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click to enlarge Steve Neavling Wayne State University in Detroit. Wayne State University President Roy Wilson has been charged with censorship for preventing the WSU Student Senate from using the schools’ email list to distribute a statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The statement stems from the recently approved Senate resolution condemning Israeli military violence against Palestinian civilians.
This violent ethnic cleansing has been taking place since 1948 and continues to this day, the Student Senate statement said. It is our responsibility to oppose these acts of oppression and occupation, whether or not we are directly affected by this violence. Injustice everywhere threatens our own freedoms, and we must stand in solidarity with those who are beaten, killed and silenced.
The declaration also condemned all forms of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and violence against Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians in all their forms.
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), a Muslim civil rights and civil rights organization, slammed Wilson for banning students from emailing the statement to students and teachers.
We are troubled by Wayne State University President Roy Wilson’s censorship of the Student Senate’s statement condemning recent Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians, CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said in a statement. . The removal of free speech rights from students, even if some do not agree with their political views, goes against the stated ethics of the university, which offers liberal arts education and claims to have an environment in which ideas can be rigorously debated.
In a statement to Metro Times on Wednesday, Wilson said he supported students’ right to free speech and denied censoring the Senate.
We support the right to free speech and encourage our students to express opinions important to them, Wilson said. The Student Senate statement was not censored by the university. We support their right to speak independently, which they have done. By making available the use of an academic mailing list, an academic resource, one could interpret that the Student Senate statement represented the view of the university, which it was not. However, we strongly support their free expression.
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