*This article mentions sexual violence.
As the Israeli war on Hamas in Gaza persists, protests continue on Occidental’s campus. Just as President Tom Stritikus settled complaints about antisemitism on campus, a memorial to Palestinian victims on the Academic Quad was vandalized and allegations arose of SJP protestors deliberately misdirecting attendees of a campus event.
Occidental enters into voluntary resolution agreement with ADL and Brandeis Center
President Stritikus announced Nov. 26 that Occidental entered into a voluntary resolution agreement Nov. 22 with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (Brandeis Center), settling a complaint the groups filed with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights that alleged Occidental had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by allowing antisemitism on campus.
One Jewish student, who asked to remain anonymous fearing social ostracization for their beliefs, said the resolution is a step in the right direction.
“It is nice to know that someone is standing up for me and other Jewish students on campus,” the student said. “With the protests and the encampments and everything, it was really tough last year to be a Jewish student on campus.”
The student said that signs such as the one that read, “When people are occupied, resistance is justified” were used at the protests last Spring semester, which they interpreted as justification for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. This rhetoric, the student said, struck them as an instance of antisemitism.
According to the resolution, Occidental agreed to train all students about Title VI and the college’s Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Policy, update demonstration guidelines and refer to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition and examples of antisemitism when reviewing complaints of potential antisemitic harassment or discrimination, among other points.
The resolution states that Occidental will consider the IHRA definition of antisemitism when investigating harassment or discrimination, but this does not preclude other definitions of antisemitism from also being considered.
According to the IHRA’s website, examples of antisemitism include denying Jewish people their right to self-determination by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
In his New Yorker article “The Problem with Defining Antisemitism,” journalist Eyal Press wrote, “Within the Palestine-solidarity movement, there is a widespread belief that defenders of Israel have used the IHRA definition to censor speech and silence legitimate criticism.”
Another Jewish student who spoke with The Occidental anonymously said they would like to have seen additional definitions of antisemitism included in the resolution.
Independent journalist Arvind Dilawar, in an article published in The Progressive Magazine, wrote that the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights received 515 complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry between October 2023 and September 2024.
Brandeis Center President Alyza Lewin told The Occidental that one of the greatest challenges universities face today is recognizing the full spectrum of how antisemitism manifests on campuses.
“Universities need to be able to recognize when what’s taking place on campus is actually the vilification of Jews, as opposed to a good-faith political debate,” Lewin said.
One of the students said that they would like to see more speakers on campus who are Zionists. The student said that although the resolution is a step in the right direction, the damage has been done.
“I know people that don’t feel safe being outwardly Jewish on campus. I know people that have transferred because of the environment, or people aren’t coming to Oxy because of the protests,” the student said. “They see these things and they say, ‘You know what, my voice isn’t accepted here, I won’t come here.’”
According to Lewin, Jewish students at Occidental and other colleges have been equated with evil for identifying as members of a people indigenous to the land of Israel.
“At a minimum, stop shunning people on the basis of who they are,” Lewin said. “The whole point of this is that nobody on campus should be shunned or marginalized or excluded or harassed or demonized on the basis of who they are, on the basis of their identity.”
Palestinian memorial on Quad vandalized
A memorial for Palestinians killed in Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza was vandalized over the weekend of Nov. 23, according to Occidental Students for Justice in Palestine (Oxy SJP) and Occidental Jewish Voice for Peace (Oxy JVP) spokesperson Tobias Lodish (sophomore).
The memorial consisted of around 100 fliers hanging from the coast live oak trees on the Academic Quad. The fliers were laminated pieces of paper, each with the image and biography of a Palestinian killed in the Israel-Hamas War. They were stripped from the trees before the intended removal date of Nov. 25, according to Lodish.
Occidental’s Director of Communications Rachael Warecki said via email that the college is conducting an ongoing investigation into the vandalism.
According to Warecki, Oxy SJP and Oxy JVP worked with the College Events Advisory Committee to ensure that the memorial complied with the college’s event policies.
Lodish said via text that the hours of work put into honoring the memories of these martyrs were carelessly and violently undone and that the martyrs deserve the destruction of the memorial to be thoroughly investigated.
“They deserve for the perpetrators to be brought to justice in accordance with school precedent,” Lodish said via text. “They deserve real recognition.”
Film screening attendees misdirected
Attendees were directed away from a Nov. 22 screening and panel discussion of “Screams Before Silence” — a film depicting sexual violence during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel — to a “Transnational Feminist Solidarities” panel, according to “Screams Before Silence” panelist Heidi Basch-Harod.
In an article published in The Times of Israel, Basch-Harod wrote that students supporting the “Transnational Feminist Solidarities” panel purposefully redirected attendees to their event.
“The subtext, that coming together in solidarity to witness the experience of Jewish women and sexual violence in the midst of war was not considered a discussion of transnational feminism, did not escape me,” Basch-Harod wrote.
Lodish said via text that the groups are considering a legal response to Basch-Harod’s allegations, which they believe are intended to justify low attendance at the screening.
“These clearly unhinged allegations are not only absurd, but are defamatory and we are weighing a legal response,” Lodish said via text. “Our Transnational Feminist Solidarities Panel was an attempt to provide a platform for dialogue and education, not an act of censorship.”
Professor of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Caroline Heldman, who organized the series of feminist film showings that included “Screams Before Silence,” said via email she was deeply saddened by the actions of some students to prevent others from attending the screening of the film, which was also organized by a diverse group of transnational feminists. Heldman said via email that she has harshly condemned the killing of civilians in Gaza on TV, supported Oxy SJP for many years and used her media platform to excoriate college administrators for mistreating student protesters.
According to Heldman, a short film that centers on the pain of Palestinians, “Daughters of Abraham,” was played first at the “Screams Before Silence” screening.
Heldman said via email that the screening could have been a great learning moment.
“Oxy is a vibrant, diverse intellectual community, and if one holds a position that requires them to silence rather than engage others in the community, it runs counter to our educational mission and unnecessarily divides our community,” Heldman said via email. “I met with SJP students prior to the screening, invited them to be panelists and promised to distribute a sheet expressing their concerns with the film ‘Screams Before Silence,’ but I never heard back.”
Contact James Miller at jmiller4@oxy.edu
“My colleagues and I haven’t been able to establish that anyone locked a door to keep students from getting in to see Sheryl Sandberg’s film Screams Before Silence—which documents sexual violence by Hamas on Oct 7. Nor have we been able to establish that anyone tried to fool would-be attendees and “assembled students throughout parts of the campus to redirect people to” a counter-event (although there was certainly a counter-event).” From @omni_american