By Melissa Werthmann, News Correspondent
Norman Finkelstein, a writer and lecturer about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is coming to Northeastern today, and not everyone is happy about it.
The event, which begins at 7 p.m. in 20 West Village F, is hosted by Northeastern’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), International Affairs Society, Islamic Students of Northeastern University and Progressive Student Alliance. The Jewish Voice for Peace Boston, a non-Northeastern group, is also sponsoring the event.
Northeastern’s Arab Student Association was mistakenly listed as a co-sponsor of the event, and said that they are not involved.
“Norman Finkelstein is a renowned professor and activist,” Eva Badra, president of SJP and senior biochemistry major, said. “We thought that we would be delighted to have him speak at our university because he upholds many values and ideals that we agree with on this issue,” ideals she said haven’t been represented in the past.
When members of NU Hillel and Huskies for Israel heard that Finkelstein planned to come to campus, they were outraged. They wrote a letter to President Joseph Aoun detailing their feelings and posted it on their Facebook groups. This letter was also posted on Finkelstein’s website with the headline “Jewish students at Northeastern tremble in fear.”
Badra said NU Hillel has hosted events that she hasn’t personally agreed with, but that “a university is a place for learning and academic freedom and freedom of speech.”
She said the goal of the event is to benefit campus by promoting the ideals of her group.
“It just seems ridiculous that we would need the approval of another student organization to hold our events,” Badra said. “I suppose everyone has the right to feel any way they want to feel, but we haven’t asked the university to defund their events.”
Arthur Maserjian, media coordinator for Huskies for Israel and vice president of finance for NU Hillel, said his groups have never brought a speaker as controversial as Finkelstein, and that their events are not funded by the Student Activity Fund (SAF).
“This is unprecedented for a speaker like this to be funded by the SAF,” he said.
Maserjian, scribe for Northeastern’s Alpha Epsilon Pi jewish fraternity, said, “Norman Finkelstein is regarded as a radical revisionist of history. He advocates beliefs that are anti-semitic and harmful to Jewish students.”
Maserjian and other leaders met last night with the Associate Dean for Residential and Cultural Life, Bob Jose, and the Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education, Bruce Ronkin, to discuss the event.
“No one appreciates the first amendment more than I do,” Maserjian said, but hopes that Finkelstein does not cross the line into hate speech, which is not protected by the first amendment.
Maserjian, a middler international business major, said it was decided in the meeting that the event will take place, but that the university will not endorse it.
“We respect the university’s decision and we appreciate all of the time they spent on this.” He said the university allowed his groups to submit an emergency petition for protest and that they plan to protest the event and hand out educational materials.
Students will protest the event this evening.
Anthony Golia, comptroller for Student Government Association (SGA) wrote in an email to The News that the SAF Policies Manual states that the Finance Board will determine an event’s benefit and priority to the undergraduate student body and that political events and activities will only be funded when they are educational in nature.
Golia wrote that the event met the criteria to be funded. Event coordinators on Tuesday received an email stating the attendance of the event had been changed from NU +1 to strictly NU undergraduate. Badra said she received an email a few hours later stating the attendance type was changed back to its original.
“However, in this case, the board decided that the fair thing to do at this point was to keep the attendance type as was originally set, which was Northeastern University +1 guest,” Golia wrote.
According to Golia, the SAF Policies Manual gives the Finance Board the right to set the attendance type for all SAF-funded events.
Bryan MacCormack, who serves on the executive board of SJP, said the sudden and brief change to the attendance type was “very, very fishy” but is not sure exactly why it happened. He plans to bring the issue to SGA.
MacCormack said Jewish students should not feel physically unsafe but that they may be “ideologically challenged” by the event.
“We know [Finkelstein] is a very controversial figure and we understand that, which is why we think it’s so important he come to our university,” he said.
SJP issued its own letter in response to the backlash against the event, which MacCormack said was to dispel various allegations against his group.
The letter also called for a formal apology from the writers of the first letter, something Maserjian said he absolutely refuses to do.
“We stand by everything we said,” Maserjian said.
Michelle Goldberg, senior communications major and president of NU Hillel said she has more of a problem with the funding than the actual event.
“Of course I believe that we do have our right to have freedom of speech,” she said. “I don’t object to him coming and speaking, it just saddens me to know how hard Hillel is trying to work to try to help students on campus try to learn and create their own understanding.”
Goldberg said she thinks there is a better way to approach the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Bringing someone that is so controversial and creating this angry dialogue is not going to help,” she said. “We need to look for better ways to create discussion and collaboration.”
Goldberg said Finkelstein coming to campus does not make her feel unsafe, but that a lack of a relationship between NU Hillel and SJP is scary.
“Who knows what it will continue to bring or snowball into,” she said.
Update: A previous version of the story said the finance board has the right to change the attendance type of the event instead of setting the attendance type of SAF events.
