Bard Students Exonerated After Protesting Anti-Palestinian Speaker
/Issues: False Accusations, Free Speech
Palestine Legal represented Bard College students Ben and Akiva, who were investigated after they protested a panel featuring a professor with a history of making bigoted remarks against Palestinians. Both students were cleared of any wrongdoing.
MEMBERS OF BARD STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE, INCLUDING CLIENTS BEN AND AKIVA. (CREDIT: BEN - BARD SJP)
On October 10, 2019, Students for Justice in Palestine at Bard College protested a panel featuring Ruth Wisse, a retired Harvard professor with a history of making racist and dehumanizing statements about Palestinians.
The protest, which included the reading of a short statement and holding signs with Wisse’s quotes, was explicitly protected under Bard’s policies regarding free speech and dissent.
Two days after the event, then-editor at the Forward Batya Ungar-Sargon published a piece titled, "I Was Protested At Bard College for Being a Jew."
The article falsely claimed that she and the other panelists were targeted for being Jewish – accusations which were swiftly discredited by several prominent witnesses, including a longtime policy advocate on antisemitism and Israel.
In November 2019, Ben and Akiva were notified that they were being charged with violating Bard’s free speech and discrimination policies for protesting the event.
Palestine Legal represented Ben and Akiva during the 4-month investigation.
In a letter to Bard in January 2020, Palestine Legal warned Bard that it could not retaliate against students for complaining about national origin discrimination and that the protest fell clearly within the bounds of Bard’s expansive free speech policies.
The letter also explained that “the evidence overwhelmingly shows that Ben and Akiva protested the October 10 event because they disagreed with the speakers’ viewpoint that Palestinians are undeserving of equal human rights – and not because of any protected status of the panelists.”
Bard cleared Ben and Akiva of any wrongdoing in March 2020.
In a meeting with students announcing the decision, Bard College President Leon Botstein explained that the College was under pressure because a civil rights complaint had been filed with U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil rights.
As of September 2021, the investigation is still under way.
Timeline >>
Oct. 10, 2019: The Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College hosts an event called "Who Needs Antisemitism?" featuring retired literature professor Ruth Wisse, with former Israeli national security official Shany Mor and Forward opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon as moderators.
Bard Students for Justice in Palestine protests the event for what they believed to be racist and dehumanizing remarks from Wisse.
Shortly after Wisse begins speaking, one student reads a short statement explaining that SJP was protesting the event because of the speaker’s anti-Palestinian views. He is escorted out of the room. The remaining dozen-plus students quietly hold signs with quotes from Wisse and language criticizing Zionism.
Oct. 12, 2019: Event moderator and Forward opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon publishes an article in her outlet titled "I Was Protested At Bard College for Being a Jew," in which she falsely claims that protesters targeted her and the panel because it was an all-Jewish panel.
Oct. 13-18, 2019: Several prominent witnesses unequivocally refute Ungar-Sargon's description and characterization of the protests, including director of the hosting center Roger Berkowitz, director of Bard’s Center for Hate and Study Kenneth Stern, London Review of Books staff writer Adam Shatz, and Bard alum and antisemitism researcher Ben Lorber.
Nov. 8, 2019: The Deputy Title IX Coordinator of Bard College holds separate meetings with two members of Students for Justice in Palestine regarding alleged violations of the College’s free speech and harassment and discrimination policies.
Nov. 13, 2019: The two student activists receive official notification from Bard College that they are under investigation for purported violations of the College's Free Speech Policy and policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment.
Dec. 2019: The two students are questioned during finals week by a panel of professors acting as a jury to decide whether they believe the students violated campus policy and make a recommendation on sanctions to Bard’s president.
Jan. 10, 2020: Palestine Legal warns Bard College in a legal letter that it that it may not retaliate against students for speaking out against national origin discrimination. Palestine Legal further warns Bard that they may not punish students under the College's Free Speech policy, which explicitly protects “dissent and protest.”
Feb. 3, 2020: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opens an investigation into the October 2019 incident.
Mar. 2020: Bard College President Leon Botstein rules that two students were fully in compliance with Bard’s policies and had done nothing wrong. The decision clears the students, after a prolonged investigation, of false charges of antisemitism.
Sept. 2021: OCR's investigation is still ongoing.
Documents >>
Palestine Legal Letter to Bard College: Retaliating Against Protesters Violates Students' Rights (January 10, 2020)
Media >>
Bard College Retaliates Against Students for Protesting a Racist Speaker, Palestine Legal, (January 27, 2020)
Success! Bard College Clears Students Investigated for Protesting Anti-Palestinian Racism, Palestine Legal, (March 9, 2020)
What Really Happened at Bard College?, Mairav Zonszein, Jewish Currents, (October 14, 2019)
Letter to the Editor: I Was at the Bard Anti-Semitism Panel, and Saw Deep Disagreement, not Singling Out of Jews, Kenneth S. Stern, The Forward, (October 13, 2019)
Letter to the Editor: I Organized the Bard Conference, and Batya Ungar-Sargon Misrepresented What Happened, Roger Berkowitz, The Forward (October 14, 2019)
Anti-Semitism smear against Bard students backfires, Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, (October 14, 2019)
Batya Ungar-Sargon links anti-Zionists to David Duke and synagogue murders, Phillip Weiss, Mondoweiss, (October 14, 2019)
Reckless charges of anti-Semitism endanger Palestinians, Amjad Iraqi, 972 Magazine, (October 16, 2019)
To The Editor: Response to “I Was Protested at Bard College for Being a Jew", Julia Eilenberg, Amor Mundi, (October 18, 2019)
'Forward’ opinion editor has nothing more to say, and doesn’t want to hear you, Jonathan Ofir, Mondoweiss, (October 21, 2019)
Will Bard students face punishment over protest of racist speakers?, Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada, (February 27, 2020)
Bard students cleared of false anti-Semitism charges, Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada, (March 10, 2020)
False charges of antisemitism are the vanguard of cancel culture, Mairav Zonszein, 972 Magazine, (July 28, 2020)
Learn more >>
For well over a decade, anti-Palestinian groups have weaponized Title VI threats and complaints in attempt to deter students from speaking out for Palestinian rights.
The case at Bard is one of many stories of student activists being targeted and attacked because of their Palestine advocacy. Read about more cases in our 2020 annual report.