State senator calls for pro-Hamas group to lose official status at UW–Madison
Wisconsin State Sen. Andre Jacque is calling for the University of Wisconsin–Madison to revoke the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter’s status.
"Imagine if these targeted Jewish students were instead persons of color, or some other officially-sanctioned 'marginalized' group," he wrote.
Wisconsin State Sen. Andre Jacque is calling for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, his alma mater, to revoke the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter’s status as an officially registered student organization.
Jacque has alleged that the university has failed to adequately address a complaint filed by Jewish students concerning their safety as ethnic minorities on campus.
“A few weeks ago, Jewish students at the University of Wisconsin in Madison presented officials with documented reports of bullying, intimidation, discrimination, and anti-Semitism directed at them from the illegal pro-Hamas encampment that protesters had established on campus,” Jacque wrote in a statement on Thursday.
“Those reports included university faculty and staff joining in and directly targeting and threatening Jewish students in their positions of power,” he continued. “The students told UW leadership they no longer felt safe on campus and asked administrators to take specific steps to ensure their security.”
Jacque, a Republican from De Pere, went on to argue that UW would likely have taken greater action in response to the students’ concerns if they were members of some different minority group that were typically understood as being “marginalized.”
“Imagine if these targeted Jewish students were instead persons of color, or some other officially-sanctioned ‘marginalized’ group; the response from the university and outcry from its community would – rightfully – be swift, severe, and resounding,” he wrote. “Why wasn’t this same level of concern, solidarity, and protection afforded to Jewish students?”
Following a nearly two-weeks-long encampment, administrators at UW struck a deal with SJP protesters under which the student organization agreed to disband the encampment in exchange for having certain demands met. In light of students’ demands that the university cut all financial ties to institutions linked to Israel, one condition of the agreement specified that “SJP may choose to engage in the shared governance process regarding principles of investment.”
[RELATED: House Oversight committee demands National SJP turn over funding documents]
Jacque also took issue with the school’s “apparent acceptance” of a passive stance on anti-Semitic discrimination.
“As a proud alumnus of UW-Madison, I am ashamed at the university’s apparent acceptance of this hateful, threatening climate on campus for Jewish students (that this complaint runs 47 pages is especially disturbing),” he wrote. “I agree with the students that the evidence documents violations of law and the Code of Conduct that warrant revoking the registration of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as a Registered Student Organization on campus.”
In response to Campus Reform’s request for comment, Sen. Jacque gave the following statement:
“UW-Madison leadership should never lose control of a key area of campus to any group. It is ridiculous that the administration allowed Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) - abetted in many cases by UW-Madison staff - to establish the illegal encampment as a base to specifically target Jewish students. Forty-seven documented pages of hateful threats and bullying endured by Jewish students should be enough to revoke the registration of any organization from campus. The university failed its most fundamental responsibility to maintain a safe campus for all its students and protect their right to pursue their higher education free from fear and harassment,” Jacque said.