Rutgers temporarily suspended a student law group that impeached a Jewish member for calling out Hamas propaganda
Yoel Ackerman, a Jewish student, was impeached from the Student Bar Association for calling out anti-Semitism among its members.
Ackerman referred to his hearing as a 'public lynching' and expressed disappointment in the group.
After Rutgers University’s Student Bar Association (SBA) impeached a Jewish student for taking issue with pro-Hamas rhetoric being spread in the SBA group chat, the school briefly suspended the organization.
In a recently published open letter, Rutgers Law student Yoel Ackerman said that the situation leading to his impeachment began when a student posted pro-Hamas disinformation in the SBA group chat, including a video that claimed the tragedies of Oct. 7 were all “staged” by Israel.
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“Shocked at what I was seeing, I asked this individual why he shared this video in an SBA chat if it had zero to do with the SBA or Rutgers University,” Ackerman wrote. “He proudly responded, ‘I am just clearing up some information about Palestine.’”
A Rutgers Law Jewish student group email list had allegedly advised students to take records of anti-Semitism, so Ackerman sent a screenshot of the student sharing the video. Afterward, Ackerman was impeached for “‘doxing,’ defamation, and harassment.’”
“I found out later that the person who opened the investigation against me without even talking to me was one of the deans of Rutgers,” Ackerman told the New York Post.
Ackerman also called the ordeal a “public lynching,” stating, “I came out of [the impeachment hearing] feeling something like I never felt before.”
However, after the SBA moved to suspend its constitution so that Ackerman may be dismissed faster, Rutgers temporarily suspended the SBA before reinstating the student group.
“The Rutgers-Newark Division of Student Affairs continues to conduct an inquiry in response to two student complaints,” the school said according to the New York Post. “The situation involves claims and counterclaims between law students in the student-run organization.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Rutgers and Ackerman for comment and will update the story accordingly.
