University of Rochester anti-Israel groups blast university's handling of anti-Semitic posters, say it's an example of 'Anti-Palestinian racism'
Four students involved in an incident where anti-Semitic “wanted” posters were put up around the University of Rochester campus have been arrested.
Multiple student-led pro-Palestinian groups took to Instagram following the arrests and response from the University to claim that they are being treated unfairly.
The University of Rochester’s pro-Palestinian student groups have released a statement condemning university administrators for taking down anti-Semitic posters.
On Instagram, the groups stated that posters were recently put up on campus that “[H]ighlighted individuals and administrators with institutional ties to Israel-whose complicity sustains apartheid-or that have suppressed Palestinian voices.”
Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Rochester and the Rochester Democratic Socialists of America were among the groups that made the post.
However, the posters included the word “wanted” on them, with the posters targeting Jewish faculty members.
NEW: The University of Rochester is investigating vandalism after hundreds of intimidating wanted posters targeting Jewish faculty and staff were glued to walls on campus. pic.twitter.com/miNGPVNP3R
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) November 12, 2024
The university responded to the posting of the posters by launching an investigation that led to the arrests of four individuals involved with distribution and postage of the posters. The individuals were arrested on felony charges, including felony criminal mischief.
Responding to the university’s actions to take down the posters and find students responsible for putting the posters on various locations around the River Campus, the pro-Palestinian groups stated that they “[C]ategorically reject the University of Rochester’s disingenuous, discriminatory, and disproportionate response to the recent posters displayed on campus.
The groups pointed to the University’s financial ties to Israel, claiming that the school has $7.8 million in financial ties, to justify their posters. The groups stated that “[T]he University has chosen to criminalize dissent through excessive measures, including coordination with six external law enforcement agencies such as the FBI- an overtly militant response designed to intimidate and silence student and community advocacy.”
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The groups also alleged that the university’s actions are examples of “Anti-Palestinian racism (APR),” being that the response “[I]nvolves the systematic marginalization and dehumanization of Palestinians, criminalizing their advocacy for liberation and framing their existence as threatening.”
The groups also claimed that the University is creating a “climate of fear,” and is opening up vocally pro-Palestinian students to “harassment and racism.”
The groups added that Palestinian and Arab students who have filed incident reports have not been followed up with. The groups call the action to hold students connected to the posters accountable as one that “[P]erpetuates a troubling pattern of anti-Palestinian racism, where advocacy for Palestinian liberation is treated as a threat while actual incitements of violence are ignored.”
The groups also called on the University to “[C]ease its campaign of intimidation, divest from companies complicit in apartheid and war crimes, and uphold its stated commitment to the values of Meliora.”
