Students for a Democratic Society - Milwaukee:

NO HATE, NO FEAR, IMMIGRANTS ARE WELCOME HERE 🗣‼️

Join us Monday, April 14th in standing with the immigrant students on our campus as the Trump administration wages their racist and xenophobic attacks — With over a dozen student visas being revoked already the time to fight is now!

by Dion J. Pierre

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s (UWM) chancellor has apologized to the Jewish community for reaching an agreement with an anti-Zionist group which ended a “Gaza encampment” in exchange for the school’s issuing a statement calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas and considering an academic boycott of Israel.

“It is clear to me that UWM should not have weighed in on deeply complex geopolitical and historical issues,” UWM chancellor Mark Mone said on Tuesday. “And for that, I apologize. I acknowledge that it is an increasingly difficult time for many Jewish students at UWM and across America.”

He added, “Let me be clear: UWM resolutely condemns antisemitism, just as we do Islamophobia and all other forms of hatred. Our campus must be a place that welcomes all students and the full expression their history, culture, identity, and ethnicity. But words alone cannot create the culture of inclusion we desire, which is why we must transform our words into commitment and action. This work will take time, as all hard work does, and it will also take the openness of our entire community.”

Mone did not say whether he intends to honor the deal he brokered with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group that has been linked to terrorist organizations and is a source of a substantial number of antisemitic incidents on college campuses. In addition to agreeing to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, on May 12, he issued a statement describing Israel’s war to destroy the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza as “genocide,” citing figures reported by Hamas-controlled authorities which have been lambasted by experts as unreliable. The deal also stipulates UWM’s reviewing “its study abroad policies” and pressuring a local environmental organization to cut ties with two Israeli companies, which Mone has already done.

“University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone capitulated to protesters who violated UWM codes of conduct and state law, vandalized university property, and used harassment and intimidation to fuel antisemitism on campus,” the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Hillel Milwaukee, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said about the deal in a joint statement. “The agreement is amongst the most offensive and dangerous of any university agreement reached with encampment protesters over the last two weeks.”

· Celina Xiong- the president of UWM’s Asian Student Union- is a first-generation Hmong-American who grew up speaking Hmong in her English-speaking school system

· 21-year-old posted a message of grievance in response to the spa shooting in Atlanta on March 31st.

· She has felt the intensity of Asian hate rise since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic last year. #stopasianhate was created to bring attention to the horrific rise in Asian hate crimes.

· She says that her Asian peers have felt the same shame and fear when going out in public since the Pandemic started.

· According to the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Surge 145%, while overall hate crime Drops 6% in 2020.