When inclusion turns to exclusion on campus
From late 2021 to early 2022, the two of us were harassed and shunned by fellow members of a student group at SUNY New Paltz, where we both attend as juniors. Our peers not only created a hostile environment that fostered potent anti-Semitism, they banned us from a sexual violence support group that one of us co-founded, all under the cover of pro-Palestinian advocacy.
This series of events has implications for activists and support groups everywhere, and it led us to file a formal complaint with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
Everything started when Cassie — co-founder of New Paltz Accountability, a support group for survivors of sexual violence — reshared an Instagram post to her story stating that the Jewish people are indigenous to the land of Israel. Historical records indicate that Jews were, in fact, the first inhabitants of Israel, and are only widely dispersed today due to forced diasporas spanning centuries. Cassie’s story noted: “You cannot colonize the land your ancestors are from.”
While we have had to defend our support for Jewish self-determination in the past, we could have never predicted the vile anti-Semitic and antiIsrael hate that post unleashed — and it ultimately led us to file a Title VI complaint.
Almost immediately after the Instagram
post, several NPA members informed Cassie that the group was open only to those who reject Zionism and the state of Israel. Though Cassie offered to organize a meeting between the Jewish Student Union and NPA, the latter refused, issued a statement against Zionism, and removed her from the group. The group also cut contact with Ofek, an Israeli, who was forced to quit.
While the details of our exits from NPA differ, together our story exemplifies how performative ideology masked as inclusion usually leads to bad outcomes for all parties involved.
For one, our fellow members’ demands to reject Israel forced us to
choose between our Jewish identity and our experience as survivors. Sadly, this form of exclusion is nothing new: Throughout history, Jews have been repeatedly denied access to careers, schools and communities for this very reason. While NPA members claimed that they were only rejecting Zionists, not Jews, they essentially created a litmus test for our membership: Reject Israel’s right to exist or be rejected ourselves.
Second, prohibiting membership in a sexual violence support group based on any kind of affiliation is the epitome of hypocrisy. The sad truth is that anyone can be a survivor of sexual violence. With this understanding in mind, NPA was founded to be a group for all survivors, and our mission was to improve the conditions for survivors through fundamental, systemic changes within the institution.
Excluding us sets a bad example, with repercussions that range from silencing survivors to emboldening abusers.
Our outrage grows further over the fact that, following our departure, NPA became focused more on performative activism than serving its constituents. In the span of only a few months, the group rebranded, leaving a void in support mechanisms for survivors across campus.
This is what happens when survivorship becomes conditional: We reject key allies, we neglect people who are suffering, and we abandon the principled idea of intersectionality.
We believe that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and that we must consider everything and anything that can marginalize people. However, banning survivors will never be an act of aid to survivors. We can disagree about issues, and even who is the oppressed group in certain situations. But we can never allow safe spaces for survivors to be held hostage by those who create conditions for entry.
Survivors have already suffered enough. Validating one survivor over another undeniably harms our cause.