A literary organization released a report Monday recommending that American universities support students’ freedom of speech to amplify marginalized voices.
The PEN America report argued that student protests support free speech on college campuses unless they prevent others from listening to speakers. PEN America is the largest chapter of PEN International, an organization that aims to defend writers’ freedom of expression.
The report used UCLA as a case study and described the campus debate over the Israel-Palestine conflict, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
The controversy started with the push by Students for Justice in Palestine to boycott, divest from and impose sanctions on companies that do business with Israel in 2013. The undergraduate student government voted several time to call on the UC Board of Regents to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
The report also discussed an incident in which Undergraduate Students Association Council members questioned a student running for a position on the judicial board because of her religion. In February 2015, USAC members asked Rachel Beyda about her ability to maintain neutral because she was Jewish.
“Both students and faculty observed that the attention paid to the UCLA controversies on social media and in the national press contributed to a heightening of tensions and, at times, a hardening of positions,” the report stated.
PEN recommended that universities balance inclusivity and freedom of speech in forming policies relating to guest speaker events, student protests and creating safe spaces. For example, universities should not cancel events or withdraw speaking invitations because of threats of violence or protest, except in the most extreme cases, according to the report.
“(United States) campuses must become more diverse and inclusive,” said PEN American Center executive director Suzanne Nossel. “At the same time, advancements can’t come at the expense of protection of free expression.”
University administrators can condemn speech while defending the speaker’s rights, the report said. Faculty members, whose viewpoints do not represent the views of the university, should be protected and be able to speak more freely than administrators.
E.J. Graff, the report’s lead investigator, also said she thinks social media users who intimidate or threaten others as a reaction to speech pose a serious issue to free expression.
“People should be able to say and do things without an online mob coming after them,” Graff said.
The report concluded by emphasizing the need for increased education for college students on issues of free speech.
Contributing reports from Ryan Leou, national news and higher education editor.
SJP is a hate group. It should be banned from all college campuses in the United States.
To add: SJP fully supports Hamas while Hamas’ neighbors–
Egypt banned Hamas and branded it a terrorist organization.
Jordan banned Hamas in 1999. In 2013, Jordan rejected requests to allow Hamas to return.
Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah disagree and are fighting with each other in Syria (Sunni/Shiite sectarian conflict).
Syria- Hamas is an uninvited guest
Can anyone name one Arab Country that supports Hamas or their methods?
You are a hate person for hating on SJP; SJP is not a hate group. This makes you a whiny liar.
SJP is one of the foremost defenders of civil and human rights.
Palestinians have a right to their civil and human rights without outsider misinformation and hate groups trying to intimidate Palestinians and their supporters.
If all you have to say is SJP is a hate group then it seems SJP is doing the right job of educating people on the atrocities the racist, apartheid, land thieves you support.
The charades are over.
Free Palestine
Muslim fascists like you are the hatemongers who kill over cartoons. Muslim fascists like you are the racist thieves who support apartheid.
No need to target Muslims, as everyday good Muslims suffer more under Islamism, political Islam, and Islamic sharia that anyone else. I have some great Muslim and non-Muslim neighbors from the Middle East whose families have come here to get away from Islamic regimes, dictators, and from the totalitarianism of Islamic sharia. Maybe some forms of Islamic Sharia are better than Western liberal democracies, but Islamic Sharia is definitely the opposite of Western Democracies. Islamism is as far to the political right as you can go.
With the exception of Israel, all the Middle East Countries are signatories to the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 19: “There shall be NO crime or punishment EXCEPT as provided for in the Sharia.”
Article 24: “All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Sharia.”
Article 25: “The Islamic Sharia is the ONLY source of reference for the explanation or clarification of ANY of the articles of this Declaration.”
Interesting, i thought it was the right wing, nationalist, xenophobic governments that white supremacist Donald Trump supporters like Dylann Roof and David Duke look back to with nostalgia who supported Apartheid.
