Exciting event today. Everyone must go:
This is not a protest.
This is not a protest.
This is NOT a protest.
This is a demonstration,
a demonstration expressing general concern in the campus community.
The reason for concern has become commonplace, routine, boring, and just straight old news.
Despite our community’s collective wisdom and diverse acumen, our method of handling emotionally stressful episodes on campus–often evoking sentiments surrounding sensitive identity categories– has been generally conflated with our way of doing homework: start thinking about it; procrastinate; look at it again because you got stressed out and nervous; have a grieving pow wow with some friends about it; procrastinate; repeat…This cycle ends as the wounded graduate off or when another episode starts the cycle starting over.
Enough concerned people–disciplined, empathetic, and determined–can strike a chord of dissent that will reverberate across campus community lines, raising this conversation urgency to level orange. And hopefully, these new vibes will begin opening a space for the conversations that will prevent future art exhibits, Walaa part I’s, Gravity sanctions, Nadia Kim’s, Don Hindley’s, Mod 22: Walaa the sequel’s, and Mamoon’s to exist.
Here will be links to things youll want to know about…
THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
come at 5:45 to Shapiro Campus Center, bring paper plates (to make face masks) with you and be silent… THIS IS NOT A PROTEST, this is demonstration.
-=-=-=–=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Knowledge Advancing Social Justice. For many students, these words are part of what
brought us to this school in the first place. However, as in all human institutions,
Brandeis itself suffers from imperfection, even in practicing the very ideals upon which
it was founded.The demonstration today is in regards an ongoing situation at Brandeis University. We are
asking the student body to carefully consider these things?the removal of Palestinian
Art, Nadia Kim, Gravity Magazine, Jimmy Carter, Donald Hindley and Mamoon Darwish?and
consider the implications of the way the Administration and the student body has
responded. If one student?s rights can be so openly violated, if Professor?s rights are
so blatantly disregarded at an institution devoted to justice and human rights, then how
safe are your own rights?In the past, the response of the Brandeis community has been to divide these issues and
argue over who is right and who is wrong. We are here today to show that these things are all pieces of the same puzzle. We demand that the university unite on all levels in dialogue about these issues. We demand that the administration foster the construction of a community based truth and justice rather than the destruction of the community through fear and dishonesty. We demand that the community hold the university responsible for due process and public justice. We demand that people do not stand aside, but instead stand together.Great Lawn
5 pm-discourse and preparation
6 pm-Silent demonstration of solidarity and presentation of demands
11 pm-Reconvene in the SCC for an open discussion
All members of the Brandeis community are asked to attend
(emphasis mine)
It’s a very powerful insight to realize that all the controversy, outrages, etc are all linked. More on that later. This event has the potential for greatness. I know I’ll be there. Will you?
You’ve completely dodged the question, by not explaining these connections. I just don’t see how the issue of an ambiguously racist joke in a humor magazine run by students has anything at all to do with the a student being suspended under murky circumstances, and so on and so forth. And where is the injustice over Carter? I don’t get it. Are you saying that his coming to speak here was a problem? This is really, really weak.
Ben – Fixed it.
Grievances:
the removal of Palestinian Art,
Nadia Kim,
Gravity Magazine,
Jimmy Carter,
Donald Hindley
Mamoon Darwish
All but two of them are connected to tensions driven by the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Brandeis is funded by rich right-wing Jews and rich left-wing Jews. The administration doesn’t want to offend the right-wingers, so it tends to do these outrageous things. Or at least, that’s the theory that I’m operating on.
Apparently that didn’t work… image s are not work on this blog.
Mission Accomplished
I’m not sure I get it. It seems like they’re linking too many unrelated things together. There’s just no coherence to this set of grievances, as far as I can tell (not that some of the things mentioned are not legitimate concerns in and of themselves).
Lev, you have a point. The threat of an action is usually more effective than the action itself.
Also, I updated a link – It’s being planned by Gabe Gaskins, Racial Minority Senator.
As for whether this is a good idea – I’m ambivalent/conflicted about the timing. I *don’t know* what the right thing to do here is. I think that Gabe and co are trying to make a powerful statement. Will that work out? We’ll see.
College is a learning process. Let’s learn if this sort of idea is a good one. Remember, this is also about us – the demonstration will transititon into a talk in the SCC.
Who is sponsoring/planning this?
It seems like its a really bad idea to do this on Accepted Students Day, the administration pretty much considers today to be the most sacred day of the year.
The planners can try and distinguish between a protest and demonstration all they’d like, but the reality is that making the administration angry isn’t going to help. Its just going to make them angry.
Bad planning, I hope the turnout for this is small. There are better and more effective ways to campaign for student rights.