The good news is that the University of Virginia's Dean of Students condemned the disruption. And, what is apparently an assault that also took place. The Cavalier Daily's coverage has also been positive.
Over 10 people gathered at Clark Hall Thursday night to protest and disrupt an event hosted by the Brody Jewish Center and Hoos for Israel. University Police Department officers responded to the group gathering and sounds of shouting, and received a report that an assault occurred prior to their arrival. The UPD is continuing to investigate the incident, the department’s Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Rexrode told The Cavalier Daily in an email.
Though the event — a panel of Israeli Defense Force reservists entitled “Building Bridges” — was hosted by the Brody Center, it was not necessarily religious in nature, according to Talia Sion, a fourth-year Nursing student and chair of the Jewish Leadership Council.
“[The event was] an event to promote conversation and respectful dialogue between students of different religious and political backgrounds,” Sion said. “The event was not organized purely by Jewish students nor aimed for just Jewish attendees.”
But instead of building bridges, anti-Israel haters resorted to their usual ugly tactics.
In the Facebook post, the group said its meeting was interrupted by students and non-students chanting anti-Israel slogans, holding up signs and passing out information. The Brody Center said it invited the protesters to take part in a discussion, but the “protesters refused to engage in conversation and instead continued to shout intimidating and hostile slurs directed at students, staff, and panelists.”
In his letter to students, Dean Allen W. Groves said he had reviewed video of the incident and that it appeared several university policies and standards of conduct were violated by the protesters.
There have been some condemnations about the heckler's veto at UVA. And that's a good thing. The response to speech is more speech. Not the active disruption of other people's speech.
Ben Borenstein, a second-year College student and active member of the Brody Center, attended the Building Bridges event. He said the protesters had a megaphone and brought literature to distribute about the history of Israeli-Palestinian relations.
“I felt very threatened,” Borenstein said. “It was probably the most afraid that I’ve been in a situation at U.Va. because it was such a small classroom and it was so loud … it was very antagonistic and almost militant.”
The dean's letter was pretty clear in placing the blame.
"Last night in Clark Hall, a meeting of Jewish students and a rabbi, properly reserved and wholly peaceful, was disrupted," he wrote. "I am told the scene in the room felt threatening to many students in attendance." He added that "with rare exception, there is danger in assuming one’s chosen side of an issue is free of fallibility or otherwise not open to question. We can only learn from each other if space exists to exchange ideas freely and without disruption from those with whom we may disagree. Indeed, having watched the video from last night, it appears clear the Jewish students and their rabbi extended an offer to engage in dialogue with the protesters disrupting their meeting, but that overture was rejected. This was a lost opportunity."
That kind of response almost seems to come from a bygone era. These days the heckler's veto is treated as a civil right on many campuses. But just wait till the usual suspects get started.