Anti-Israel students removed from LSU Faculty Senate meeting after shouting divestment demands
Law enforcement removed three student activists of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) out of a Louisiana State University Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday after they shouted for divestment from Israel.
The group was also said to have been protesting Resolution 24-01, titled 'Supporting Academic Freedom and Inquiry through Institutional Neutrality on Social and Political Issues.'
Law enforcement removed three students out of a Louisiana State University Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday after the students began shouting demands for the school to divest from corporations linked to Israel.
All three of the students were reportedly members of the leftist Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Ryan Spalt, the president of Students for a Democratic Society at LSU, told The Reveille that he wasn’t surprised by the activists’ removal; the chapter put in a request for comment at the Faculty Senate meeting, but it was denied since it apparently did not correspond with the meeting’s agenda.
Spalt also said his organization understood why its request was denied, but chose to disregard it. SDS members reportedly rushed to the front of the room, chanting, “Netruality will never slide, humanity or genocide!”
The group was also said to have been protesting Resolution 24-01, titled “Supporting Academic Freedom and Inquiry through Institutional Neutrality on Social and Political Issues.”
It’s Spalt’s belief that by approving this neutrality resolution, LSU is taking Israel’s side in the Hamas-Israel war.
“LSU is having its pockets lined by people from Israeli companies who are participating or upholding genocide,” Spalt told The Reveille. “Our goal is ultimately to negotiate with faculty for divestment.”
However, Faculty Senate President and political science professor Daniel Tirone insisted that the resolution did not indicate that LSU was supporting Israel in the conflict.
“It’s meant to protect the freedom of the faculty and the students to engage in scholarship and protect their academic freedom,” he told the outlet.
Tirone also told The Reveille that the Faculty Senate was not the appropriate place for students to stage a demonstration.
“There is a time, place and manner,” he said.
Senate Vice President and physics professor Parampreet Singh wanted to be clear that the students weren’t denied comment because of their political stance.
“If the other group would’ve come, they would have also been denied public comment,” said Singh. “We have to be fair to everyone and we have to follow the law.”
Campus Reform has contacted Louisiana State University and LSU’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
