[Editor’s Note: The views expressed in open letters published in The Clerk are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the opinions of the publication, its editorial board, or its staff.]
By: Ellie Baron, Claire Reisberg, and Nathan Schechter
On Wednesday, May 7, Haverford College president Wendy Raymond will testify at the Congressional Committee on Education & Workforce about antisemitism at Haverford. As Jewish Haverford students who are proud members of Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization dedicated to practicing Jewish ritual through the lens of collective liberation and advocating for a free Palestine, we have felt compelled to respond to the Committee’s allegations of antisemitism on our campus.
The Committee cites incidents that are not, in fact, antisemitic to justify their interrogation of President Raymond. Instead, they attack Haverford’s commitment to fostering dialogue between people with different perspectives. By painting events that criticize the state of Israel as antisemitic, the Committee erases the range of views about the State of Israel, especially amongst Jewish people. This hearing claims to be about antisemitism, but is unmistakably an excuse to target the most vulnerable people on our campus.
Haverford teaches us to engage critically with different viewpoints. We pride ourselves on our small classes and close-knit community, which enables us to have rich, intellectual discussions and respectful disagreement. Our community “values[s] free and open inquiry as fundamental to learning, scholarship, and discovery—the core tenets of academic freedom.” Similarly, “we welcome differing perspectives, which are essential to the pursuit of truth and knowledge.”
The Committee, however, defines antisemitism in a way that limits academic freedom and debate. Following the guidance of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), it equates anti-Israel rhetoric to antisemitism and silences anti-Israel viewpoints. The Committee characterized Jewish students’ protest of an ADL event, which promoted a violently pro-Israel narrative, as antisemitic. It has also smeared Rabbi Rebecca Alpert’s talk “Judaism Does (Not) Equal Zionism” as “promot[ing] a culture of antisemitic discrimination.” This characterization of Jewish speech on campus as antisemitic undermines our community’s values of freedom of expression and diversity of thought. It censors views that are critical of Israel, preventing dialogue and engagement with one of the most pressing issues of our time.
Jews around the world and at Haverford have a wide variety of views and relationships with the State of Israel. Censoring open discussion of the complicated relationship between Jews and the state of Israel and smearing legitimate criticism of Israel masks this diversity among Jews. The Committee’s hearing on antisemitism disregards the diversity of Jewish thought and erases Jewish people who practice Judaism beyond Zionism. At Bi-Co Jewish Voice for Peace, we have held weekly anti-Zionist Shabbat rituals, hosted dozens of students and faculty for our Passover Seder last month, and welcomed community members to our Sukkah in October for ritual, art, and food. We are a cultural home for many Jews across the Bi-Co who come from varying traditions and backgrounds. Despite all of this, we were named as an antisemitic organization in the Committee’s letter.
The Committee fails to recognize that Jewish students, including but not limited to Jewish Voice for Peace members, have been some of the most vocal critics of Israel. We have repeatedly underscored that the censorship of pro-Palestine events at Haverford, including events led by and for Jewish students, does not keep us safe. When the ADL was invited to speak on campus last September, over 50 Jewish students wrote to our administration that the “Anti-Defamation League’s presence as an organization that promotes repression on college campuses, racist policies, and the falsehood that all Jews are Zionists would make us feel unsafe and unheard on our own campus.” And, in response to the hearing, more than 60 Jewish students at Haverford—and counting—have urged the Congressional committee “to stop weaponizing antisemitism for [their] political benefit.”
The Committee’s other examples of antisemitism are misleading and inaccurate. For instance, they cite a lawsuit that claims institutional discrimination against Jewish students at Haverford as factual evidence of antisemitism. Yet, in January, a federal court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that it “spills pages of ink on lengthy frolics about events on other college campuses and about ideological debates” instead of “isolating instances of harassment and logically relating them to the elements of a hostile environment claim.” The Committee’s letter also attributes the removal of posters that advertised an event at Chabad, a Zionist Jewish group, to antisemitism. In reality, the posters were likely taken down because they violated the school-wide postering policy.
The erasure of Bi-Co Jewish Voice for Peace and Jewish students who are critical of Israel extends to Haverford’s campus. In President Raymond’s email on Friday, she wrote, “I have listened to your stories and learned from those directly impacted by antisemitism.” Yet, the large population of Jews critical of Israel was not contacted or consulted.
Haverford has been a vibrant place for free speech and student protest. We call upon the Haverford community to continue fostering healthy dialogue and supporting students who are practicing their religious traditions. In this vein, we urge the community to reject a definition of antisemitism that violates Haverford’s commitment to freedom of thought and creates a monolith out of Jewish students. Haverford College must stand in alignment with our core values and protect our students, from anti-Zionist students facing political repression to undocumented students facing deportation.
[Haverford students can submit Letters to the Editor using this Google Form or by emailing hcclerk@gmail.com.]
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These students cite “respectful disagreement” but members of JVP have repeatedly failed to live up to this core tenet of Haverford’s academic freedom. To wit, Bi-Co JVP was recently placed on interim suspension by Bryn Mawr College for disrupting a new-admit meeting, with chants and an amplified bullhorn. A similar stunt was foisted upon attendees at the ADL teach-in at Haverford, where these students tried to silence views contrary to their own; ironic that they claim *they* are being silenced, when they are making the most noise on campus and smearing other students and invited visitors.
Regarding those Chabad posters, LH posted on X that he removed them intentionally, an act of antisemitism per president Raymond; there is no “likely taken down” wiggle room on this one. Additionally, and this may be breaking news for these students for whom fact-checking is apparently a skill not yet learned, the lawsuit has not concluded. A final decision is yet to be issued by the judge.
In sum, despite the merits espoused by JVP, and the cause for peaceful resolution of conflict always having merit, these lapses render their overall integrity and arguments of “healthy dialogue” as disingenuous.
How quiet does opposition to genocide need to be for you to consider it healthy? Presumably, the images and videos coming out of Gaza don’t bother you– children shot in the head, burns from white phosphorous on newborn infants, man-made famine, and statements from the Israeli cabinet that Gazans must evacuate “for their own protection.” Feeling disgusted and outraged by the genocide has nothing to do with hatred of Jews and everything to do with love of humanity– a critical part of the Haverford education that you seem to have missed. Maybe you can redirect some of the anger you have over defaced Chabad posters towards a government that bombs hospitals and lies about it.