Chalkings highlighting the death toll in Gaza, among other pro-Palestinian messages, appeared on campus over Sunday night. The chalkings marked the ground in front of the Dobbs Common Table, stretching around Asbury Circle and past Cox Hall, while other chalkings were displayed in front of Goodrich C. White Hall.
The messages garnered attention on Monday as students walked over the pastel letters spelling out “CEASEFIRE IN PALESTINE” and “8000+ PALESTINIANS MURDERED,” adding to an ongoing debate about the Israel-Hamas war on campus.
Since Palestinian militant group Hamas’ initial attack on Israel on Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has reported over 8,000 Palestinian lives have been lost in Israel’s retaliating attacks as of Oct. 31. Israel declared war on Hamas, which the United States and other countries have designated as a terrorist organization, on the day of the initial attacks.
Fenves alleges antisemitism
Emory University President Gregory Fenves ignited debate among members of the Emory community when he sent an email on Oct. 25, stating that he was “appalled” by students’ behavior at a protest earlier that day. Fenves wrote that the demonstrators, who were protesting “Stop Cop City” and Israel’s attacks in the Gaza Strip, used “antisemitic phrases.”
A member of Emory Stop Cop City's (ESCC) working committee, who requested to remain anonymous out of fear of being doxxed, cited the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) as the connecting factor between these two issues. They alleged the training facility would support GILEE, a program that facilitates exchange in tactics between American and international law enforcement agencies, including Israeli police. GILEE’s website does not mention direct involvement with the Israeli Defense Force, Israel’s national military force fighting Hamas.
Emory Hillel President Avery Adelman (24C) said that she was “surprised” to hear pro-Palestinian calls at the rally, instead of chants focused on protesting the training center.
During the protest, participants chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which the American Jewish Committee characterizes as antisemitic, due to the idea that the chant calls for a Palestinian takeover of Israel’s land between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. The phrase has been adopted by Hamas. However, Fenves’ email condemning “antisemitic” chants did not directly address any specific phrases. The University declined to comment further on the claims.
“Throughout the event, antisemitic phrases and slogans were repeatedly used by speakers and chanted by the crowd,” Fenves wrote. “I cannot be more clear — this kind of rhetoric has no place at Emory. I am appalled by this behavior. It violates our core values, particularly our commitment to creating an inclusive environment for all who learn, work and live on our campuses.”
ESCC, a part of the broader movement opposing the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, organized the protest. The rally involved around 60 Emory students, faculty, staff and alumni marching from Asbury Circle to Convocation Hall before attempting to enter Fenves’ office to deliver a list of ESCC’s 12 demands. When this effort proved unsuccessful, protesters then gathered in the lobby of Convocation Hall until Director of Presidential Initiatives and Special Projects Anjulet Tucker (00C, 09G) arrived and accepted a copy of their demands.
In their demands to the president, protestors objected to Emory’s affiliation with the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center facility, demanding that Fenves step down from his position on the Atlanta Committee for Progress, which endorsed the construction of the facility in 2021. Protesters also called on the University to issue a statement of support for “Palestinians and Palestinian students” and asserted that Emory should “separate entirely from any Zionists and anyone doxxing or threatening Palestinians and Palestinian students.”
Adelman, took issue with calls for Emory to distance itself from Zionism, stating that Judaism and Zionism are “inextricably linked.” Zionism is support for a Jewish state in the land that is currently Israel, according to Merriam-Webster.
“Emory Hillel is an explicitly and proudly Zionist organization,” Adelman said. “We understand that … Jews have the right to self-determination in our indigenous homeland. Judaism and Zionism are inextricably linked, so to remove all ties from Zionism is to remove Jewish organizations on campus, to remove a Jewish home for students on campus.”
The Emory-Israel Public Affairs Comittee (EIPAC), a pro-Israel campus group, wrote in an Oct. 29 statement on Instagram that the protesters’ demands to separate from any Zionists were “blatantly antisemitic.”
EIPAC President Sophie Kalmin (26C) said she was uncomfortable with the protestors’ demands that Emory distance itself from Zionists.
“When I personally hear that, I hear a call to dismantle the only Jewish state in the entire world,” Kalmin said.
Kalmin further expressed concern that the establishment of a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea” would be hostile to Jewish people.
“It’s very hard as a Jewish person to just hear this phrase and think that anything but horror and Jewish massacre would happen,” Kalmin said.
Fenves stated that the University’s Respect for Open Expression policy protected the protesters’ freedom of speech, but he implored students and faculty to consider the impact of their words and actions.
