In your Editorial in the March edition of the Bulletin, you argue free speech and freedom of expression were violated when two universities banned a poster showing an Israeli helicopter bombing a Palestinian child holding a teddy bear. You and I agree beyond doubt on the need for the university to promote free speech.

However, being a faculty member at a university that hosted Israel Apartheid Week (IAW), I can attest that I did not feel comfortable in expressing my opinions at the IAW event that I attended. I am an ardent supporter of a two-state solution to the Palestine-Israel issue, and I frequently both criticize and applaud the actions of Israel’s government.

At the IAW event in question I felt highly conspicuous not cheering when others were almost violently doing so. Some of the opinions of the speakers espoused violence against Israel and Israelis (Jews were not mentioned directly), martial music blared in the background, visual images of Israeli soldiers were spliced with images of blood and wounded or dead children, and the poster you published with your editorial was set on the board behind the speakers espousing these ideas.

The net result was a very agitated audience and I felt physically unsafe asking the question “Is a two-state solution realistic” during the Q&A period. My understanding is that other IAW events engender similar emotions.

There are many initiatives on campus that support an open discussion about Middle East politics and that challenge our most cherished beliefs. IAW does the opposite. It certainly did with me and I am no shrinking violet. In addition, the poster that was not allowed elsewhere, but that was allowed on my campus undoubtedly served to agitate already excited people, further reducing any likelihood that anyone with a dissimilar opinion could speak up safely.

We in academia must fervently support freedom of expression on campus. We must equally fervently recognize when that argument is turned around to support the suppression of free speech. IAW suppresses free speech. The poster just increased the level of suppression.

Alan Kaplan
Finance
Ryerson University

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