Penn Refuses to Let Student Group Screen Film Critical of Israel (at Least Until February)

So reports the Philadelphia Inquirer (Susan Snyder) (see also Daily Pennsylvanian [Lara Cota & Jessica Wu]):

Students at Penn Chavurah wanted to show Israelism, which has drawn significant controversy this year, but the school cited "a potential negative response on campus" and used the word "vitriol," according to one of the film's producers and a student.

The university had offered to allow students to screen it in February, said senior Jack Starobin, 21, a board member and student organizer for Penn Chavurah ….

Penn said in a statement that "the safety and well-being of the Penn community is our top priority" and that "after discussions with Penn Public Safety and University administration," the decision was made last week to postpone the screening.

"We are actively working to find a date in February when the film can be viewed and discussed safely and constructively," the university said….

The documentary, which debuted at a film festival in February, depicts the stories of "two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel" until they travel to Israel and the West Bank and "witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians," according to the film's website. The film was made by two Jewish filmmakers who grew up in circumstances similar to the protagonists in their film.

The film has drawn controversy for its portrayal of Israel, and Abraham H. Foxman, former national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who is featured in the film and is a Holocaust survivor, said on X, formerly Twitter, that he regretted participating, calling it "an anti-Israel and anti-American Jewish community film."

The film has won several prizes since its debut, including an audience award at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and best documentary at the Arizona International Film Festival….

Penn did not respond to questions about the potential Myerson Hall viewing….

The Penn chapter of the American Association of University Professors said Penn's refusal to grant the student group permission to reserve a room to screen the film on campus this semester is "one more expression of our university leadership's failure to uphold the principles of academic freedom —principles enshrined in Penn's policies and essential to the mission of a university.

"Academic freedom entails the freedom of students to learn, and to encounter and critically examine multiple interpretations of the world… In denying students these freedoms, the university administration violates its own policies and endangers the principles of academic freedom that are essential to the research and teaching mission of a university." …

If the facts are as described, this seems to be a serious violation of Penn's own stated commitment to open expression by students.

Comments

[y81]

Isn't Penn kind of known for not respecting free speech? Didn't they remove Amy Way from teaching due to her political views? Wasn't one of their board members so disgusted at the culture of suppression and censorship that he resigned?

Not that Yale is any better.

[SimonP]

Penn and other private universities are running scared ever since the hedge fund managers started threatening a donor boycott.

[Dr. Ed 2]

And it was your side that started that tactic....

[SimonP]

I'm not on anyone's "side," Mr. Ed. Grow up.

[y81]

Actually, most of the hedge fund manager types threatening universities are liberal Jews, who generally support liberal causes like abortion on demand, gay marriage, transgender rights, and even (a little grudgingly) affirmative action. It is only on Israel that they part company with their progressive comrades. And, as progressives, they have generally been totally supportive of cancel culture. It is hardly surprising that they would deploy their accustomed tactics on this one issue.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Good point.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

Disagreeing, or even being discomfited with any tactics used by the IDF in the current war is antisemitic, but apparently this comment isn't.

[mydisplayname]

Yes, "this seems to be a serious violation of Penn's own stated commitment to open expression by students."

[Internet sloth]

Surprised the argument hasn’t been made that anti-Israel speech chills pro-Israel speech, which must be the freest of speech.

[Krayt]

The absolutism of the First Amendment is useful, if nothing else, to stop the benighted from rubbing their chins and lifting their snoots skyward and saying, "The people are not ready to hear this without our temporing, soothing words.", as if they are a dictatorship banning CNN dishes.

[Ed Grinberg]

Penn is a private school. The Constitution has no bearing on what it does. (Though I agree — they should allow the student group to screen this film.)

[Dr. Ed 2]

It's pretty clear here that there wasn't a scintilla of content neutrality, but *is* it possible to have content neutral rules of decorum?

What if the public want to use vile racial slurs? Is a public body required to permit them to repeatedly do so? How about the word Fire trUCK with four fewer letters?

Taken to its logical extreme, does a member of the public have the right to tell the school board that "all Jews need to be killed"? Or can the board end such diatribes?

[Dr. Ed 2]

This was supposed to go with the NJ School Board post.

My point with this is that it is 2023, not 1973 -- a room is not needed to show a film as it isn't even film anymore. There are copyright protocols that one would have to go through, but it is possible to stream it and to restrict it to Penn students if desired in any number of ways, including the simple password.

It's one thing to prevent a speaker from speaking, but a film -- no matter how offensive -- can be viewed in dorm rooms.

[David Nieporent]

.

Fire trUCK with four fewer letters?

One wonders exactly what word Dr. Ed is contemplating here. Fiuck? Fruck? Feruk?

[Dr. Ed 2]

I was actually contemplating a member of the public using his allotted 3 or 5 minutes to rail about the "fucking niggers" and how one could end that without violating the schmucks civil rights.

Yes, Virginia, there are racists out there -- not many, but it only takes one to get up and start using language like that for things to get very ugly, very quickly -- and what is the intrepid chair -- who truly believes in free speech -- to do?

Can one establish standards of decorum as long as they are truly content neutral? Or is one forced to let someone spew this vulgar speech?

And that's without the recent Mass SJC ruling on free speech....

[Jonathan Affleck]

American universities are going nuts. In violation of Penn's own commitment to open expression by students, Penn is not allowing a Jewish group to show the film Israelism, which was produced and directed by Jews, to a Jewish group even though the film is relevant to the Gaza campaign. I doubt Penn would have forbidden the showing if the film praised Zionism. It would be interesting for the Penn Havurah to ask for permission to show the film Exodus.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Thirty years ago, Penn was the school infamous for the Water Buffalo incident -- which actually is what created FIRE, Alan Kors being a professor there and his undergrad roommate being Harvey Silverglate.

For those too young to remember, there was a quite-loud Black sorority out pledging (or something) and an Israeli student shouted out the window "Shut Up You Water Buffaloes."

Now it came out later that there is a Yiddish (?) word quite similar to Water Buffalo (or which literally translates to it) that a Rabbi would use to reprimand a disruptive youth and that was the the kid's intended use -- and Water Buffalo are native to Asia, not Africa -- they live in swamps which don't exist on the African savanna and need to be wet to regulate their body temperatures.

But they are large black animals and hence this became a racial incident that made the national press -- in part of political correctness and fear of boycotts. And now the tactics of the Left have come around to bite the Left -- I said it would eventually happen.

[Champion]

It is a very strange and mysterious policy of this man, because everyone knows what exactly is happening in that region. Therefore, banning such information, especially for students, is something incredible. For example, I had no problems with the UK essay writing service doing my homework on this issue, and in general, my teacher was not against it when he found out that I was going to write an essay on this topic. So it's a bit strange for me that things work out this way, but I'm not the one to judge such decisions.