BUZZ
Says phrase was to ‘draw awareness to the conflict in Gaza’ and ‘promote student advocacy’
The University of Missouri chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is upset that one of its chalkings at the campus Speakers Circle was “washed away” by university staff.
According to KOMU, activists from the group had chalked messages on October 9 to “draw awareness to the conflict in Gaza” and “promote student advocacy.”
But approximately an hour later, some SJP members noticed one chalking — “From the river to the sea” — had been removed. The phrase is widely considered offensive to Jews as it is interpreted as a call for the destruction of Israel.
Lenore Tal, a member of Mizzou’s Students Supporting Israel, said “I don’t know what they thought when they were writing that. I just know from my perspective and the perspective of a lot of Jewish people and people who have connections to Israel, for us it’s a very hurtful chant, so I’m glad the university handled it.”
A Mizzou Campus Facilities official told the SJP’s Lily Dunn (pictured) that the specific chalking was being looked into for “potentially violating the university’s Title VI policy.”
University Deputy Spokesperson Travis Zimpfer confirmed there was “a situation involving a report related to hostile environment under Title VI” which was under investigation.
Dunn noted the previous Mizzou SJP president had had discussions with school president Mun Choi about the allegedly offensive phrase, and the group even hosted events named “From the River to the Sea” in order to “reclaim the phrase from any sort of possible connotations of being negative.”
The portion of Title VI that pertains to this situation would be the prohibition of discrimination “against students of any religion when the discrimination involves racial, ethnic, or ancestral epithets, or slurs.”
However, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression says it is “well settled” that offensive phrases like “From the river to the sea” are protected by the First Amendment.
“While there are some narrow categories of speech unprotected by the First Amendment, such as true threats or incitement to violence, there is no categorical exception for speech deemed ‘antisemitic’ or ‘hateful,’” FIRE’s Haley Gluhanich said.
Regarding a similar situation at the University of Texas at San Antonio last year, Gluhanich had told The Fix that “For speech to be considered an unprotected true threat the speaker must communicate a serious intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals and the speaker must consciously disregard a substantial risk that their speech would place another in fear of serious physical harm.”
MORE: Students worry about Islamophobia, yet chant ‘from the river to the sea’ during walkout