What do you have against American patriotism? And you are the xenophobic hypocrite who doesn’t want illegals in your own neighborhood.
And xenophobe racist hypocrite, how many of the rich Arab Gulf states have taken in Syrian “refugees”?
You support apartheid because you are pro-Islamist. You support the Muslims who stone rape victims and throw gays off buildings.
You need mental help, man.
I’m not the one trashing the military.
Screw you, screw your military, and screw your welfare handouts to Israel
No, screw you Muslim traitors.
Democrats like you hate America, hate our military, and hate freedom. If you think Sharia is so great, why aren’t you in a Muslim hellhole? You support welfare handouts to the Muslim world.
And Republicans (thanks to Sheldon Adelson and co.) and Democrats (thanks to Saban et al) would rather we give welfare to Israeli messianic militant extremist expansionists.
At least the Democrats want to give a little bitty piece of welfare to poor grandmas in Nebraska and Colorado. Along with Israel’s welfare check, too. The Republicans would rather welfare it up to people 8000 miles away in Israel rather than people on the other side of their own highways.
You do realize that you support people who invaded Palestine and stole Palestinian land from the Palestinians and in the process shoved rifles into pregnant women and fired them until they split in half? Go read Born Palestinian, Born Black. It is a good book that your mommy may let you read in between her wiping your bum.
Go be a patriot with someone else’s blood.
Palestinians are tired of spilling their blood for violent illegal immigrant land thieves who claim that sky cloud master gave them a real estate deal in the Holy Land
You Muslims are the thieves.
I am Christian. You know. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Many Palestinians are Christians also.
Muslim fascists like you are thieves and bigots. You have 57 countries for yourselves.
Name them. And don’t forget Palestine. Are you going to include Albania. Or is that too white for you to include in your Archie Bunker scale?
Asking for a friend
You support Muslim supremacist Hillary Clinton supporters like Nidal Hasan, Carlos Bledsoe, and Dzokhar Tsarnaev. You are unpatriotic.
I’m not the one making excuses for those who shoot up nightclubs and kill military recruiters.
but you’re making up excuses for the Nakba, Deir Yassin, Kafr Qassim, Rafah, King David Hotel, Swedish Ambassador Bernadette, the STern Gang, the JDL, Meir Kehane, Sabra, Shatilla, Broken bones policy of the 1st INtifada, desecrating Christians cemetery……. I could continue but it seems like you know nothing about the rights of Palestinians
Muslim fascists like you only defend Hamas.
How do you get my Christian beliefs confused with Muslim fascism?
I don’t think you know what Muslim means. Or fascism. Or is.
Hillary Clinton is a Muslim supremacist?
Bwahahaha
go that way with your nonsense.
BTW
Palestinians have a right to speak up against anti-Palestinian anti-Semites and their unconditional hatred towards anything having to do with Palestine or Palestinians (unless it encompasses stealing more of their land)
You Muslims are the hatemongers and bigots.
sound like you got something about Muslims. Did a Muslim cut you off in traffic today….For someone who stole other people’s land you sure are an uptight
Muslims are the ones occupying Europe.
In some European Countries Islamists have petitioned for Sharia Law for their communities. However, Islamic Sharia is contradictory to Western liberal democracies and Constitutions.
I have great Muslim neighbors, and I know they would not want to live under Islamic laws and punishments. I don’t think any Americans would give up a liberal democracy and go back to living under religious laws. The few that want to live under religious laws and punishments, should live somewhere else.
Fascist Muslim coward, I said that Clinton supporters are Muslim supremacist.
Jews and Christians have the right to speak against Muslim bigots like you who advocate stoning rape victims, throwing gays off buildings, killing over cartoons, and bombing synagogues. Muslim fascist, you already have “Palestine”. It is called Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. But you greedy Muslim fascists aren’t happy.
