Ohio school arbitrarily stonewalled pro-Israel event, students say

A conservative women’s group was forced to restrict attendance at an event about Israel at a university in Ohio. 

The chapter of Network of Enlightened Women (NeW) at Xavier University, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, was forced by the university’s Office of Student Involvement to narrow down the number of attendees at an event titled “Supporting Israel & Fighting Anti-Semitism,” following what Katie Guymon, NeW Vice President at the school, believes is selective enforcement of university policy.

Emails obtained by Campus Reform show that an official from Xavier’s Office of Student Involvement told Guymon that she could not approve the event’s scheduled date of March 12, as she claimed the university’s Protocol for Campus Public Speakers and Events “requires a minimum of 1 month advanced notice for events such as this.”

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When Guymon pushed back, stating that “[w]e have had 3 speakers within the past year and have had no issue with submitting events with less than a months [sic] notice,” the official responded: “Because the nature of your event is about a very sensitive topic, I need more clearance time to work with your team and the administration to get approval.”

The official followed up, saying NeW could continue with its event on March 12 as long as the group made it “closed”–meaning it would be open “only for [NeW] members”–to which Guymon pointed out that NeW had already advertised the event online to other students who are not members of the group. 

Guymon also noted that the school seemed to be selectively enforcing its policies, saying: “I saw where back in October, the [Center for Faith & Justice] hosted an event [on Oct. 30] for Muslim students and their allies to discuss the current events and this was open to anyone, so I would like to see that same standard applied for our conversation as well.”

The university official replied, telling Guymon that NeW could either host the event “closed” on March 12, or have the event open but delay it “to a later date that gives us appropriate time to implement the necessary university expectations,” and added: “The CFJ event you referenced was hosted by a department and has different approval protocols than a student organization event.”

Guymon  also told the official that NeW will proceed with the closed event on the original date, but expressed her disappointment with the school’s decision, saying: “This is super unfortunate as this is a cause & conversation we would like the whole school to have the choice to participate in.”

Guymon shared her thoughts to Campus Reform, saying that the school official’s “concern with this event” was “very disappointing to hear especially because Xavier is a Christian university, so I would have expected this event to be celebrated as an opportunity for students to engage in conversation about the importance of defending the Christian Holy Land and how to support our Jewish neighbors in a time when they are feeling so alone.”

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“I had seen on Instagram that Xavier University’s Center for Faith and Justice held an event on October 30th for Muslim Students and their allies to discuss recent events and resources available for students connected to Palestine. Considering the war began on October 7th, this did not follow the University’s policy of events being approved 30 days in advance,” she continued. 

Guymon added, “Overall, this was a very frustrating back and forth with the administration. It was sad to see that discussions around how the war is affecting Palestine have been celebrated and open to the entire student body, but when we tried to have a discussion about israel it immediately got shot down. As stated in the Xavier Univeristy [sic] mission statement, we are an ‘inclusive environment of open and free inquiry.’ By excluding conversations that do not fit the liberal agenda, there is no way to have open or free inquiry. There is no diversity in only having the opportunity to hear one side’s perspective.” 

Campus Reform has reached out to the Office of Student Involvement for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.