ESCC denied Fenves’ claims that their protest contained antisemitic rhetoric or slogans in a statement released on their Instagram on Oct. 27.
“The slogan originated in the context of calls for the full liberation of the land of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” ESCC wrote. “‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ is not a statement for the exclusion of the Jewish people, but rather a call for solidarity, acknowledgment, and freedom from the chains of colonial oppression that bind all.”
In a statement to the Wheel, Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP) explained that they do not find the chant antisemitic because it is calling for equality for all people on the land.
“President Fenves’ email made grossly generalized accusations against the students, faculty, and staff who attended the walk-out,” ESJP said. “In sending out this communication, President Fenves has exacerbated the existing tensions on campus and has negatively framed pro-Palestine advocates on campus as perpetrators of hate speech.”
The ESCC statement said that “shared content related to the protest” used “weaponized vagueness and misleading information in a deeply anti-Black diversion from the goals of ESCC.” The member of ESCC’s working committee who spoke with the Wheel additionally denounced Fenves’ statement as intending to suppress the Stop Cop City movement.
“There was a lot of misinformation about what Stop Cop City stands for and by not denouncing that, not explicitly naming what it is that we said and did, he's just increasing the division in order to create more opposition to us as a movement,” the member said.
ESJP stressed that they were not affiliated with the Oct. 25 protest in a statement provided to the Wheel. The group claimed that Fenves’ “misinformed” depiction of the walkout “intensified feelings of fear” for both Muslim and Jewish students. ESJP added that their members do not feel safe on campus following Fenves’ message.
“President Fenves demonstrated a disappointing bias in speaking out against anti-Jewish hate while not at all acknowledging the rampant Islamophobia that has plagued our community since Oct. 7,” ESJP wrote. “Differentiation in treatment and the spreading of misinformation by the Emory administration has unfortunately enabled the further targeting of pro-Palestine advocates as well as Muslims and Arabs on campus.”
Adelman and Kalmin said they supported Fenves’ statement. In addition, Chabad at Emory Rabbi Zalman Lipskier praised Fenves in an email to organization members on Oct. 27. Lipsker noted that Emory Chabad worked with the Emory Police Department and DeKalb County Police Department to upgrade its security measures in response to the current campus and political climate.
“We feel especially grateful to be situated on one of the few college campuses which has a leader who shows the courage and moral clarity to denounce terror and hate, and call out antisemitism for what it is,” Lipskier wrote.
Associate Professor of Philosophy Marta Jimenez said that she was concerned that Fenves’ statement would make students apprehensive to express pro-Palestinian sentiments. She added that she believes opposition to Israeli actions and policies are being misconstrued as antisemitic, citing people in the United States who have recently lost their jobs after showing support for Palestine.
“My worry is that people are not going to be able to speak because they are afraid of being understood as being haters or as being antisemitic,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez said another faculty member accused her of not caring about Israeli lives after she sent a statement questioning Fenves’ allegations to colleagues on Oct. 27.
“They were questioning the honesty of my approach to the issue, as if I was trying to defend some kind of secret mischievous agenda,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez also attempted to send the same statement to an Emory College of Arts and Sciences faculty Listserv on Oct. 27 but said that moderators did not forward her email to the group.
Chalkings on campus
The chalked statements that appeared Sunday night included “CEASE FIRE NOW,” “BOMBING CIVILIANS IS A WAR CRIME” and “4000+ CHILDREN MURDERED IN PALESTINE.” Other chalkings promoted a non-profit website titled “If Americans Knew” that focuses on the Israel-Palestine conflict and criticizes the United States’ support of Israel.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry stated on Oct. 31 that approximately 3,500 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7. U.S. officials, including U.S. President Joe Biden, have cast doubts on the veracity of this data.
Eamon Sinclair (25B) said he saw eight to 10 people writing the chalkings in Asbury Circle when he was walking back from the library late Sunday night. The chalkers’ identity remains unknown as of press time.
The message claiming that over 8,000 Palestinians have been murdered in Gaza caught Sinclair’s attention, prompting him to raise concern about the claim not being backed up by a source.
“If you don’t have a source, it’s such a limited context for people that don't know what's going on and it paints a picture that might not be true,” Sinclair said.
However, Sinclair said he welcomed the discussion these chalkings would bring. He added that he hopes the messages, which are still intact as of Oct. 31, do not get vandalized.
“Part of me said it’s amazing that this is happening now on campus, and good for you that you’re sparking this because I personally believe that there’s two echo chambers on campus that are advocating their side to themselves,” Sinclair said. “It feels like it’s the first time on campus that there is actual debate.”
