{"id":119,"date":"2023-11-08T17:56:50","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T22:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T10:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T14:45:07","slug":"standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-11-08T17:56:50-05:00\">November 8, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n\n<p>Dear Members of the Clark Community:<\/p>\n<p>The present situation in the Middle East, which was sparked by the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, is tragic, with thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives lost and ongoing immeasurable suffering. Here at Clark over the past month, we have remained intently focused on the safety and well-being of our community, grappling with these events emotionally and bringing to bear critical thought and dialogue consistent with our mission.<\/p>\n<p>We have visited with many of our students, faculty, and staff \u2014 Jewish, Muslim, and others. We have seen and heard the pain that they are feeling, and we share that pain. We have heard that some members of our community are afraid for their safety and are feeling unwelcome. And we also have received reports and seen recent behavior on our campus that is unacceptable and that runs against our institutional values and principles, including references to all Muslims as terrorists and phrases such as \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d that instill fear among those of the Jewish faith.<\/p>\n<p>Incidents \u2014 such as antisemitic slogans scrawled on a wall in Goddard Library, rhetoric amongst community members on social media demonizing our Muslim and Jewish students, and the removal from around our grounds yesterday of posters of captured Israelis held hostage \u2014 are examples of conduct that are unacceptable and in response to which we will take action.<\/p>\n<p>Our community standards are built upon a foundation of shared values and expectations, and a commitment to provide an educational environment free of harassment and intimidation. We call on all at Clark to end the use of slogans, tropes, and other actions that contribute to a climate in which people feel unsafe. When we witness threatening expressions, we do and will respond as a University. We are investigating every incident and will pursue each one of them and take necessary action. We have also moved swiftly to remove menacing words when they are found.<\/p>\n<p>To have fidelity with our values as a University, especially during challenging and divisive times, we must interact with each other with understanding, compassion, and humility. We must do our own work to understand the devastating impact of words, even those that we often do not fully understand.<\/p>\n<p>As a guardrail to our community standards, anyone in our community \u2014 student, faculty, or staff \u2014 who experiences or observes discriminatory behavior is urged to report it immediately through our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/offices\/emergency-management-and-campus-assistance\/bias-incident-reporting\/\">Bias Incident Reporting system<\/a>. Every report received is thoroughly reviewed and acted upon as appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>Our ability to live and learn together \u2014 as one humanity \u2014 takes sustained effort by us all. Despite differences in our community, we must recommit ourselves to our institutional values and obligations to each other: mutual respect and understanding, willingness to reach across divides, embracing difference, and the belief that together we can change our world.<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>David Fithian<br \/>\nPresident<\/p>\n<p>Sebasti\u00e1n Royo<br \/>\nProvost<\/p>\n<p>Margo R. Foreman<br \/>\nVice President and Chief Officer of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion<\/p>\n<p>Kamala Kiem<br \/>\nAssociate Provost and Dean of Students<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Members of the Clark Community: The present situation in the Middle East, which was sparked by the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, is tragic, with thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives lost and ongoing immeasurable suffering. Here at Clark over the past month, we have remained intently focused on the safety and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presidential-communication"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia | Office of the President | Clark University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Members of the Clark Community: The present situation in the Middle East, which was sparked by the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, is tragic, with thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives lost and ongoing immeasurable suffering. Here at Clark over the past month, we have remained intently focused on the safety and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Office of the President\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-08T22:56:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-31T14:45:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Pennypacker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/08\\\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/08\\\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\\\/\"},\"headline\":\"Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-08T22:56:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-31T14:45:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/08\\\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":506,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Presidential Communication\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/08\\\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/08\\\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\\\/\",\"name\":\"Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia | Office of the President | Clark University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-08T22:56:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-31T14:45:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/884237452632ee846930bad1d6a6d61d\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/08\\\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/posts\\\/119#breadcrumbs\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":0,\"name\":\"ClarkU\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Office of the President\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/\",\"name\":\"Office of the President\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/president\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia | Office of the President | Clark University","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia","og_description":"Dear Members of the Clark Community: The present situation in the Middle East, which was sparked by the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, is tragic, with thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives lost and ongoing immeasurable suffering. Here at Clark over the past month, we have remained intently focused on the safety and [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/","og_site_name":"Office of the President","article_published_time":"2023-11-08T22:56:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-31T14:45:07+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Pennypacker","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/"},"headline":"Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia","datePublished":"2023-11-08T22:56:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-31T14:45:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/"},"wordCount":506,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Presidential Communication"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/","name":"Standing Against Antisemitism and Islamophobia | Office of the President | Clark University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-08T22:56:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-31T14:45:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/#\/schema\/person\/884237452632ee846930bad1d6a6d61d"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/2023\/11\/08\/standing-against-antisemitism-and-islamophobia\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119#breadcrumbs","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":0,"name":"ClarkU","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Office of the President","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/","name":"Office of the President","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"fimg_url":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":342,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}