A student at the University of Michigan claims she had to sit through an antisemitic lecture in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was compared to Adolf Hitler.
UM senior Alexa Smith said the Thursday presentation was part of a series which art and design students must attend.
According to The Algemeiner, Smith snapped a photo of an image which had been displayed by lecturer Emory Douglas, a former official in the Black Panther Party. The picture “branded both Netanyahu and Hitler with the caption, ‘Guilty of Genocide.’”
Smith posted the image on Facebook and wrote “As a Wolverine, I sat through this lecture horrified at the hatred and intolerance being spewed on our campus. As a Jew who is proud of my people and my homeland, I sat through this lecture feeling targeted and smeared to be as evil as the man who perpetuated the Holocaust and systematically murdered six million Jews.”
Smith noted that during her sophomore year, she had to sit through a similar experience where comic book artist Joe Sacco said Israel was “a terrorist state” and that IDF soldiers are “unworthy” of “being represented as actual human beings” in his art.
“This time I will no longer sit quietly and allow others to dehumanize my people and my community,” Smith said. “The administration is repeatedly failing to forcefully respond to antisemitism, and so it comes back worse and worse each time. A line needs to be drawn and it needs to be drawn now.”
Rick Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for U-M, told The Algemeiner that Douglas’ lecture centered on the “vast body of work” he produced, most during his time with the Black Panther Party.
“His presentation included a video and nearly 200 slides with images of his work,” Fitzgerald said. “He presented and discussed a wide array of topics and subject matter, much of which was focused on the oppression of people across the globe by governmental powers.”
“The Stamps program is intentionally provocative and we are clear with our students about this,” he continued.
Part of the introduction to the event includes a disclaimer emphasizing the diversity and independence of speakers, which the university does not “control or censor,” Fitzgerald added.
He said undergraduates only need to select and attend 10 of 14 scheduled Stamps events to receive the required credit.
So, the university puts on “deliberately provocative” lectures, but cannot handle things like a “Nile”-themed party and spends thousands on initiatives which warn students to be careful what they say around campus.
Makes sense.
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IMAGE: Shutterstock.com, The Algemeiner
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