Yeshiva University Censors Palestinian Speaker at Cardozo School of Law

For Immediate Release                                                Contact:

March 15, 2022                                                        Sydney Artson

sydneyartson@gmail.com

+1 (415) 728-4719

Heidi Sandomir

heidisandomir@gmail.com

+1 (516) 279-9073                

New York, March 15, 2022: Sydney Artson and Heidi Sandomir are second-year law students at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, the law school of Yeshiva University. We are clinic students in the Benjamin B. Ferencz Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic and we are aspiring to become human rights attorneys. Sydney is a Staff Editor of the Cardozo International and Comparative Law Review, and Heidi is a Staff Editor of the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice. Together, we are the founders and Co-Presidents of Cardozo on Israel and Palestine (CIP). As student leaders who are citizens of the United States, we strive to foster conversations on Israel and Palestine, acknowledging the role of United States foreign policy. We recognize that such topics are laden with tension and controversy. In addition, we embrace diverse identities and perspectives, and we resolve that our Jewish identities not be tied to any form of violence.

We founded CIP in 2021 as a reaction to the rich student discussions on Israel and Palestine and the absence of justice-oriented spaces for such conversations at Cardozo. We seldom feel that Cardozo welcomes all Jewish identities and politics. Therefore, we aim to explore how conversations on Israel and Palestine necessarily intersect with LGBTIQ+ rights, anti-racism, antisemitism, and other topics.

As Co-Presidents of a student organization committed to peace, inquiry, and dialogue, we strive to foster nuanced thinking, discourse, education, and activism. CIP offers Cardozo students educational materials and discussions; opportunities to learn from attorneys, scholars, and activists, and; chances to engage with third-party events and organizations. Further, CIP recognizes and uplifts counter-hegemonic voices and lived experiences of marginalized communities without excluding or prioritizing any one narrative. We employ a holistic lens when assessing potential speakers, as it is reductive to hyperfocus on one particular area of a person’s academia or identity.

CIP previously hosted controversial speakers, including an Israeli human rights attorney, a board member of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), and a former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier. Our past events include Anti-Racism, Mass Incarceration & the Conflict, A Conversation on Settlements in the West Bank, and A Virtual Tour of Hebron. Neither Yeshiva University nor Cardozo raised any objections to these events. We appreciate that our events may be controversial and provocative; CIP must bring speakers of all identities and perspectives to achieve its foundational purpose.

Sydney initiated contact with Professor Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, Founder and Director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies program at San Francisco State University, in early October 2021. Sydney and Dr. Abdulhadi discussed Dr. Abdulhadi’s scholarship, her conceptualization of antisemitism, and her general feminist insights before CIP invited Dr. Abdulhadi to speak at Cardozo. She generously accepted this invitation.

CIP planned and advertised the event featuring Dr. Abdulhadi, “Forms of Activism for Liberation in Palestine,” scheduled for March 1, 2022. Dr. Abdulhadi was to speak about her professional experiences teaching about and advocating for Palestinian rights. We sought to provide a platform for students on ways to collaborate with other lawyers, scholars, and organizers in activist and intellectual spaces, regardless of students’ professional pursuits.

Less than a week before the event, on Thursday, February 24th, the Dean of Cardozo informed us that Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University, moved to cancel our event without our consent. We then discovered that the school canceled our room reservation and catering order.

We adamantly insist that CIP’s event featuring Dr. Abdulhadi is not canceled. Yeshiva University’s censorship is offensive to Dr. Abdulhadi’s prestige, integrity, and intellectual labor. Dr. Abdulhadi accepted the speaking engagement at Cardozo despite the chronic institutional retaliation, online attacks, and safety concerns she has faced throughout her career. The President of Yeshiva University should not be able to unilaterally override the interests of Cardozo students and reject speakers. Further, the President of Yeshiva University has thus far declined to communicate directly with CIP and the Cardozo student body.

Dr. Abdulhadi has been falsely accused of antisemitism, a known tactic to silence individuals criticizing the Israeli government. Dr. Abdulhadi has been cleared of such allegations and smear campaigns. She defeated a federal lawsuit and frequently collaborates with several Jewish organizations as a community leader and academic. Further, our conversations with Dr. Abdulhadi quickly dispelled any concerns of antisemitism. Dr. Abdulhadi demonstrates incredible empathy for the spectrum of Jewish identities and experiences. We were excited for Dr. Abdulhadi to illuminate perspectives that are often excluded or overlooked, and which we feel Cardozo should uplift.

Amid the Yeshiva University administration’s continued silence, troubling questions remain unanswered: What does academic freedom mean for Cardozo students when President Berman can unilaterally silence voices, without providing students with notice, guidance, or consultation? What do free speech, educational exposure, and diversity within a law school mean if they may be incontrovertibly restricted? What message does Yeshiva University send to its current and prospective law students by assigning itself as the arbiter of which voices and perspectives are appropriate? Yeshiva University’s interference constitutes a transgression into student affairs and interests and a violation of academic freedom and freedom of speech.

President Berman’s censorship contravenes the purpose of law school. As future legal advocates and practitioners, students attend Cardozo to engage complex subject matter with non-abstract implications. Lawyers must appreciate all sides of an argument and the perspectives with which they disagree. Exposing law students to myriad politics and narratives is the best approach to equip and prepare students for legal practice. It seems that Yeshiva University affords greater deference to the interests of the few over that of the student body, namely the interest in educational freedom.

On March 1, 2022, we circulated a petition on which thirteen clubs and over 120 individuals signaled their support for student organizations’ right to bring speakers to campus who might be defined as controversial. Our demands are clear: (1) Dr. Abdulhadi should be vindicated; (2) the President of Yeshiva University should apologize to Dr. Abdulhadi for disrespecting and censoring her, and; (3) CIP’s “Forms of Activism for Liberation in Palestine” event should occur on Cardozo’s campus as soon as possible.