Palestinians are Jews and Christians too. Don’t stress out over the truth. The truth is that:
American Right wing fanatics have: dragged LGBTers behind pick up trucks, shot up synagogues in Kansas, mosques in Chicago, and Black Churches in Georgia. This was all last year.
Why are you generalizing about isolated incidents in far away places like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia….We are talking about Palestine and Palestinians.
Get with the program.
Palestinians have a right to full civil and human rights in their homelands free from illegal occupiers who claim sky cloud leader is a real estate agent.
Left-wingers have killed military recruiters, shot up nightclubs, bombed marathons, murdered mallgoers, killed over cartoons, bombed airports and train stations, and attacked tourists.
Dude I’m a Christian democratic socialist.
Looks like the joke is on you.
Palestinians have a right to let others know that not only are there Christian Palestinians, but there are also Jewish Palestinian, and Samaritan Palestinian, and Druze Palestinian, and Bedouin Palestinian, and Ethiopian Palestinian.
I know your head must be a mess with that level of knowledge. But hang in there because there is more to life than worshipping Meir Kehane and Baruch Goldstein
You are no Christian because you support Hamas.
Christians can support Hamas. Just like CUFI supports the IOF
The question of a Palestinian Statehood came with the 1947 U.N. Partition Resolution (a Jewish State and an “Arab” State living side by side in peace). However, six “Arab” armies invaded the newly formed Jewish State, several times, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to destroy it. It is ironic that Palestinian “Arabs”, seek statehood now via a path they have rejected for Israel all these years, while still not recognizing Israel’s right to exist in the Middle East.
1.5 Million Palestinian Arabs live in Israel proper as citizens on land that hypocritical activists claim is ethnically cleansed. All Jews were removed from Gaza 11 years ago, and it appeased no one, as Hamas rockets rained down on Israel within weeks. Settlement critic say it would be better for peace if the West Bank -birthplace of David, Solomon, and Jesus- were free of Jews. Do you really want to talk about apartheid?
So because some Palestinians were able to cling to their lives without being ethnically cleansed….this means the Nakba ethnic cleansing did NOT happen??!?
By your logic just because Germany in the 1930s and 1940s didn’t destroy everyone does that also mean the Holocaust didn’t happen?
Wow you are either illogical, callous, or just a plain anti-Palestinian anti-Semite.
After the Ottoman Turks and their German allies were defeated by the allied forces in WWI, all the Middle East [territories] were divided up to form all these “Arab” Countries that you have today. Palestine was the last [territory] to be divided. Arab Nations chose war to attack the one tiny non-Muslim State in the Middle East, and they lost, hence “Nakba”. They did not lose Palestine, because the West Bank and Gaza were under Arab control, and almost 80% of Jordan is historic Palestine. Israel remained a target for the next twenty years from those territories until Israel took over the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 six day war. It is worth noting that the Palestinian Arabs are the only refugees in the world whose status is permanently inherited.
And yes, six million Jews were destroyed, their families destroyed, their houses, bank accounts, businesses, and even the gold from their teeth were taken. The camp survivors were later given a monthly stipend, and their future children received nothing, and there was zero compensation for the other six million who were tortured, imprisoned, worked, starved, and gassed to death. Many of the survivors went to Western Countries and to their historic homeland in the British Protectorate to try and build a nation, which was just across the Mediterranean.
Your moral equivalent has no equivalent as Arabs have had choices, while European Jews had little or no choice in the Holocaust matter, they were just rounded up and destroyed as a collective people.
Had Palestinian Arabs accepted the 1947 United Nations Partition Resolution, they would be celebrating 68 years of independent Statehood today, with pre-67 boundaries, and more than 1.5 million Arabs are living in Israel proper as citizens as they do today. There would not be even one single Arab refugee.
Nice cut and paste.
Did your mommy teach you that this morning.
And why would the native Palestinians of Palestine agree to giving up 70% of their land to illegal foreigners?
