Townhall previously reported how more than 100 professors at Columbia signed a letter defending students who expressed support for Hamas’ attacks on Israel. In the letter, the professors called on the university to protect the students from “disturbing reverberations” for showing their support.
Now, faculty at one Ivy league school are taking a stand in support of Palestine.
Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania organized a “die-in” protest where they blocked the entrance to a campus building in support of Palestine.
Bassil Kublaoui, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at Penn Medicine and a spokesperson for Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine, said, “We’re here because the University has been largely overlooking the Palestinian community and the killings of tens of thousands of civilians” (via The Daily Pennsylvanian):
In the die-in, participants simulated being dead to represent the victims of the Israel-Hamas conflict and protest ongoing violence in Gaza. The main entrance of College Hall was closed for the duration of the protest, which lasted approximately one hour. Two Division of Public Safety officers stood behind the entrance throughout the demonstration.
[...]
The event began with protestors laying down on the steps of College Hall and holding signs protesting Palestinian deaths throughout the conflict. Protestors laid down a parchment displaying close to 7,000 names of Palestinian victims killed during the conflict and recited their names and ages.
The group reportedly formed on Jan. 17. In a statement, it claimed that the members stand with the "ongoing and ever-urgent struggles of Palestinians resisting occupation, warfare, and displacement.”
Late last year, it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Education launched investigations into schools over allegations of antisemitism. Penn was one of them, which Townhall covered.
"Hate has no place in our schools, period. When students are targeted because they are—or are perceived to be—Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Sikh, or any other ethnicity or shared ancestry, schools must act to ensure safe and inclusive educational environments where everyone is free to learn,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a press release.
"Hate has no place in our schools, period. When students are targeted because they are—or are perceived to be—Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Sikh, or any other ethnicity or shared ancestry, schools must act to ensure safe and inclusive educational environments...” - @SecCardona
— U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) November 17, 2023