Fw: [IAC] Fwd: Urgent Call to Action - Rutgers University Officials Cancel Palestine Conference

["Ulliana Stefano" <ulliana1 at tin.it>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Action Center" <ActionCenter.actgen at action-mail.org>
To: <ActionCenter.actgen at action-mail.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2003 12:22 AM
Subject: [IAC] Fwd: Urgent Call to Action - Rutgers University Officials
Cancel Palestine Conference


> 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! ***
>
> (Press release follows this Call to Action)
>
> Today, Rutgers University officials have CANCELLED the
> Third National Student Conference of 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 the following people. Please
> also send a copy of your letter to
> endorse at njsolidarity.org
>
> 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 at rutgers.edu
>
> or,
> Emmet Dennis
> Vice President for Student Affairs
> 732-932-8756
> dennis at oldqueens.rutgers.edu
>
> or,
> Marie T. Logue
> Associate Dean
> 732-932-7442
> logue at rci.rutgers.edu
>
> SUPPORT THE CONFERENCE AND REGISTER NOW ONLINE:
> http://www.divestmentconference.com
>
> ENDORSE NOW ONLINE:
> http://www.njsolidarity.org/conference/confendorse.html
>
> DONATE:
> www.njsolidarity.org/confdonate.html
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> CONTACT:
> Paola Rizzuto
> New Jersey Solidarity
> (347)239-9156
> Invisipoet at aol.com
>
> Charlotte Kates
> New Jersey Solidarity
> 973-297-0161
> 732-207-7215
> ckates at pegasus.rutgers.edu
>
> ADMINISTRATION ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE STUDENT SPEECH AT
> BEHEST OF PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY; ATTEMPTS TO CANCEL STUDENT
> CONFERENCE
>
> NEW BRUNSWICK - (September 12, 2003) - Dean Marie Logue of
> the Department of Student Affairs at Rutgers College;
> Rutgers University today announced to several student
> representatives of student Palestine advocacy organization
> New Jersey Solidarity that the administration has deemed
> that "logistics" forbid students to proceed with a
> national Palestine solidarity conference scheduled for
> October 10-12, 2003; the student organization is
> determined to continue, saying they will hold the
> conference "wherever we must." This decision comes the day
> University President Robert McCormick is scheduled to
> appear at a dinner sponsored by Rutgers Hillel, a Zionist
> group on campus.
>
> The hastily-called meeting, to which students were called
> on Thursday evening, was unexplained. The organization's
> faculty advisor, Dr. Robert Trivers, was unavailable, and
> students attempted to reschedule the meeting, but were
> denied. Dean Logue stated at the meeting that "deadlines"
> prevented the conference from occurring, even though
> students had raised over $6,000 to be deposited in their
> account and met with Dean Johnston of Rutgers College on
> September 5 - the day of the allegedly missed deadlines.
> Organizers replied that this assertion was "ludicrous. The
> deans of this University have made it clear on numerous
> occasions that they do not want this conference to happen.
> This is political repression - just as the Palestinian
> people have been repressed through history. The University
> is attempting to abuse bureaucracy in order to silence
> student voices," said Paola Rizzuto, a Rutgers College
> sophomore and President of the organization.
>
> "We refuse to be silenced. We will hold our conference.
> The Palestinian people have continued to resist despite
> incredible and overwhelming force displayed against them -
> and we owe them nothing less than to refuse to be
> silenced. We stand in solidarity with Palestine, and we
> call upon this university to divest all of its funds from
> the state of Israel and companies that do business with
> it. To do otherwise is to support apartheid. This is an
> official action on the part of Rutgers University in
> support of apartheid," said Charlotte Kates, a second-year
> student at Rutgers School of Law in Newark.
>
> Robert McCormick, the University's new President, is
> scheduled to appear tonight at a Hillel-sponsored dinner
> at Brower Commons, the University dining hall. Rutgers
> Hillel is sponsoring "Israel Inspires," a
> counter-conference that will take place the same weekend
> as the student Palestine solidarity conference. "This
> appearance indicates the overt bias and discrimination
> displayed by Rutgers University administration," said
> Cecilia Joulain, a Douglass College senior and Treasurer
> of New Jersey Solidarity. "Bureaucracy is not an excuse.
> This is an attempt to silence student organizing at the
> University."
>
> ------------------
> Send replies to iacenter at action-mail.org
>
> This is the IAC activist announcement
> list. Anyone can subscribe by sending
> any message to <ActionCenter.actgen-subscribe at action-mail.org>
> To unsubscribe <ActionCenter.actgen-off at action-mail.org>