Sunday, April 26, 2020

Students for Justice in Palestine Gets Award From Tufts University (Sick)

Hat tip JNS, Tufts Daily, and Israel Group





Students for Justice in Palestine, the brown shirt organization founded by UC Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, has inexplicably gotten something called the 2020 Collaboration Award  from Tufts University.

https://www.jns.org/student-collaboration-award-at-tufts-goes-to-sjp-chapter/

Actually, there is an explanation. This is actually typical of the moral and intellectual rot in our universities today. That a disreputable group like this, which routinely engages in tactics of disruption and intimidation against Jewish students would receive any type of award is a shameful blot on academia today.

It is not entirely clear to me exactly who presented this award. It apparently came from some group of administrators though the Tufts University president denounced it.

“We strongly disapprove of this award in light of SJP’s concerning policy positions, including its association with the BDS movement, elements of which we view as anti-Semitic. We will be reviewing the awards process, which currently does not involve academic deans or senior university leadership and this year did not include students, in order to ensure proper oversight and review going forward,” said Tuft’s President Anthony Monaco;  Provost and Senior Vice President Nadine Aubry; Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences James Glaser; Dean of the School of Engineering Jianmin Qu; and Dean of Student Affairs and Chief Student Affairs Officer ad interim Nancy Thompson."
"The leadership added that “We as senior leaders take responsibility for this outcome, which should not have happened, and recognize that the award has caused a great deal of pain and concern for Jewish members of our community and others who share concerns about SJP’s policy positions, particularly in light of rising anti-Semitism in the U.S. and around the world.”

All well and good, but it's not like SJP doesn't have a history at Tufts. In 2015, they disrupted an Israeli event on campus. It is more than just their policy positions.

https://tuftsdaily.com/news/2015/10/30/sjp-members-disrupt-annual-taste-israel-event-signs-flyers/

And once again, we see the pernicious influence of Saudi Arabia at Tufts. In 2018 President Monaco and other Boston-area university heads met with Crown Prince Salman at Harvard University.

https://tuftsdaily.com/investigative/2019/09/09/monaco-attended-2018-meeting-saudi-crown-prince/

"In total, Tufts, Babson, Boston University and MIT have received, or have been pledged, at least $122.3 million in financing from the Saudi government, Saudi state-owned industries and Saudi public universities since 2012, according to a review of federal data by the Daily as well as reporting by the Associated Press and the Boston Globe."

Just a little background and perspective here.

To conclude, here is my question. While I applaud the statement of Tufts President Monaco, if that is really the way he feels about SJP, why are they allowed on campus in the first place? Second question: How much funding do they get from the university, and does that come out of student fees? I don't know the answers to those questions, but I raise it all because I know that many universities provide funding to recognized student groups that come from student fees.

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