with a flashing notice board reading “Kick them out now!” and “Anti-Semitism + Vandalism = Expulsion” circled the campus at least twice during the hour-long protest Thursday afternoon. Several students said they saw the same truck earlier that morning.

UR spokeswoman Sarah Miller did not respond to questions about whether security officials were aware of the truck’s presence or whether they asked the driver to leave campus.

Protesters claimed the arrested students were suspended from their studies and not allowed to return to their on-campus residence halls, leaving them scrambling for housing after they were released from prison on Wednesday. Miller declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of student disciplinary matters.

Protesters described the discipline as a continuation of the surveillance and punishment of activists on campus.

What is an “acceptable” protest?

In her letter to the UR community, Mangelsdorf said the administration has guiding principles of respectful protest, dissent and dialogue that balance free speech and safety.

Christine Doughty, a professor of political anthropology at UR, said the policy does not reflect the reality of what student protesters have faced over the past year on campus. In October, she said, students were punished for organizing a “die-in” during Meliora Weekend, a traditional campus celebration for families and alumni.

“If you’re wondering why students are running around in the dark of night hanging posters on the walls, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that they’ve been squeezed into a very tiny space because of what they can do,” she said. “And that caused a certain set of reactions.

“Lying silently on an ATV in shirts with red paint was considered beyond the pale. Let’s face it: it’s not really about posters, glue, or chalkboards.”

— Kayla Kann covers public safety for the Democrat and Chronicle, with a focus on police accountability, government oversight and how violence affects people. Follow her on Twitter @kaylacanne and @bykaylacanne on Instagram. Contact us at [email protected].