The Jewish Voice for Peace chapter at Temple University encouraged participants of a recent protest to wear masks, despite a change in the school’s code of conduct prohibiting them, the Temple News, a student paper, reported on Tuesday.
The Philadelphia public university’s code of conduct, updated at the start of the school year, now includes an “identity concealment” rule that prohibits students from wearing masks with the intent to intimidate any person or group, or for the purpose of evading identification while violating the law or university policy, according to the paper.
The changes, including the mask ban, were made in response to recommendations from the Anti-Defamation League, Temple president John Fry stated on Aug. 25.
Members of Temple Action Solidarity Coalition, a coalition that includes Jewish Voice for Peace, engaged in a protest on Sept. 4 after the changes were made to the guidelines.
The chapter’s co-president stated that “demonstrators were told to wear masks for their safety, not for the purpose of engaging in harassment or intimidation,” according to the paper.
The changes, which also include explicitly referencing prohibited forms of conduct that include Jew-hatred and “anti-Israeli discrimination,” come after Temple had received a “C” grade on the ADL’s Campus Antisemitism Report Card.
“Antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias has been on the rise in many communities,” a university spokesperson told Temple News. “While these changes reflect the Anti-Defamation League’s recommendations, they also reflect the continued efforts of university administrators to curb the rise of antisemitism and ensure that our community remains inclusive.”