Hasbara logic is illogical
If you had any contradictory evidence, you would have posted it, instead of responding with “nice cut and paste” “did your mommy teach you this” “illegal foreigners” “Hasbara logic”. Do you actually think that that strengthens your position? You have said nothing, It only shows how weak your argument is. Everything I posted can be found in any historical website.
SJP is a hate group that engages in violence and intimidation on a regular basis. Spewing racism and personal attacks isn’t going to work, as SJP’s record at UCLA alone more than speaks for itself:
They’ve glorified terrorists:
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/ucla-apartheid-wall-panel-1
And have brought anti-Semitic and pro-terrorist speakers to campus:
https://www.facebook.com/events/225934717601992/
In 2014, the anti-Israel resolution pushed by SJP had to be voted on in secret because students were afraid for their safety if they voted against it:
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-ucla-pledge-20140520-story.html
Then when SJP lost the vote, they started harassing students who disagreed with them on social media and accusing them of having “conflicts of interest” to get them fired.
http://i.imgur.com/ZxsZGo6.jpg
http://165.227.25.233/2014/05/16/judicial-board-hears-arguments-on-potential-usac-conflict/
They attacked members of the pro-Israel community and slandered them as
“Islamophobic, genocide deniers, and human-rights violators.”It got so bad that Jewish students started to circulate a petition for the administration to do something about it.
https://mikereport.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/bruins-for-israel-fight-back-against-anti-semitic-onslaught/
SJP was involved in a McCarthyist campaign to force student government members to sign an “ethics statement” that would forbid them from learning things SJP didn’t want them to know:
http://165.227.25.233/2014/05/14/submission-ethics-statement-contains-double-standard/
Let’s not forget the harassment of Chatterjee either:
http://www.dailywire.com/news/8800/ucla-student-president-leaves-due-anti-israel-pardes-seleh
SJP are the not the victims here. They are the victimizers. Someday they’ll face the justice they deserve. I hope for one it’s sooner rather than later.
Dude
You just cited a bunch of 1-sided propaganda.
Not only is nothing you posted of much value, but you have exposed, truly, how weak your argument is.
Yes SJP advocated for the removal of racist, law-breaking, criminals. When injustices against freedom of speech, the rights to assembly, freedom of the press are committed you better believe SJP is on the frontlines defending students against these illegal acts.
If you want to defend how Israel jails poets, and bulldozes over Rachel Corrie, then be my guest
SJP supports racist criminals. Rachel Corrie was a Jew-hating bigot who played chicken with a bulldozer and lost. Muslims hate free speech.
Getting ran over by an armored-plated, made in Peoria, earth mover defending a families house makes one a…….
Never mind that she was a Jew-hater. Never mind that she tried to protect a terrorist. If someone ran in front of a car on a busy highway, are you going to blame the car or the person who ran into traffic?
The Daily Bruin and the LA Time are not “one sided propaganda.” And SJP is only interested in freedom of speech for themselves. Everyone else they beat up or intimidate into silence. Your lies aren’t welcome here. Go back to Stormfront.
Are you an adult? Yes editorials in big person publications ARE still propaganda.
Hasbara propaganda.
Go that way because your I love Israel stank is polluting our waters in Flint, building pipelines over Native burial sites, and is proposing Trump-like walls in Arizona.
Take your walls and hate of Palestinians back to your chosen holy land. The Ukraine.
The LA Times link was not an editorial. Neither were most of the Daily Bruins. Go defend the indefensible and spew your conspiracy theories somewhere else.
There must be a name for it when you single out Israel for boycott in a sea of Islamic Countries with abysmal human rights records, institutional apartheid, sectarian apartheid, religious apartheid, gender apartheid, etc. Singling out Israel in a sea of dictatorships and totalitarian governments. If it were really about human rights, children’s rights, women’s rights, gay rights, I believe Israel would last on the list in the Middle East, where the banner of Islam flies over 99.9% of the Middle East land mass.