Dear Stan,
I’m outraged. Just three days before the scheduled date, Butler University’s administration canceled a student-sponsored event featuring Dr. Angela Davis because of her support for Palestinian rights. The event was a conversation about injustice, white supremacy, and collective liberation—a vital topic for students at Butler, a predominantly white institution in Indiana. Faced with pressure from anti-Palestinian student activists who oppose Dr. Davis due to her support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, the Butler administration folded, silencing one of our country’s most prominent civil rights activists and offering nothing but flimsy excuses.
This is just another attempt to claim that advocating for Palestinian rights—affirming Palestinian humanity and dignity, and fighting for rights to land, homes, and water —is somehow harmful to Jewish people. We know that isn’t true—and we know the only just future is one where Palestinians are free.
The administration is now trying to dodge accountability and blame the organizers for the event's cancelation, citing things like: “failure to follow procedure,” “too high of an honorarium,” and “inappropriate timing,”reasons that have never been used to cancel any other student event.This blatant censorship of Angela Davis is in line with the school's history of racism, and highlights the lack of genuine support for students of color, academic freedom, and political engagement at Butler University.
Please join us in standing with Butler’s students.
Onward,
Tallie Ben Daniel
Director of Special Projects
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national membership organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for the justice, equality, and dignity of all the people of Israel/Palestine. Become a JVP Member today.
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