[Editor’s note: Open letters published in the Bi-College News do not reflect the views of the publication, its staff, or its editorial board. This letter represent only the views of the author. The Bi-Co News continues to strive to reflect the perspectives and experiences of all students across the Consortium.]
Those who deny that the last 15 months of brutality unleashed on the Palestinian people constitutes genocide now have to contend with Amnesty International; the International Court of Justice which ruled affirmatively on the plausibility of ongoing genocide and on the apartheid nature of the Israeli regime; the International Criminal Court which recently issued arrest warrants for Bibi Netenyahu and Yoav Gallant for the intentional starvation of civilians; the growing consensus opinion of many of the world’s leading experts in genocide studies (some of whom, such as Raz Segal, Amos Goldberg, and Lee Mordechai are Israeli); and the virtually unanimous perspective from Palestinians on the ground in Gaza, in the West Bank, and in the diaspora who lived through this devastation.
During the 2023-24 academic year, Haverford students urged President Raymond to make a statement in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, including passing a plenary resolution with over 90% of the student vote to this effect. President Raymond acknowledged the resolution without making such a statement, and at the beginning of last semester she announced that she would no longer be issuing any presidential statements on ongoing world events unless there is some relevance to Haverford or to higher education more broadly. The point of this piece is not to attack this decision, but to interrogate the underlying assumption that it conveys when one reads between the lines: that whatever is going on in Palestine is not relevant to the Bi-Co, nor higher education more broadly.
But if the last year has proven anything it’s that many in the BiCo disagree wholeheartedly, in that they see this issue as central to considerations of policy and governance on our two campuses, for example: students establishing encampments and designing a host of other unprecedented protests; Zionist and anti-Zionist faculty alike expressing their political views and exercising their rights to academic freedom of speech; and alumni and outside observers writing to admin demanding that this or that event should or shouldn’t go on as planned. Bi-Co students understand that while the recently established ceasefire – as fragile as it may be – is of course welcome and long-awaited, it is not to be confused with self determination for Palestinians, the end of the practice of apartheid, or the establishment of life-sustaining conditions in Gaza or for refugees in the diaspora. And so their organizing continues into the Spring semester, including a recent die-in during the Board of Trustees weekend to call for transparency in how the college invests its endowment.
From where does all of this passion regarding Israel/Palestine in the Bi-Co arise? It might be tempting to lean into the “Bi-Co bubble” perspective: we’re a small and tight-knit community and it’s just not altogether clear that what what happens on our campuses is in any way related to Palestine. But academia — especially in the U.S. given the role it plays in maintaining the oppressive status quo—has for many years been a site of struggle with regard to Palestine. This is perhaps because a major component of Israeli government strategy revolves around controlling the public narrative (as is the case with most modern states, especially when they’re engaging in violence on a mass scale). The movement for Palestinian liberation is therefore fundamentally concerned with knowledge. Given the recent announcement of a nearly 20-fold increase in Israeli government funds allocated for state propaganda since last year, we can expect the importance of learning the genuine history of the region and engaging directly with Palestinians to only grow. No matter what our administrators say, more so perhaps than with other contemporary struggles for social justice, college campuses are a crucible for debate, tension, and conflict around Palestine.
And what about connections to higher education in general, outside of the Bi-Co? A key component of the genocide is what international observers have coined a scholasticide: the intentional destruction of Palestinian knowledge production, of professors and students, of schools, of archives, and of other places of learning. Palestine has one of the most highly educated populations in the world, and university plays a central role in everyday political and social life. In the last year every university in Gaza has been eradicated, leaving tens of thousands of university students without the means to continue their studies.
Due to this destruction of educational infrastructure, a call went out to professors across the world to teach courses to Gazan students virtually. Last semester I taught a calculus course to 20 Gazan university students. Half of them were unable to engage due to lack of internet access and other insurmountable barriers. Amazingly, the other half actually did find a way to learn about partial derivatives and line integrals despite living in tents and accessing material on their phones with E-sims, turning in their homework via Whatsapp. That even one of them managed this is a testament to the Sumoud – the steadfastness- of Palestinians in Gaza, and to the enduring commitment of many Palestinians to the pursuit of knowledge and education.
None of this is to say that President Raymond was necessarily wrong for keeping silent. There is an argument to be made that in the current political climate in which anti-Palestinian racism permeates the highest offices of our government, from a strategic point of view Haverford has more to lose than gain from its president putting out a public statement in support of Palestinian humanity. In such a dire political landscape, what is there to do for those of us who remain committed to taking action for Palestinian liberation? How can we, as students, faculty, and staff committed to the full personhood of every human being, act in accordance with these commitments? I don’t have definite answers, only suggestions:
- Engage in Palestine-related events on campus. Last semester Haverford (mostly with the help and hard work of members of the Bi-Co chapter of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine) hosted a collection of wonderful scholars with expertise on Palestine such as Ussama Makdisi, Maya Wind, Huda Fakhreddine, and Ahmad Almallah. In the coming semesters, there will be more such events and speakers, which you can find on the Bi-Co FSJP instagram (bicofsjp).
- Build community in the Bi-Co around Palestine. Look for chances to connect and organize for Palestine, and to learn its genuine history. This semester, a group of faculty, staff, and students is organizing the Edward Said Reading Group. It will be open to all in the Bi-Co and it will be a chance for reading, eating good food, and thinking critically about Palestine together in a low- key, low pressure environment.
- Don’t underestimate your own power, and don’t give in to anticipatory obedience. With fascism on the rise in the US, remember that it derives its power from fear, and that far more people will voluntarily silence themselves than will actually be targeted for their dissent. Nevertheless, the Trump administration’s recent executive order threatening to deport non-citizens for their activism on college campuses needs to be taken seriously. So, equally important to avoiding obeisance in advance is the need for strategy: speaking up does not mean that everyone takes risks simultaneously or in the same way. This is a time to be smart and protect one another — but not a time to stop our work towards justice for Palestine.
Tarik Aougab, Professor of Mathematics at Haverford College
