Bacow, Senate, and others sign revised anti-intimidation statement

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate voted unanimously last night to join other student groups in supporting the Tufts Anti-Intimidation Statement, a more inclusive version of the anti-intimidation pledge concerning that was circulated to college presidents nationwide last month. President Larry Bacow, who declined to sign the original, told the students responsible for the drafting of the new statement that he will sign the Tufts version.

The revisions address the lines of the original statement that Bacow was concerned about _ specifically, a line that condemned intimidation against Jews on college campuses but did not mention other groups. The heads of Tufts' organizations interested in the Middle East conflict, including the Arab Student Association, Friends of Israel, Hillel, the Muslim Student Association, and the Middle Eastern Student Society, came together to produce a version of the anti-intimidation pledge that would include all groups.

"It was monumental to have all the heads together," said Matan Chorev, the Co-Chair of the Middle Eastern Student Society. "Never before in recent Tufts history have all of these heads sat together at one table."

According to Chorev, the statement they produced has the same tone as the original but condemns intimidation not only against Jews, but against "Jews, Israelis, Muslims, and Arabs across the country and on campuses of higher education."

The statement says that it condemns "the rise of hatred towards these groups on our campus." It calls for the entire Tufts community to discourage intimidation on campus and to build a constructive, civil dialogue.

Chorev, along with his Co-Chair Karmin Bin-Humam and Muzammil Mustafa, President of the Muslim Student Association, presented the statement to the TCU Senate. It was approved unanimously. Chorev believes the statement is a real step towards "raising civil discourse" and building a "constructive and friendly community."

"We are lucky to have such leaders [who are] taking the responsibility to begin a new campus culture in terms of the Middle East." He also thanked the TCU Senate for the powerful unanimous vote to show their undivided support.

"It's a huge step in the effort to unify campus," junior senator Randy Newsom said. "We want a safe campus for all students."

As far as Chorev is aware, Tufts is the first university to take the initiative to write its own version of the original Anti-Intimidation Statement. Bacow is expected to release a national press statement today, according to Chorev.

The original statement was initiated by former Dartmouth President James O. Freedman in response to a "series of incidents on campuses last spring in which Jewish students were targeted," according to a press release from the American Jewish Committee.

The statement, signed by 309 university presidents across the nation, expressed concern "that recent examples of classroom and on-campus debate have crossed the line into intimidation and hatred, neither of which have any place on university campuses," and asserted that "these practices and others...will not be tolerated."

But some university presidents, including Bacow and all the Ivy League presidents except President Ruth Simmons of Brown University refused to sign.

Bacow, who was one of the first university presidents to discuss the statement with Freedman, declined to sign because the final version was "cast far too narrowly," he told the Daily last month.