Op-ed: Why the President’s Statement Matters — Lessons from Deborah Lipstadt’s 'Antisemitism: Here and Now'
By Zachary Berman and Nathaniel Berman | May 22University President Anthony Monaco and four of the university's highest-ranking administrators recently published an unprecedentedstatement addressing an award given to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).In the statement, the administrators expressed their concern that elements of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, a movement the group promotes, are antisemitic.Many students were understandably shocked. Why would President Monaco walk back an awardgiven to a progressive student organization advocating for justice and how could anyone reasonably consider elements of the organization’s platform to be antisemitic? To many, the stereotypical antisemite waves a Nazi flag, espouses racial supremacy and believes theories about Jewish power over various aspects of society. The vast majority of Tufts students do not fit that description. Why then did the administration still decide to denounce the award?
