This past weekend, the Students for Free Palestine hosted a conference aimed at educating its members on effective methods of activism. In the days leading up to the event, “Activism 102,” there was an extreme amount of criticism, both from faculty and students, directed at the administration for allowing the conference to take place on campus. Many of the objections stemmed from participants at similar meetings having been accused of promoting anti-Semitic thought. President Bennet attempted to put a halt to the rising tensions when he sent an email to the Wesleyan community on Friday assuring everyone that the students involved with the conference would not let the rhetoric be hateful in any way.
The issues raised at the conference were controversial and arguments that it was one-sided were valid. Despite that fact, Bennet should be commended for taking a strong, swift stance on the issue in the face of the harsh criticism and the pressure that he received. It would have been against the liberal ideals of this institution for him to cancel the event simply because it did not reflect the viewpoints of the entire campus. He made the right decision to allow the conference to take place and in the end, it ran without problems.
Regardless of the outcome, many members of the Wesleyan community still remain upset. In the future, when a potentially volatile conference like “Activism 102” is scheduled to take place on campus, it is vital that opposing parties find a middle ground to avert a fruitless war of words. This means more than just a stream of angry Wespeaks, which too often serves as a venue for unproductive monologues. Actual dialogue through face-to-face meetings has to take place so that the tumult of the last week can be avoided.
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