{"id":248824,"date":"2021-03-18T16:45:17","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T20:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=248824"},"modified":"2021-03-18T16:45:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T20:45:19","slug":"skidmore-college-refuses-to-recognize-club-due-to-troublesome-pro-israel-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/skidmore-college-refuses-to-recognize-club-due-to-troublesome-pro-israel-stance\/","title":{"rendered":"Skidmore College Refuses To Recognize Club Due to \u2018Troublesome\u2019 Pro-Israel Stance"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fskidmore-college-refuses-to-recognize-club-due-to-troublesome-pro-israel-stance%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=248824&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-1909.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Skidmore College\u2019s student government refused to recognize a progressive, pro-Israel student group due to its &#8220;troublesome&#8221; perspective despite recently recognizing the anti-Israel Students for Justice in Palestine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Skidmore College Student Government Association denied Progressive Zionists for Peace\u2019s request for a club trial period in a Zoom meeting on March 13. The organization\u2019s leaders were told the group would need to &#8220;gain more diverse perspectives&#8221; before receiving official club status. Student senator Sarah Baker said a &#8220;dialogue focused&#8221; group with &#8220;one perspective&#8221; could be &#8220;troublesome.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Campus<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>In its request for recognition, Progressive Zionists for Peace said their intention was to &#8220;create a space for pro-Israel, pro-peace students&#8221; to promote a &#8220;more peaceful, secure, and democratic future for both Israelis and Palestinians.&#8221; The group said they would provide a &#8220;supportive environment&#8221; wherein students can learn about &#8220;peaceful Zionism&#8221; and how to fight anti-Semitism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;Ultimately, we hope to create an environment that facilitates mutual understandings between Skidmore students with regards to the Israeli\/Palestinian conflict and all its nuances,&#8221; Progressive Zionists for Peace\u2019s mission statement reads.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Progressive Zionists for Peace president Nessa Goldhirsch Brown said in a Facebook&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nessa.goldhirschbrown\">post<\/a>&nbsp;that the reasons she was given for her group&#8217;s denial were &#8220;false, unclear, and transparently partisan.&#8221;&nbsp;Skidmore College spokeswoman Sara Miga said that Progressive Zionists for Peace were not officially denied recognition and told the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> that the group was just &#8220;asked to return at a later date&nbsp;to clarify their mission and goals.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>Despite rejecting the pro-Israel group, the student government recently granted a club trial period to Students for Justice in Palestine, according to a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/d28htnjz2elwuj.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/17125552\/FIRE-Letter-to-Skidmore-College-March-17-2021_Redacted.pdf\"> <span>letter<\/span><\/a><span> from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>School officials, the student government, and Progressive Zionists for Peace will meet Friday to discuss the club&#8217;s official status.<\/p>\n<p><span>Students for Justice in Palestine chapters have pressured universities across the country to adopt an anti-Israel stance, notably by backing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions measures against the Jewish state. The group also has been known to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/tufts-student-government-attacks-jewish-member-for-defending-israel\/\"><span>intimidate<\/span><\/a><span> Jewish students. Students for Justice in Palestine pushed Tufts University\u2019s student government to impeach a Jewish member who spoke out against a resolution that blamed Israel for militarizing U.S. police forces.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Skidmore College <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skidmore.edu\/sga\/clubs\/index.php\"><span>boasts<\/span><\/a><span> 19 political and advocacy clubs including Democracy Matters, the Feminist Action Network, College Democrats, College Republicans, and Voices for Planned Parenthood, in addition to the newly approved Students for Justice in Palestine.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a letter to Skidmore College president Marc Conner, FIRE pressed school administrators to reverse the student government\u2019s decision. The letter noted that in a similar hearing on March 8, Conner refused to reverse the student government\u2019s &#8220;viewpoint-based&#8221; denial of another student group on the grounds that club status &#8220;is an issue of student governance.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Conner said at that meeting that Skidmore &#8220;has been abundantly clear&#8221; about its &#8220;commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of association and assembly,&#8221; according to FIRE\u2019s letter.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">Goldhirsch Brown told the<em>&nbsp;Free Beacon<\/em> she believes the student government&#8217;s decision came from a lack of understanding of Zionism and said she&#8217;s hopeful the school will reverse their ruling.<\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail_default\">&#8220;I am grateful for the support from FIRE, and hope Skidmore&#8217;s Club Affairs Committee takes the concerns seriously,&#8221; Goldhirsch Brown said. &#8220;I am optimistic about the new vote on Friday, and hope for a positive outcome. I do NOT believe there was any maliciousness or anti-Semitic discrimination from CAC, but rather a fear of the word Zionism as well as a misunderstanding about our club. I am hopeful they will reverse their decision, and PZP can move forward in educating Skidmore about peaceful Zionism, creating a space to discuss Israel, and try to alleviate the negative connotation that goes along with the word \u2018Zionism.'&#8221;<\/div>\n<p><span>Sabrina Conaz, a FIRE program analyst and the author of the letter, said the Skidmore student government\u2019s decision was incompatible with its promises to uphold free speech.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;Many of Skidmore&#8217;s student organizations likely engage in debate and dialogue while sharing a singular purpose,&#8221; Conaz told the<\/span><i><span>&nbsp;Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>. &#8220;This denial does not comport with the commitments to freedom of expression and association that Skidmore makes to its students. Skidmore&#8217;s student government must reverse course and recognize Progressive Zionists for Peace.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Skidmore College student government did not respond to the&nbsp;<i>Free Beacon<\/i>\u2019s request for comment in time for publication.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n\t\t<!-- \/339474670\/Freebeacon\/InContent --><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Skidmore College\u2019s student government refused to recognize a progressive, pro-Israel student group due to its &#8220;troublesome&#8221; perspective despite recently recognizing the anti-Israel Students for Justice in Palestine. The Skidmore College &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2310778,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-1909.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Skidmore College Refuses To Recognize Club Due to \u2018Troublesome\u2019 Pro-Israel Stance","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image-1909.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Skidmore College Refuses To Recognize Club Due to \u2018Troublesome\u2019 Pro-Israel Stance","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2310778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}