Stanford refuses to condemn pro-Hamas banners, instead vows to help students find proper place to hang them
'These removals are based on the location of the banners, not the content or viewpoint expressed.'
In a statement acknowledging campus displays celebrating this weekend’s Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians, Stanford University has released a statement vowing to help students find proper placement for the displays and insisting that the school “does not take positions on geopolitical issues and news events.”
Photographs posted by X user Max Meyer show banners made from bedsheets flown from buildings around campus, including the Charles B. Thornton Center for Engineering Management. Banners photographed read “The Israeli occupation is NOTHING BUT AN ILLUSION OF DUST,” “HANDALA IS RETURNING BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY,” and “The illusion of Israel IS BURNING,” alongside the Palestinian flag.
The Stanford admin had a statement within hours of multiple Trump exec orders they didn’t like, statements on racism hoaxes, and about the Paris Climate agreement.
It’s been almost 3 days since a terrorist invasion of Israel, banners all over campus, and...
Nothing! Crickets! https://t.co/n3kPgWxm7B— Max Meyer (@mualphaxi) October 9, 2023
Stanford acknowledged the banners in a Monday statement, clarifying that it would not take a stand against the “content or viewpoint expressed,” but rather was working to find the students responsible for hanging the banners so that it could help the students hang the displays in an approved area.
”An effort is being made to identify the individuals who hung the banners so they may be advised where the banners may be posted without violating university rules,” reads the statement signed by Vice Provost for Student Affairs Susie Brubaker-Cole and Dean for Religious and Spiritual Life Tiffany Steinwert.
”These removals are based on the location of the banners, not the content or viewpoint expressed,” it clarified.
But, as Meyer pointed out, Stanford has condemned the content of displays as recently as May, when it issued a statement in response to swastikas drawn on a whiteboard affixed to a student’s dorm door.
In 2021, a Stanford statement about an individual student’s expulsion following racist social media posts asserted that “Threats to members of the Stanford community, whether those threats are direct or implied, are unacceptable,” adding “Identity-based attacks, of all kinds, are antithetical to our values.”
Stanford’s claim that it does not comment on “geopolitical issues and news events” contradicts several past statements, including a 2021 statement from University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne about the then-ongoing George Floyd case, and a 2015 letter sent to French officials detailing specific policy recommendations ahead of the Paris Climate Summit.
Campus Reform has contacted Stanford University for comment. This article will be updated accoridngly.
