Pro-Palestinian Group Banned on Political Grounds (at Fordham University)

[Mosby]

Fordham University has denied an application to form a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on campus, citing as its rationale the group's political goals -- including its support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel -- and the potential for polarization.

Keith Eldredge, the dean of students at the Manhattan campus of Fordham, a Jesuit institution, outlined the reasons for the denial in a Dec. 22 email (a slightly redacted version is available here). “While students are encouraged to promote diverse political points of view, and we encourage conversation and debate on all topics, I cannot support an organization whose sole purpose is advocating political goals of a specific group, and against a specific country, when these goals clearly conflict with and run contrary to the mission and values of the university,” Eldredge wrote.

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Eldredge, the dean of students who wrote the email outlining the reasons for the denial, referred an interview request to a college spokesman, Bob Howe, who issued a written statement. "Fordham has no registered student clubs the sole focus of which is the political agenda of one nation, against another nation," the statement said. "For the university's purposes, the country of origin of the student organizers is irrelevant, as is their particular political stance. The narrowness of Students for Justice in Palestine's political focus makes it more akin to a lobbying group than a student club. Regardless of the club’s status, students, faculty and staff are of course free to voice their opinions on Palestine, or any other issue."

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/01/18/fordham-denies-student-palestinian-rights-group-approval-being-too-polarizing