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Los Angeles Times
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Chapman students march to protect DEI amid Trump antisemitism probe
A coalition of Chapman University student groups held a noontime protest one week after the U.S. Department of Education announced that the Orange campus is one of 60 colleges across the nation under investigation for alleged antisemitism. Following the March 10 letter that warned colleges risked losing federal funding if they failed to protect Jewish students, outgoing Chapman University President Daniele Struppa informed faculty and staff that two vice presidents, Norma Bouchard and Reg Stewart, were placed on administrative leave without explanation. Student activists from 33 campus groups assembled in front of a barricade of fences that otherwise prevented them from speaking on the steps of Memorial Hall to protest the move. 'Chapman University and so-called 'free speech advocate' Daniele Struppa [are] doing nothing to make Chapman students feel protected,' Scott Tucker, an activist with Chapman Students for Justice in Palestine, told rally-goers. 'We don't have to bend the knee to this administration.' At one point during the protest, Dean of Student Affairs Jerry Price informed student speakers that using bullhorns on the lawn in front of Memorial Hall wasn't allowed. He later tried to wrest one from Myth Moos, another SJP student activist, but left without it under a chorus of boos. 'The protest is perfectly legit,' Price told TimesOC. 'It's just that university policy prohibits amplified sound during class hours without advanced approval.' Pete Simi, a Chapman University sociology professor and expert on extremist groups, attended the rally to support principles of academic freedom, freedom of speech and DEI, which he said has come under attack, especially since President Donald Trump's return to the White House. 'I see the letter that Chapman got as part of a broader strategy by the current presidential administration to divide universities, to pit staff and administration against faculty and students,' he said. 'I see it as an effort to create fear and intimidation.' Bouchard had served as executive vice president, provost and chief academic officer at Chapman University since 2021. Struppa's email announced Glenn Pfeiffer as acting provost. The shakeup also sidelined Stewart as vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Gabriela Castañeda now leads the campus' DEI office. Josh Olatunji, a junior at Chapman, held up a 'Reinstate Dr. Reg Now' sign and described the move to put him on administrative leave as 'shocking,' especially for Black students like himself. 'Dr. Reg is one of the first people I met at Chapman,' he said. 'He led the 'brother bonding' meetings, which is a space for Black men to hang out with Black professors who I would have never otherwise known.' Chapman's DEI office came under fire earlier this year when it hosted the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Awards in January that honored Students for Justice in Palestine. Struppa later sent out a campus-wide email publicly criticizing the award while apologizing to Jewish students. The award was promptly rescinded. Olatunji believes the controversy played a role in the decision to put Steward on administrative leave. Carly Murphy, a Chapman spokesperson, cited privacy and confidentiality concerns in response to TimesOC questions whether the administrative moves were made in response to the Trump probe. 'Chapman remains committed to supporting all students of all backgrounds and is working with Dr. Gabriela Castañeda, who is leading our DEI team and operations, on next steps,' Murphy said. The campus is home to the Fish Interfaith Center, the Barry and Phyllis Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education and the new Or Initiative funded by a $1.85-million grant from the Samueli Foundation. But last February, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law sent a letter to the U.S. Dept. of Education and California's Civil Rights Office charging Chapman violated the civil rights of Jewish students. It alleged two Jewish students were barred from joining Students for Justice in Palestine, with one student reporting a 'death threat' she received online to university officials, who did not remove the alleged harasser from campus. 'These incidents demonstrate that Chapman is failing to protect Jewish students,' the letter read. Myth Moos, SJP co-president, believes campuses under investigation were targeted for pro-Palestinian activism, including the protest encampment at Chapman last year. 'SJP has always been open to Jewish students,' said Moos, who is Black and Jewish. 'I joined SJP around the time when students were alleging antisemitic incidents took place and, as a Jewish student, I can attest that I was welcomed in with open arms.' After Moos helped lead Monday's rally into a march, which included some Jewish students from Judaism On Our Own Terms, demonstrators circled around campus without much counterprotest. One man started chanting 'USA' at the crowd before he was drowned out by louder chants of 'DEI!' Half-a-dozen students with Chapman University College Republicans distributed fliers with Trump's image next to text reading 'DEI is over,' but declined to comment.
