On April 22, the Tufts chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) received the “Collaboration Award” from the Tufts Office for Campus Life, in honor of their work uniting a coalition of more than twenty student groups to confront police militarization from the Tufts campus to Palestine. Two days later, the Tufts administration issued a statement condemning the award and referring to elements of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as “anti-Semitic.” Soon after, Tufts Hillel director Naftali Brawer sent out a similar statement, arguing that SJP’s award had sent a “negative message to the Jewish community” and that Hillel would “continue to advocate for Jewish students.”
As a group of Jewish students at Tufts, we are dismayed by the university’s statement regarding Students for Justice in Palestine’s recent award, as well as Brawer’s response. As members of Alt-J, Tufts’ alternative, independent Jewish community, we want to offer an alternative perspective to that of the administration and of Tufts Hillel.
In writing that SJP winning an award “has caused a great deal of pain and concern for Jewish members of our community,” the Tufts administration is not only falsely conflating advocacy for Palestine with antisemitism, but they are portraying the Tufts Jewish community as a monolith. This erasure of the multiplicity of Jewish identities is extremely harmful to Jewish students, and we want to urge the administration to recognize both the danger of their accusations and the insult felt by Jewish members of the Tufts community who do not tie their religion or spirituality to unequivocal support for the state of Israel.
We are saddened and angered to see Judaism defined for the student body without all Jewish voices being heard, both by a university administration that is not explicitly Jewish, as well as by Hillel. In refusing to partner with speakers or organizations that are critical of Israel (due to its Standards of Partnership), Hillel does not speak for a large portion of the Tufts Jewish community. By unequivocally condemning SJP’s statement while claiming to “advocate for Jewish students,” Hillel director Brawer makes very clear which Jewish students are welcome and which are not.
Moreover, we want to call out the university for their inaction when actual antisemitic incidents occur on campus. Sending out a university-wide email or creating “bias response teams” after a swastika appears on a student’s door does not assuage the harm caused and does not protect Jewish students in the future. Alt-J, along with other Jewish groups on campus, were disappointed by the administration’s inaction despite calls for more serious and structural changes. Instead, this inaction and selective outrage show that the university prioritizes the needs of Jewish students only as they align with institutional interests, and many of us are left feeling unrepresented and tokenized.
Our Jewish practices teach us to advocate for oppressed communities and call out injustice wherever it occurs. SJP’s work on #EndtheDeadlyExchange focuses on reducing police militarization on the Tufts campus by ending existing partnerships between Tufts police and the Israeli military. This campaign has the support of over twenty other student groups representing a wide range of justice and identity groups, such as United for Immigrant Justice, Tufts Climate Action, Arab Student Association, and Jewish Voice for Peace. As Jewish members of the Tufts community, we believe that this important work is not in opposition to our own work as Jews, but is actually a direct manifestation of our Jewish values. We also do not wish to speak for all members of the Tufts Jewish community or argue that all Jews will share these beliefs, but we believe that standing in solidarity with other marginalized groups – which Tufts SJP is actualizing through its campaign – is an essential part of being Jewish.
We urge Tufts to revoke this harmful statement and apologize to SJP and all the other student groups targeted by this statement. Furthermore, we hope that Tufts can commit to providing tangible support to Jewish and other marginalized populations instead of publishing targeted statements that sow seeds of distrust among our campus community.
Seth Gordon is a student at Tufts University, where he studies art history and political science. He is a member of Tufts Labor Coalition, Alt-J, Melisma Magazine, and the student-run radio, WMFO.
Molly Tunis is a student at Tufts University where she studies American studies and studio art. She is active in the Tufts chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Alt-J.
Georgia Kay is a student at Tufts University where they study American studies. They are a member of the Tufts Labor Coalition, the Amalgamates, and Alt-J.
Luca Rogoff is a student at Tufts University where he is co-majoring in American studies and environmental studies. He is an active member of the Tufts Labor Coalition, Tufts Mountain Club, and Alt-J.
Micah Kraus is a sophomore at Tufts studying American studies. He is an active member of Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine, Alt-J, and Tufts Labor Coalition.
