Palestine Legal, CAIR-GA, Community and Civil Rights Groups Demand Emory University Protect Palestinian, Muslim and Arab Students from Harassment
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Palestine Legal and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Georgia, along with eight other community and civil rights groups, sent a letter to Emory University on behalf of Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students at Emory who have been the target of anti-Palestinian, xenophobic, Islamophobic, and racist harassment.
The letter explains that Emory’s failure to address these concerns as well as Emory’s own actions to date are fostering a hostile campus environment that raise concerns that Emory is violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin by institutions that receive federal funding.
“My peers, professors, and deans have made it seem that my identity and heritage as Palestinian are taboo and shameful,” said an undergraduate student at Emory University and a member of Emory Students For Justice in Palestine (SJP), “and that I should be ashamed to support and grieve the loss of my people.”
The letter lists numerous examples of students facing anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic harassment. Since October 7, 2023, ESJP has received hateful comments, tags, and direct messages on their social media platforms. They have been called Hamas supporters, fake Muslims, and have been sent graphic photos. ESJP students have also been individually targeted and doxed on social media and harassed on campus. They have had their flyers, noting the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, ripped out and thrown in the trash. They have been followed on campus and filmed by their peers. ESJP students have also been called terrorists or supporters of terrorism.
Despite numerous incidents being reported to Emory via its bias reporting process, Emory has failed to act on behalf of its Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students and their allies. Since October 7, the majority of Emory’s statements have been one-sided, standing in support with community members who have ties to Israel, without acknowledging the deadly violence inflicted by the Israeli government, soldiers, and illegal settlers in Gaza and the West Bank, and the impact this violence has on Palestinian students, faculty, and staff on campus.
“In failing to protect its Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and their allies who are speaking out for Palestine, Emory is sending a clear message to its community and beyond that the harassment and targeting of its students is not a priority,” said Sabiya Ahamed, staff attorney at Palestine Legal, as quoted in a press release by CAIR-Georgia on Wednesday. “This is especially concerning at a time when Palestinian students and their allies are experiencing threats, doxing, and harassment while protesting the ongoing genocide in which Israel has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians to date.”
Emory students are now sending a message, alongside Palestine Legal and CAIR-GA, to demand Emory take immediate action. Among its demands are that the University reaffirm the rights of its students to openly advocate for Palestinian rights, to condemn the anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and other forms of racism its students are facing, and to provide resources for impacted students.
Since October 7, students on campuses across the U.S. have been facing unprecedented repression for their advocacy for Palestinian human rights. Students are demanding that their universities and colleges affirm their right to speak out for Palestinian human rights, protect students against anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic doxing and harassment, and ensure a safe campus environment for Palestine, Muslim, and Arab students and their allies.
Read the full letter to Emory here.
Read CAIR-Georgia and Palestine Legal’s joint press release here.