Los Angeles Times
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Pro-Palestinian student group at Chapman University stripped of MLK award
A pro-Palestinian student group that organized a Gaza solidarity encampment at Chapman University last year faced criticism from administration after being honored with an award. Chapman University President Daniele Struppa took the rare step of sending a campus-wide email the day after Students for Justice in Palestine was recognized during the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Awards on Jan. 21. 'There is a significant distinction between fostering free speech and bestowing an award,' he wrote. 'I want to make it crystal clear that the award does not represent the official position of Chapman University.' Struppa ended his email with an apology to Jewish students and all offended by Students for Justice in Palestine's award, which has since been rescinded. 'We're not surprised [Struppa] sent out a statement, but there definitely was some disappointment and anger,' Myth Moos, co-president of Chapman's Students for Justice in Palestine, told TimesOC. 'It was a gross overreach of power as a president and goes against his role of creating a safe space for students.' Coming after a wave of pro-Palestinian student activism gripped college campuses across the nation — sometimes taking the form of encampments — the row shows that rifts in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war still run raw as a fragile ceasefire holds. The MLK awards event, which was hosted by Chapman's Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, honored faculty, staff and student organizations 'making strides in the area of diversity, social justice and community empowerment.' After a nomination and review process, Students for Justice in Palestine shared the campus group award with the South Asian Student Assn. But following Struppa's public criticism, Students for Justice in Palestine was stripped of the honor. Both the president's email and the award's revocation found favor with the Anti-Defamation League. As soon as the group's local chapter found out about the award, it reached out privately to Chapman's leadership to weigh in. The ADL scheduled a meeting with Chapman's DEI's office on Jan. 22 when they were informed that the award had already been rescinded. 'Chapman's leadership did the right thing in disavowing and rescinding this award, but it is outrageous that this happened in the first place,' said Matthew Friedman, the ADL's regional director in Orange County and Long Beach, in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. The controversy served as somewhat of a referendum on King's legacy, with Struppa seeing the student group's campus activism as 'incompatible' with it. The ADL echoed Struppa's sentiment in support. But for Moos, a Jewish and Black student, the criticism did not register with the civil rights leader who preached and practiced civil disobedience. 'When Struppa tries to speak on Martin Luther King's legacy, he's coming from a perspective that doesn't truly understand the nuances,' Moos said. 'King was seen as radical in his time.' A statement released by Students for Justice in Palestine aligned the Chapman encampment with the spirit of 'Resurrection City,' a D.C. tent encampment that was cleared out a day after its permit expired during the Poor People's Campaign in 1968 that King organized before his assassination. Siding with the pro-Palestinian student group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations took issue with Struppa's public criticisms, including his 'misplaced and unfounded' contention about King's legacy. 'By condemning the award presented to SJP Chapman, President Struppa not only undermines the rights of students to express their views but further promotes the nationwide pattern of hostility against them for their advocacy in support of Palestinian human rights,' said Amr Shabaik, CAIR-LA's legal director, in a press statement. In May, CAIR-LA called on Chapman's leadership to protect pro-Palestinian student activists and investigate an incident involving man reportedly brandished a knife at them on campus. That same month, Students for Justice in Palestine reached an agreement with administrators to voluntarily dismantle a two-week old Gaza solidarity encampment, which avoided a confrontation with police that ended a similar encampment at UC Irvine with scores of arrests. As part of the agreement, no student activists faced disciplinary action. Students for Justice in Palestine also pushed for the university to divest from companies they outlined as profiting from human rights abuses related to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But in September, the Chapman University Board of Trustees rejected the student group's divestment proposal. 'Divestment is always going to be a focus,' Moos said of Students for Justice in Palestine's work going forward. 'With the ceasefire, we can also now focus on rebuilding [Gaza]. We'll have to do fundraisers … to get money down there.'
