CONTACT RUTGERS ADMINISTRATION: Rutgers University Officials Cancel Palestine Conference!
Statement from the Organizing Committee of the Third National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement at Rutgers University
This is an Urgent Call to Action! Your immediate solidarity is needed!
Today, Rutgers University officials have CANCELLED the Third National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement, scheduled for October 10-12, 2003 at Rutgers University.
Yet, the students at Rutgers University are determined to hold the conference as planned.
In canceling this widely supported conference throughout North America, the university administration has trampled on constitutional rights, muted free speech, and has betrayed its pledge to fairness and education.
This is an attack on peace and justice activists everywhere. It is an attack on our society as a whole and on our right to free expression and assembly.
But the university administration has gone much farther, and has taken a shameful overt political stand in favor of Israeli Apartheid. As the university cancels the Palestine conference, it is simultaneously supporting an overarching pro-Israel program called "Israel Inspires", organized by the likes of AIPAC and Hillel International along with others, which will be held at Rutgers to "neutralize the Palestinian movement".
According to the official website of "Israel Inspires" (www.israelinspires.org), the president of Rutgers University, Dr. Richard L. McCormick, "pledged his support for Israel Inspires, and asked to be personally involved in Hillel's positive pro-active initiative." In fact, President McCormick will appear tonight as a keynote at a pro-Israel event hosted by Zionists groups at Rutgers University. Featured participants at the "Israel Inspires" program during the weekend of October 10-12 will include the arch-Zionist Richard Perle and former CIA Director, James Woolsey. They will join the president of the right-wing Hudson Institute, Herbert London, and the publisher & CEO of the Jerusalem Post, Tom Rose. On September 18, 2003, Israeli Minister, Natan Sharansky, will be featured as the opening speaker of the anti-Palestinian year-long program.
Palestine solidarity students and activists have the same right to assemble and hold a conference. They have the right to demand that their university is not invested in another Apartheid system, and that they are not party to the suppression of the Palestinian people. They have the right to express their views and be heard without intimidation and constant harassments.
Palestine solidarity students and activists should not be silenced by anyone. The Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities should not be marginalized and positioned as conspirators.
These attacks on the organizers of the Palestine conference and the movement have mirrored the escalating assault on the Palestinian people, and have intersected with the attacks against our civil liberties and constitutional rights. The movement for peace and justice is at a crossroad today, and our society is being tested and pushed to the limits.
The Palestine solidarity movement needs your support! The Third National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement must be held as planned.
To register your objection to the university action, and to support the students' constitutional right to hold the conference, please contact:
Richard L. McCormick, President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
83 Somerset Street
New Brunswick
New Jersey 08901
Telephone: 732/932-7454
Fax: 732/932-8060
Email: president@rutgers.edu
or,
Emmet Dennis
Vice President for Student Affairs
732-932-8756
dennis@oldqueens.rutgers.edu
or,
Marie T. Logue
Associate Dean
732-932-7442
logue@rci.rutgers.edu
Use online form to send email to Rutgers.
Sign the Rutgers University Divestment Petition: www.rutgersdivest.org
Attend the Third Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement: www.divestmentconference.com
New Jersey Solidarity - Activists for the Liberation of Palestine September 12, 2003
November 2002 Action Alert re: Daily Targum
March 2003 Action Alert re: "From the river to the Sea" banner
June 2003 Action Alert re: Citispot Cafe
July 2003 Action Alert re: Attacks on Conference
August 2003 Action Alert re: Tell McGreevey - NO $20 Million to Israel