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Key Takeaways
- Catholic University of America denied the Students Supporting Israel chapter's request to host speakers, citing a need for 'balance' in viewpoints regarding a proposed event on antisemitism.
- The SSI president criticized the university's policy as deceptive and selective, highlighting that other student groups have hosted speakers without a similar requirement for opposing viewpoints.
- University officials invited SSI to revise their proposal to include a broader range of perspectives, asserting their commitment to ensuring a respectful dialogue on campus.
Catholic University of America denied speaker requests from the Students Supporting Israel chapter on campus, citing a lack of balance in viewpoints offered.
The university told The College Fix it invited the students to resubmit their proposal with broader viewpoints. Meanwhile, a free speech expert said the school should not require students to balance out controversial ideas.
SSI President Felipe Avila told The Fix the university denied its request to invite two speakers for an event about combatting antisemitism in America via a written notice on Feb. 25.
The university “cited an obscure, selectively applied policy requiring us to ‘restructure the event’ to include ‘speakers representing both sides,’ implying that antisemitism is a legitimate viewpoint in need of a platform,” Avila said.
“This is a deceptive, discriminatory policy weaponized squarely against Students Supporting Israel,” he said.
He noted that the College Democrats were permitted to host a speaker from a partisan organization focused on electing candidates who “protect abortion access,” without the requirement that they invite a pro-life voice.
“By this logic, must the pro-life club now platform Planned Parenthood? Must the ASPCA invite advocates for animal cruelty? Or is this ‘balance’ mandate reserved only for us?” Avila told The Fix.
“This denial is not an isolated incident; it is the latest link in a chain of discriminatory hurdles we have faced since the group’s founding,” he said.
Moving forward, the group is demanding that the school approve its speakers without conditions and apply policies equally.
“We aren’t asking for special treatment; we are demanding the same free expression rights afforded to every other group on this campus,” Avila said.
CUA spokesperson Karna Lozoya told The College Fix, “the University did not simply deny Students Supporting Israel the opportunity to host a conversation on this topic.”
CUA instead invited SSI to resubmit their proposal, including a wider variety of viewpoints than previously proposed. University administration would like to work together with SSI “to host a thoughtful conversation.”
She said “The Catholic University of America stands firmly against antisemitism. The safety and dignity of our Jewish students—and every member of our community—is a responsibility we take seriously.”
However, Dominic Coletti from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told The Fix the school should have allowed the students to host the event.
“When a private university promises its students free speech, it must uphold those promises, including when students choose to invite speakers to campus,” he said.
“A university that holds itself out as a place for the free exchange of ideas and that promises students the right to engage in that exchange should not mandate that students balance out controversial ideas,” the program officer for the free speech group said.
He added that the school can host its own critic to present an opposing viewpoint, but it should not require students to “moderate their own expression, including that of the speakers they invite.”
“Students hosting speakers should be given broad latitude, and universities should refrain from discriminating against these speakers based on their beliefs or viewpoints. These universities should not use controversy to justify censorship,” Coletti said.
SSI wanted to invite Dany Tirza, who is known for his expertise in homeland security, in addition to his role in building the border wall separating Israel from neighboring Palestine, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Tirza spent many years at the helm of a special staff unit for the Israel Defense Forces Central Command and served as the mapping expert for Israel in peace negotiations with Palestine, according to the Institute for National Security Studies.
The other proposed guest, Randy Fine, is a U.S. representative from Florida’s 6th Congressional District. In his previous service as the only Jewish Republican in the Florida State Legislature, he worked to make the state safe for Jewish families, according to his website.
