- Newly formed Restore Our Campuses Coalition (ROCC)
representing broad cross-section of American schools spotlights
inaction by university leadership
- Calls for removal of federal funding of schools in
violation of Title VI
- Seeks termination of faculty and expulsion of students
who are in breach of university codes of conduct
- Requests Congress work with the Administration to
deport non-U.S. students who engage in antisemitic
activity
WASHINGTON, May 3, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- The Restore Our Campuses Coalition (ROCC), a newly
formed grassroots organization of students from colleges and
universities across the United
States, has sent a letter to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Mike Johnson, and
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,
requesting Congressional intervention to stop the "tsunami" of
antisemitism sweeping American campuses. Students from more than 50
universities signed the letter, citing inaction by university
leadership in the face of escalating incitement to violence,
threats, and harassment of Jewish students. ROCC's mission is to
restore college campuses to being safe environments for learning,
intellectual inquiry, and freedom of expression, where all students
are included and welcomed.
The antisemitism that is infecting our
campuses does not distinguish between Republicans, Democrats, or
Independents.
The letter expresses gratitude to the Speaker, Minority Leader
and House Education and Workforce Committee for their leadership on
these issues, while noting the recent unprecedented escalation of
antisemitism on campuses. The letter calls out that the chaos on
many campuses has been orchestrated by groups of students, faculty
and outside instigators who are declaring their support for
proscribed terror organizations, calling for the destruction of
Israel, and creating "Zionist free
zones" in public spaces on university campuses.
"As students and as Americans, we embrace and revere the right
to free speech and expression—even when the speech is
uncomfortable. However what is happening on campus is not an
exercise in freedom of speech. It is a regressive, coordinated
campaign that includes targeting of Jewish students because of our
beliefs and identity, with a clear goal of sewing mayhem,
disrupting the functioning of our universities, and depriving
students of the ability to safely learn and study," said
Eden Yadegar, an undergraduate
student at Columbia University.
"This is a moment that demands leadership by those who are
responsible for our campuses. Instead, unbelievably many of our
university leaders have taken no meaningful action to reassert
control over our campuses. What they have done is demonstrate
continued fecklessness, with a lack of resolve and have taken few
concrete steps to enforce rules by which all members of our
universities are required to abide," said Sabrina Soffer, an undergraduate student at
George Washington University.
The letter requests a series of specific measures by Congress,
including:
- Enforce Title VI violations and withhold federal funding for
identified violations.
- Call for the termination of faculty and expulsion of students
who are in breach of university codes of conduct—including for
social media posts that specifically support violence against Jews
(including Israelis). Freedom of speech does not include freedom to
incite, threaten or create a discriminatory environment for Jewish
students on campus. This is particularly egregious when it comes
from the very people who are supposed to be educating and teaching
students. Instead many are engaged in polemics and propaganda.
- Work with the Administration to initiate and enforce
deportation of non-U.S. students who engage in antisemitic
activity.
"The antisemitism that is infecting our campuses is a crisis
that knows no political boundary. It does not distinguish between
Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. Political affiliation
provides no immunity to this hateful virus which is antithetical to
our core American values," said Eyal
Yakoby, an undergraduate student at University of Pennsylvania.
About Restore Our Campuses Coalition
ROCC is a newly
formed grassroots group whose mission is to restore our campuses to
being safe environments for learning, intellectual inquiry, and
freedom of expression, where all students are included and
welcomed. We are American college students who are the children and
grandchildren of immigrants who fled persecution in other countries
and came to the United States to
be free of the scourge of antisemitism that has targeted Jews for
millenia. We have come together to speak with one voice, as one
community and to declare that we will not be bullied and victimized
by hate. For more information, please visit
www.restoreourcampuses.org
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SOURCE Restore Our Campuses Coalition