Whiplash Decision for Installment of Students Supporting Israel Club sends Shockwaves through Campus
Bunker King | Staff Writer
SMC administration reverses an overwhelming vote at the Oct. 19 ICC meeting denying a long-standing club its position as an installed club.
Hostility brewed at the Inter-Club Council (ICC) meeting on Thursday, Nov. 2, as Santa Monica College (SMC) students, faculty and legal counsel discussed the controversial events that took place at an Oct.19 meeting where CC members voted against the installation of the Students Supporting Israel (SSI) club.
At that gathering, students from various clubs brought up concerns about the type of activities and rhetoric that SSI would be promoting on campus. One student, who did not identify themselves said, “I don’t think that it is right or fair to students in the school to have a club getting funded, getting syndicated through the college by the name of Students Supporting Israel… It sounds like this club wants to create an echo chamber for the thoughts of Jewish Nationalism.”
The Club was denied installation with 3 “yes” votes, 10 “no” votes, and 38 abstain votes according to the ICC meeting minutes.
The morning of Oct. 20th, SSI’s national Instagram account posted a statement reading, “Today, during a routine ICC meeting… We were told that we had no right to be a voice for the Israeli-Jewish community on campus, and we were thrown a barrage of hate.” The post continued, “In 2014, SSI won such a case at Augsburg College. In 2021, at Duke University. In 2022 at Rice University, and in 2023 we will win this just case at SMC.”
Following these allegations, the SMC administration overturned the vote after finding it to be a violation of the SSI club’s First Amendment rights. Associate dean for Student Life, Thomas Bui, said he would review proper ICC procedure and policy at the Nov. 2 meeting to clarify the rules of the ICC constitution and help members better understand their responsibilities as student leaders.
The discussion at that meeting was heated from the moment the floor opened to public comments. One of the first attendees to speak was Rabbi Eli Levitansky from the Chabad Student Jewish Club. He said, “I’m here to represent Jewish students on campus. It’s ironic that after the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, Jewish students across campuses are being labeled as violent, and are scared literally to be seen on campuses. A place where it’s supposed to be safe. The students here at SMC I know personally and I can definitely say they are not violent… To label them in such a manner is quite distressing, quite disturbing, and appalling.”
The President of the Middle Eastern Club, who did not disclose their name, denied that anybody was targeting Jewish students or contributing to a culture of fear. “Nothing [said at the last meeting] was anti-semitic or in support of Hamas. I’m sure all of us in the Middle Eastern community have always disavowed any form of terrorism. The only reason we don’t support the state of Israel is because of the genocide they’re causing.”
A representative for SSI was present, but did not speak during public comment and declined to give comment afterward.
Justin, a Jewish student who did not further identify himself, said, “If you are not a Jew, you cannot tell us what antisemitism is or isn’t. The Israeli state may not be a perfect state, but it is the homeland to Jewish people. The constant claims of genocide, accusing us of every single thing that is wrong within the conflict is blatant misinformation and unfair.”
When the public comments concluded, Robert Myers, legal counsel for SMC, took the podium. He said that the administration found that SSI needed to be reinstated. “Under law, it's protected under not just state law but federal law that we cannot discriminate against any student organization that meets the minimum requirements to be considered a club on campus.”
Miles Valdez, director of the ESports Club, commented, “We made a decision. Whether you agree with that decision or not…. [The] Office of Student Life overruled our decision and told us that our vote didn't mean anything.”
The associate dean for Student Life Thomas Bui responded, “Your vote does matter.” He continued, saying that ICC leaders as student government are federally required to install any student club that has met the requirements to become a club. Since SSI has six student members in good standing with a 2.0 grade average, a faculty advisor, and filled out all the necessary forms, the ICC is required by their own rules to install SSI as a club.
Bui continued, “However, you all are students, and peers can hold each other accountable… How you all hold each other accountable is that if one of your peers violates code of conduct or threatens you directly, that is not a part of the honor code of SMC. If it is found to be in violation of any of these codes, that individual will be held accountable.”
StandWithUs, an organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism, sent an open letter on Nov. 15 to Bui and Dr. Kathryn Jeffrey, SMC’s president/superintendent, demanding the college to make a public statement about the situation by Nov. 22 and stating that, “Harassment of Jews or Israelis by anyone holding themselves out as representatives of SMC will be investigated and met with a zero-tolerance policy.” The administration and Bui did not respond to the letter by the time of publication of this article.
