Upon reading in The News that Northeastern on March 7 issued a suspension of the student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), I read into the situation and was disappointed to learn that the university failed to apply regulations and policies in a consistent manner. Further, I was shocked to learn about how individual students were mistreated, and that the university has adopted policies that do not match up with the principles that should be upheld by one of the top 75 institutions of higher learning in the United States.
To be clear, SJP is not a group that I support. Their organization name is misleading, and for good reason: it would not go over very well if they were known as “Students Against Israel” or “Terrorist Sympathizers of Northeastern.” SJP is an organization that supports Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States. Hamas, in its own charter, calls for individuals to “fight the Jews and kill them until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees,” and then once the Jews are hiding in fear, to continue to “come on and kill” them. On a daily basis, Hamas operatives attempt to attack the Jewish State of Israel, and often they succeed in injuring or killing people, often innocent, unarmed civilians. Hamas has killed Americans, too, and even killed fellow practitioners of Islam.
The Northeastern community is probably better off without SJP as a student group on campus. Northeastern has already come under fire for mistreatment of people based on religious beliefs. Having a group operating on campus that supports anti-Semitism, and even selecting a faculty advisor (Muhammad Shahid Alam) who has been accused of discrimination against Jewish students and was the first professor discussed in “The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America” goes against the objective of creating a community where people of all beliefs can work together and have a positive impact on the world. However, at some point in the past, the student body – represented by the Student Government Association (SGA) – and the university administration decided to approve SJP becoming a student group. With that approval, SJP deserves to be treated the same as any other student group.
As a Northeastern alumnus who served on behalf of students as the executive vice president of the Resident Student Association and in the SGA, I want to see the university administration treating today’s students and student groups fairly and enforcing policies in a consistent manner. The administration, according to various reports, has failed to do this. One of the allegations against SJP was that they slid materials under residence hall doors without permission. The fact that this was banned by the University administration is absurd. When I was a student (2005-2010), student groups routinely slid materials under doors in the residence halls and there was no rule against it. Apparently, in recent years the liberals in the administration decided they needed more control and regulation of what materials are slid under people’s doors, but then they failed to even apply the regulations in a consistent manner. To be fair, the university should either dismiss the violation against SJP, or go back and bring charges and sanctions against every other student group that has violated the policy. A better idea would be to repeal the entire policy. Similarly, the regulation requiring approval to protest and a 7-day lead time should be repealed. This is a burdensome, unnecessary and excessively restrictive regulation.
As to the allegations of police intimidation and misconduct against students, there should be an immediate investigation, led by independent counsel, into what happened. The report of the independent counsel should be made publicly available, and any members of the university police department who conducted themselves in a manner unbecoming of a law enforcement officer should be subject to standard re-education and disciplinary process. If it is found that SJP members did not tell the truth, then they should be held accountable for their slanderous and/or libelous actions.
Let there be no doubt: SJP is a misguided organization that brings shame upon Northeastern. Unfortunately, greater shame is brought upon the institution when the administration mistreats its own students, stifles free speech and fails to provide fair and equitable treatment to all students and organizations.
-Matthew Soleyn is a member of the Class of 2010.
