Emory University’s Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution on Oct. 21 to condemn “vandalism” of an Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP) memorial. The resolution passed 13-1.
During a student-organized memorial on the evening of Oct. 8, participants chalked multifaith prayers, poems and other messages around the flagpole on the Quadrangle. However, sometime between the night of Oct. 8 and the morning of Oct. 9, unknown individuals smeared the messages and chalked over them, writing “one Jewish state,” “Am Yisrael Chai,” and Stars of David.
“This vandalism was a discriminatory act towards Christian, Muslims, and students of color alike,” the resolution states. “Actions like these only sow feelings of animosity on campus and seek to make tensions worse.”
Bachelor of Business Administration Legislator Ibrahim Jouja (26C), who was one of the resolution’s sponsors, spoke about why SGA should address the situation.
“This was a very public vandalism,” Jouja said. “It’s disrespectful.”
ESJP, Muslim Students Association, Arab Cultural Association, LatinX Student Organization, Black Student Alliance and Orthodox Christian Fellowship all sponsored the resolution, which calls the chalking incident a violation of Emory’s Respect for Open Expression Policy.
“Any infringement of another’s expression is a violation of this policy and will be reviewed so that we can hold members of our community accountable,” Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond wrote in an email to The Emory Wheel.
Second-year Legislator Seth Weinfield (27C) said that it was important for SGA to condemn anti-Arab acts and Islamophobia. Weinfield previously sponsored a resolution condemning allegations of antisemitism at a Sept. 12 pro-Palestinian protest.
Ranking Member Sohan Bellam (26C), who was the only member to vote against the resolution condemning the vandalism, said that SGA passing Weinfield’s previous resolution was a “huge mistake.” He proposed a closed session to discuss the new resolution, but the rest of the legislature did not support this motion.
“Now we’re on a path where every single meeting we meet, we’re going to be having to condemn something else because we’ve set the standard that we’re going to speak,” Bellam said.
