UVA caves, will not discipline disruptive anti-Israel activists
The students had all charges dropped after they met with Student Affairs officials.
During the meeting, the activists read a condemnation of the Jewish state and called on the school to end financial ties with Israel.
The University of Virginia (UVA) has dropped disciplinary charges against five students who were previously arrested after taking part in an anti-Israel demonstration earlier this year.
Anti-Israel activists set up a tent encampment at the school on May 4. The disruptive protest led to police dispersing the demonstrators, and participating students were then investigated for “[d]isorderly conduct on University-owned or leased property.”
Eleven total students were arrested, some of whom have their degrees temporarily withheld, and some of whom faced the potential of being permanently removed from campus, according to The Daily Progress.
[RELATED: UPenn anti-Israel group falsely blames Jewish state for bombing it didn’t commit]
The 11 activists were initially due to have a meeting with the University Judiciary Committee to have their cases considered, but were given a way out by meeting instead with Student Affairs officials on an individual basis. They were told the charges against them would be ended if they took the latter option.
Six of the students agreed to meet with Student Affairs individually, but the remaining five insisted on meeting together as a group. During the meeting in mid-September, the activists condemned Israel’s counteroffensive against the terrorist group, Hamas, following the organization’s Oct. 7 massacre. They also called on the university to cut off all financial ties to the Jewish state, calling it an “apartheid regime.” Following the meeting, the charges were dropped.
Despite student pressure, a leader of the UVA Investment Management Company said recently: “We are not divesting from any investments . . . Our primary objective is to generate strong adjusted returns for the University of Virginia . . . We do not utilize divestment or negative screens for non-financial reasons.”
UVA has been the scene of numerous anti-Israel and anti-Semitic actions this past year.
On Sept. 6, it was discovered that a vandal at the school defaced an Israeli flag on campus, writing “Where is Palestine” on it. UVA leaders called the incident an “act of antisemitism” that had “no place at the University.”
[RELATED: Med school prof claims there are student ‘concerns’ over Israeli student’s ‘participation’ in ‘genocide’ due to IDF service]
On May 17, Matan Goldstein, a Jewish UVA student, sued school administrators and claimed the school failed to fight back against the anti-Semitism of anti-Israel activists. The lawsuit stated that Goldstein was “berated, insulted, threatened with violence, and physically assaulted” by participants at an anti-Israel protest that took place shortly after Oct. 7.
The lawsuit also claimed that Jewish students on campus were repeatedly insulted by being called “filthy Jews,” “Nazi,” and other terms.
Campus Reform has reached out to the University of Virginia for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
