Students Supporting Israel at The Catholic University of America condemned the school’s administration for “requiring antisemitic viewpoints” at a proposed campus event on Jewish safety, according to a Feb. 27 press release.
CUA’s Center for Student Engagement denied a Jan. 19 request to seek guest speakers for an event titled “Ending Antisemitism in America.” In the written denial on Feb. 25, the CSE director stated that approval of any speakers would only be granted if the student group secured an additional opposing speaker to ensure a “balanced presentation” representing “both sides of this issue.”
“By demanding an ‘opposing view’ for a discussion on antisemitism, the administration implies antisemitism is a valid perspective and worthy of equal consideration,” Felipe Avila, president and founder of SSI at CUA, said in the press release. “CUA is effectively saying Jewish safety on campus can only be discussed if we also platform those who threaten it.”
Avila condemned the university for suggesting that antisemitism is a “legitimate viewpoint in our modern society.”
In a statement sent to Washington Jewish Week, the CUA administration expressed its commitment to opposing antisemitism.
“It is for this reason that the University did not simply deny Students Supporting Israel the opportunity to host a conversation on this topic. Our written response explicitly invited Students Supporting Israel to submit a restructured proposal with a balanced presentation that would include a variety of voices addressing antisemitism and the responsibilities of all members of our community to create a campus climate that promotes a consistent commitment to upholding the dignity of all human persons. That offer remains open,” the statement read. “We look forward to working with Students Supporting Israel to host a thoughtful conversation.”
Avila also said the CUA administration is holding SSI at a “double standard” compared to other student organizations.
“In my four years, as far as I’m aware, this policy has never been applied,” Avila told Washington Jewish Week.
Other registered student groups including Catholic U College Democrats and CUA College Republicans “routinely host highly partisan, one-sided speakers,” he wrote in an Instagram post.
The College Democrats recently held an event featuring an activist who advocates for legalized, expanded abortion access, without an opposing speaker, according to Avila.
Avila initially proposed Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) as the speaker for SSI at CUA’s presentation, given the congressman’s legislative work on ending antisemitism. He said the university denied Avila’s request to host the event based on the topic rather than the speaker. Avila said he had been willing to select another guest speaker if necessary, but was not given the opportunity.
“Why is Students Supporting Israel held to a completely unequal, impossible standard?” the post read. “We refuse to legitimize hate to appease an administration that selectively enforces its rules.”
The proposed event, a presentation, aimed to discuss “rising antisemitism nationwide” and how to end this hatred.
“We should be able to have intellectual conversations,” Avila said. “We should be able to lean into the hard conversation, ask the tough questions. And unfortunately, I think the university is very hesitant to create an open safe space for these conversations, to allow this discourse on campus.”
He asserted that a failure to openly discuss difficult topics results in an “echo chamber,” especially within a private university. Talking about anti-Jewish hate at this institution in particular is important to Avila.
“Being at Catholic University, we have a longstanding history of antisemitism,” he said, referring to the school’s affiliation with the Catholic Church. “That’s something that, for decades now, we’ve been working to rectify.”
Avila sees it as his duty to support his Jewish peers, as someone who has many close friends in the District personally impacted by anti-Jewish hate.
“My Catholic faith has taught me that it’s my moral responsibility to stand for people who are being marginalized or oppressed,” Avila said. “And so what better time than now to have these conversations about what it means to combat antisemitism in our communities? The most basic thing that we, as students, can do is to have these conversations and to promote awareness that this is happening.”
SSI at CUA has previously dealt with pushback from both the university community and the administration. CUA’s student government considered a resolution to ban pro-Israel groups from campus, specifically SSI, in October, according to the college news website Campus Reform. Earlier in October, CUA staff removed a memorial display that students had set up to honor victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Avila, a senior nursing student at CUA, spoke to how much his chapter of SSI has accomplished. But he also said he’s disheartened to have to deal with an issue such as this one in his final semester at CUA.
“The school has been really unwilling to budge on a lot of these issues, and to see this happen two months from graduation like that is really upsetting to me,” Avila said.
