All isn’t sunny at the Florence and Chafetz Hillel House. At the Boston University Hillel event “All Students, All Israel Think Tank,” on Jan. 28, a group of students — mostly comprised of students of color — was approached by an armed police officer and asked to leave due to not being part of an “inner circle,” according to a Wednesday statement from attendees Marlo Kalb and Ibraheem Samirah.
At least one student had registered for the event, and the group was the only group with students of color at the event, according to the statement.
The group asked why they were being asked to leave. The officer said she was just following orders. An event organizer then approached the group and told them to leave because the students were reportedly being disruptive prior to the beginning of the event.
John Battaglino, assistant dean of students and director of student activities, said Hillel had the right to ask students to leave if it thought they would be disruptive to the event, according to the statement.
Kalb referred to the incident as “humiliating” and said Hillel showed that “certain students are not welcome [there].” The group posted a video of the incident to YouTube.
The expelled students said they were unfairly asked to leave the dialogue at Hillel due to their pro-Palestine views, according to the statement.
The group has made four demands.
First: “A public apology from Boston University Hillel, President [Robert] Brown, Dean [Kenneth] Elmore and Assistant Dean Battaglino and a public condemnation of the discrimination that took place at the event ‘All Students All Israel Think Tank.’”
Second: “Training for Boston University Hillel staff on cultural sensitivity to make Hillel a safe space for all students.”
Third: “[The release of] any information pertaining to the relationship between Hillel International, Boston University Hillel and Boston University, be it financial or political, to the public.”
And finally: The “opening of Boston University Hillel spaces for all Boston University-wide functions.”
There’s no way to tell what the students were planning to do at the dialogue, but if they hadn’t caused any disruption prior to the event, then there’s no reason why the police should’ve told them to leave.
This incident cannot be completely taken at face value. The student group just wanted to attend an event in Hillel. In ejecting them, Battaglino, representing the university, assumed the students were going to cause a stir. But the group did not give any sign that they were going to make a scene, and for banning these students from an event, the university behaved discriminatorily.
If we assume the student group did not plan to take any disruptive action and simply wanted to sit in on a dialogue, then they should have been able to do so. The event was open to the public on Facebook, after all.
Ever since 2015’s wave of campus protests and demonstrations, it looks like BU is doing as much as it can to suppress a major scene. BU took a precaution to remove a group that could’ve disrupted the event. But in doing so, it put itself in the middle of an even larger and more significant uproar.
The group sounds like it’s made up of activists who just want to do activism.
Some members of the group were outspoken pro-Palestine activists, and they should realize that the majority of the BU student body and the university’s administration clearly aren’t responding to their efforts. The group must come up with new ways to get its message across instead of pestering minor university events.
And the group’s demands are a little overblown. Yes, Hillel staff should be required to go through cultural sensitivity training if this incident is any indication of how they handle matters of cultural differences. But releasing information about the relationship between BU and Hillel is a little extreme for an incident of such a small scale. And condemning a campus organization is too extreme. Brown and Elmore have no obligation to apologize to this group of students. They weren’t involved with this event in any way. Besides, Brown doesn’t comment on anything unless there’s a tuition hike or a national tragedy.
Furthermore, Hillel doesn’t need to open itself up to all BU-wide functions. Hillel is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, according to its website. It’s meant to be a safe space for Jewish students on college campuses. It is not entirely associated with student organizations and should not be required in any way to make itself available for all purposes.
As it is, anyone can gather in Hillel. Both Jewish and non-Jewish students hang out together in the building already. In a sense, Hillel is already a peaceful space for everyone.
This David and Goliath battle is too murky to pick a side. All that’s apparent is that it’s unfair to completely paint Hillel as a discriminatory and unwelcoming place. Hillel wants people to experience Jewish culture. The organization may have its hidden problems, and maybe this group is doing good in speaking out against it. But one perspective doesn’t make a story.
A previous version of this story said that a group of students of color was approached by an armed police officer and asked to leave. It was brought to the editorial board’s attention that two white students were also part of the group. This correction is reflected in the story above