At the University of Arizona in Tucson, the leader of the faculty senate has chosen to hold up a measure opposing antisemitism at the school.
On May 6, faculty senate chair Leila Hudson, who is Palestinian, announced the delay of a resolution to condemn campus antisemitism.
Hudson cited as her justification the May 1 engagement between law enforcement and anti-Israel activist students that included the use of pepper spray and rubber bullets.
The Joint Council on Jewish Life and Antisemitism stated in response that “every day is a day to call out antisemitism; one of these events has nothing to do with the other.”
In a statement, Hudson also said that Congress was “attempting, uniquely, to legislate the meaning of antisemitism in a way which many individual scholars, and many individual citizens, believe will limit free speech in the name of fighting hatred, which I personally oppose.”
Hudson said the faculty senate needed more time to deliberate on the statement. “Wrestling with the language on this matter has been challenging,” she said. “I have failed to come up with language on this matter that I think we could easily pass.”
