Arizona State University (ASU) leadership has ignored Meghan McCain’s request to condemn the pro-Hamas protest that occurred on campus last week.
The ASU chapter of Students For Justice in Palestine (SJP) held the protest. The silence from ASU leadership prompted McCain to question the decision to have the name of her late father, Sen. John McCain, associated with a new library at ASU.
“No entity that condones such behavior on their campus has any business hosting my fathers library in his name. Full stop,” said McCain.
No entity that condones such behavior on their campus has any business hosting my fathers library in his name. Full stop.
I severely encourage the heads of Arizona State University @ASU to come out and condemn this support of Hamas immediately. https://t.co/CZAanptOpO
One user asked whether foreign students who attended the protest would have their visa status revoked due to their support of a terrorist group. Hamas is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Question. My understanding is that foreign students are required to answer if they are members o support any terrorist group in order to get a visa. So, if a foreign student support Hamas is his/her visa automatically revoked?
On Sunday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) requested Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to revoke the visa statuses of those who attended any pro-Hamas protests.
SJP of ASU held the rally at the behest of their National SJP, which called for a National Day of Resistance last Thursday. Not all campuses who pledged to participate ended up following through.
University of Arizona (UArizona) President Robert Robbins issued a condemnation of pro-Hamas sentiment from the SJP chapter on their campus, but ultimately allowed the protest to take place on First Amendment grounds.
“The national organization has made statements endorsing the actions of Hamas in Israel, which are, of course, antithetical to our university’s values,” said Robbins.
The SJP of UArizona canceled their protest in response to Robbins’ letter, declaring that the president’s rhetoric endangered them. The chapter denied endorsement of Hamas activity, specifically distancing themselves from the National SJP.
“[O]ur organization is independently run and led specifically by students at the University of Arizona. Associating our chapter with any and all claims made by other SJP affiliates is a gross misrepresentation of our values, clearly designed to misalign our goals and demonize our presence on campus,” said the chapter.
Yet, SJP of UArizona heeded the National SJP’s call to host its protest on the National Day of Resistance.
In their call to action, the National SJP declared in a since-deleted post that Hamas terrorism constituted “a historic win for Palestinian resistance” and encouraged its supporters to engage in “armed confrontation with the oppressors” in addition to rallies. The toolkit provided for hosting the National Day of Resistance included the infamous template depicting a Hamas paraglider.
“This is what it means to Free Palestine: not just slogans and rallies, but armed confrontation with the oppressors,” stated NSJP.
I would simply not declare the mass murder of civilians "a historic win" for my cause in which "our people" acted against "the enemy" to "capture over a dozen settlements" and call for more "armed confrontation with the oppressors." pic.twitter.com/ixli3DtNeB
SJP of ASU plans to hold another protest at the end of this month.
ATTENTION ARIZONA: ALL OUT FOR PALESTINE. On Saturday, October 21st, we will be having a rally and march for Palestine. The fight for justice and liberation is not over.
Arizona State University (ASU) student organizations advocating for issues like socialism, antiracism, and social justice are demanding the expulsion of Kyle Rittenhouse, effectively a campaign to cancel him. Rittenhouse had enrolled in an online ASU course in October; following his acquittal of all charges earlier this month, Rittenhouse announced that he hoped to enroll fully at ASU. Arizona Daily Independent listed all the groups involved in the campaign against Rittenhouse: Students for Socialism, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán (MEChA), Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition (MSC).
The student organizations accused Rittenhouse of “white supremacy” and being a “racist murderer.” A jury determined otherwise. Several weeks ago, Rittenhouse was acquitted of multiple charges of homicide and reckless endangerment. Rittenhouse killed two of his assailants – Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber – and wounded a third, Gaige Grosskreutz. The trial revealed that the three men pursued and attacked Rittenhouse, who was in Kenosha to administer first aid and protect local businesses.
The student activist group petition to expel Rittenhouse also demanded that ASU reaffirm their support for the controversial multicultural center on campus by divesting funds from the ASU Police Department to fund the center and establishing an on-campus rape crisis hub called the Campus Assault Advocacy, Resources & Education (CAARE) Center.
Rosenbaum was a violent, convicted sex offender who served 10 years for multiple counts of child molestation. Huber was a convicted domestic abuser.
As AZ Free News reported, MSC leaders were behind the incident in September in which they demanded two of their peers leave a room on campus for being white males who were displaying “racist” messaging, such as a “Police Lives Matter” sticker. The room wasn’t designated officially as a multicultural room at the time of the incident.
Earlier this month, ASU determined that the three women involved – Sarra Tekola, Miriam “Mimi” Arraya, and Mastaani Qureshi – violated the university’s Code of Conduct.
Tekola and Arraya are prominent leaders within the Phoenix Metro chapter of Black Lives Matter (BLM). Tekola co-founded the chapter, and Arraya served as a policy minister. The pair’s BLM chapter has come to the defense of the three women for harassing and discriminating against their peers. They hosted a press conference earlier this month, and called for the public to contact ASU officials to drop the Code of Conduct charges against the three women.
The ASU student behind the petition is Taskina Bhuiyan, a sophomore studying microbiology. Bhuiyan’s petition characterized Rosenbaum, Huber, and Grosskreutz as “victims.” As of press time, the petition has over 1,200 signatures.
According to Bhuiyan’s LinkedIn, she worked for Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) from 2018 to 2020 – the controversial activist organization that followed Senator Kyrsten Sinema into the bathroom over her hesitation to support the infrastructure bill. ASU Police recommended misdemeanor charges be filed against the activists. Bhuiyan’s name also appears on the staff page for the Islamic Community Center of Tempe, a mosque.
Demands for Rittenhouse’s expulsion came after ASU College Republicans United (CRU) announced that they were fundraising for lawsuits Rittenhouse may file against the media, if any. Previously, ASU CRU raised $14,000 for Rittenhouse’s legal defense for his trial.
CRU denounced efforts to cancel Rittenhouse, insisting that ASU should suspend the organizations and individuals involved for engaging in a “harassment campaign.”
