Rutgers was in damage control Monday after the university’s widely-panned agreement with a Voorhees Mall pro-Hamas encampment became public knowledge and calls for a suspension of state aid gained traction.
Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway issued his own statement in which he insisted that the university had remained true to its “guiding principles.”
“Since Voorhees Mall was cleared, I have received thousands of emails in which people express their frustration or dismay. To everyone who wrote, I hear you,” wrote Holloway, a historian, in a note to the Board of Governors. “I know that many of the decisions that we made last week are challenging. What was clear before the encampment and what has become clearer since, is that we have work to do at Rutgers. The healing will take time, but I am committed to it. Part of this work will require addressing gaps in our Jewish student, faculty, and staff experience. For that, we will lean on the wisdom and insights of the Advisory Council for Jewish Life. Chancellor Conway has already started that work.”
“I am confident in our decisions,” Holloway continued. “They allowed us to maintain a safe and controlled environment, to protect Rutgers students and Rutgers property, and to assure that our students’ academic progress—taking finals and completing the semester—was not impeded.”
Meanwhile, the Republican leadership in Trenton demanded a hearing on the terms of the agreement between Rutgers and former occupants of the New Brunswick campus encampment which includes a pledge to consider divesting from companies which do business with the state of Israel.
“Rutgers’ decision to negotiate, let alone surrender, to the demands of protesters in a time of elevated antisemitism is deeply concerning. The line was long crossed when protesters interfered with the rights of students by resorting to violence and aggression that far overstepped the boundaries of peaceful assembly and should never be tolerated,” said Republican Senate leader Anthony Bucco (R-25). “The recent discourse from the university administration further empowers this unacceptable behavior and they should have never given any credibility to the anti-Semitic hate speech exhibited from our students. As a state university, I believe it is the legislature’s responsibility to take immediate action and, as my colleagues have proposed, hold hearings to rectify this situation as swiftly as possible.”
“The actions of the Rutgers University administration last week were cowardly and shortsighted,” added Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio (R-Warren) said. “Seeing as negotiations happened behind closed doors, legislative hearings will provide the transparency we need and help answer important questions. Did the Murphy administration or attorney general’s office play a role in the discussions that led to the concessions? How much will meeting these demands cost taxpayers? What did the administrators promise in the way of future compromises?”
It remained to be seen as of Monday evening whether the Democrat majority in the legislature decides to act.
