Petition to Harvard Hillel

Background

Recently, the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA), an affiliated group of Harvard Hillel, was prevented from holding one of its events in the Hillel building. This decision was not due to the event's content, which was Jewish in nature and relevant to the Hillel community, but rather due to the fact that the event was co-sponsored with the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC). PSC, as an organization, supports the BDS movement, an international campaign to non-violently protest Israeli policies through a combination of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel. Harvard Hillel made this decision based on Hillel International's guidelines, which state:

"Hillel will not partner with, house, or host organizations, groups, or speakers that as a matter of policy or practice: Deny the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure and recognized borders; Delegitimize, demonize, or apply a double standard to Israel; Support boycott of, divestment from, or sanctions against the State of Israel; Exhibit a pattern of disruptive behavior towards campus events or guest speakers or foster an atmosphere of incivility."

In the past, these guidelines have also been used to exclude Jewish groups from campus Hillels because of their political views, as occurred at Brandeis Hillel. Thus, these policies are doubly harmful: they prevent much-needed dialogue and cooperation between Jewish and Palestinian campus groups, and they exclude particular Jewish students from the Hillel community. While PJA does not support the international BDS movement, we believe that it is essential for Jewish and Palestinian groups to work together on those issues that we do agree on, and for all Jewish students to be included in the Hillel community.

Individual campus Hillels need not strictly follow the Hillel International guidelines and are allowed to form their own policies in accordance with the campus environment. However, Hillel International has recently put pressure on campus Hillels to maintain these more restrictive guidelines. As Jewish Harvard students and Hillel community members, we know that pluralism, inclusivity, and free discourse are some of Harvard Hillel's most deeply held values. Thus, we believe that Harvard Hillel's policies should be modified in order to fully embody these ideals and remove any political litmus tests for affiliation and co-sponsorship.

Petition Text

We, the undersigned members of the Harvard Hillel community, Jewish Harvard students, and alums, ask that Harvard Hillel, in keeping with its values of inclusivity and pluralism, change its policies such that:

1. student groups affiliated with Harvard Hillel will be permitted to co-sponsor events in the Hillel building with any other Harvard student organization, regardless of their political views, in the spirit of free discourse and inter-community dialogue,
2. no Jewish student group will be prevented from affiliating with Harvard Hillel due to its political views, provided that those views are not explicitly anti-Semitic or racist, in keeping with Hillel's mission as the "foundation for Jewish campus life."

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