In a flood of over 2000 emails that began on Wednesday, Feb. 19, over 20 University administrators were asked to intervene in a pro-Palestine protest planned for Monday, Feb. 24. 

The protest was organized by individuals affiliated with the Wesleyan Young Socialists, Wesleyan Students for Justice in Palestine, Beyond Empire, and the Wesleyan Refugee Project, as well as regional groups including the CT Palestine Solidarity Coalition, CT Labor for Palestine, and CT Students for Palestine, according to a letter to the editor published by June Labourdette ’25. It culminated in a rally that occurred outside of the Usdan University Center and North College.

The rally’s organizers appeared to have a wide breadth of demands, ranging from broad changes in United States fiscal policy to tangible actions by the University.

The Argus obtained dozens of screenshots of the emails, which were addressed directly to President Michael Roth ’78, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicole Stanton, and the board of trustees. The emails were also sent to at least 16 additional administrators, including General Counsel and Secretary of the University David Winakor and Assistant Vice President for Equity and Inclusion and Title IX Coordinator Debbie Colucci. Additionally, some of the emails copied government offices and officials, including Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz and Connecticut’s Department of Education.

The email blitz was organized in part by End Jew Hatred, a grassroots Zionist organization based within the United States. The Argus spoke with its Director of Programming and Strategy Michelle Ahdoot to learn more about the organization.

“We’re a Jewish civil rights movement,” Ahdoot said. “We’re completely nonpartisan. Our goal is to apply pressure in a very legal, diplomatic way to ensure that civil rights are upheld and that Jew hatred is unacceptable.”

Ahdoot explained that while End Jew Hatred relied on small, independently organized WhatsApp groups and email chains to recruit supporters to send the emails to the University, the emails’ content was researched and written by a team of attorneys working for the organization. To her knowledge, the email campaign had not yet received a response from the University.

Many individuals who sent the emails did not appear to have any connection with the University. However, some senders identified themselves as alumni or parents of current or former students. The Argus was not able to identify or obtain any emails sent by current students.

While the emails varied slightly in wording, they were practically identical in content and did not directly ask the University to shut down the rally. Instead, they called on the University to prevent protesters from doing anything to disrupt the University’s functions and to reject the calls of many organizations affiliated with the rally to end the University’s partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and individual scholars. 

“[I] urge you to take steps to ensure protesters do not disrupt the functions of the university, rules are enforced, and Jewish and other Zionist students are protected from harassment and abuse,” one of the emails obtained by The Argus read. “Equally important, Wesleyan must take tangible steps towards increasing ideological diversity on campus and protecting academic freedom, to make it clear that SJP’s [Students for Justice in Palestine] calls for academic, cultural, and economic boycotts will be rejected out of hand.”

Ahdoot took a stronger tone than the emails, responding directly to the organizers’ calls for the University’s divestment from companies that operate in Israel, including Pratt & Whitney, an aerospace company that provides engines to the Israeli military.

“What [the protesters] are hoping for is essentially economic terrorism,” Ahdoot said. “These BDS [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] campaigns that we’re seeing popping up are very dangerous…. Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”

The emails also appeared to praise President Donald Trump’s approach to student protests. On Jan. 29, Trump signed an executive order pledging to revoke the visas of international students who participated in pro-Palestine protests. Groups including the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs raised concerns about the apparent lack of due process that would be afforded to accused international students, while stronger critics described it as a blatant infringement of international students’ First Amendment rights. It’s unclear to what extent the order has been or would be implemented, as the order did not include tangible enforcement mechanisms and was immediately challenged in court.

Additionally, senders of the emails asked that the University prevent protesters from obscuring their identity with face coverings as some individuals have done in past protests. In her letter to The Argus, Labourdette called for potential attendees to consider obscuring their identities, and at Monday’s protest, several individuals wore medical face masks.

“Safe protest practices, such as wearing masks and sunglasses or nondescript clothing, can provide some level of protection and should be taken into consideration, especially by those most vulnerable,” Labourdette wrote in her letter.

Ahdoot disagreed, concurring with the email’s claim that anonymity could fuel violence.

“If you want to conceal your identity when you participate in mass action, give me a break,” she said. “When you make a call out like that, you’re flipping the format and encouraging people to come [wearing masks] and cause a ruckus.”

None of the organizations affiliated with Monday’s rally indicated any intentions other than to hold a peaceful protest. Calls for masking and anonymity are rooted within past occurrences of doxxing and even death threats following protesters’ identities being disseminated online.

In an email to The Argus sent on Friday, Feb. 21, the University’s Associate Director of Media and Public Relations Ziba Kashef indicated that the University did not plan to intervene in the protest.

“The University’s policy on Disruptions allows for ‘picketing, demonstrations, sit-ins, or student strikes, provided they are conducted in an orderly and non-obstructive manner,” Kashef wrote. “The President’s Office recognizes students’ right to protest under these rules.”

While at least two Public Safety officers were present at the protest on Feb. 24, neither of them took any steps to intervene or interfere with the rally, which remained peaceful.

Miles Pinsof-Berlowitz can be reached at mpinsofberlo@wesleyan.edu.