ASU suspends left-wing student org that called for 'death' to 'the zionist': 'We do not condemn Hamas'
Arizona State University suspended a left-wing student organization after it called for the "death" of Zionists on Instagram.
Arizona State University suspended a left-wing student organization after it called for the “death” of Zionists on Instagram.
The organization, MECHA de ASU, made an Instagram Post on Feb. 12 where it called for the “death” of certain groups, including Zionists.
”Mecha believes in revolution. Not reform. We do not condemn the Al Aqsa flood. We do not condemn Hamas. We do not condemn resistance,” the group wrote in the post. “Death to boer. Death to the Pilgrim. Death to the zionist. Death to the settler. Glory to the Martyrs! Freedom to the prisoners! Victory to the resistance!”
As of publication, the post is still on Instagram. The video was intended to point out alleged police brutality.
[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Dept of Ed investigates ASU over anti-Semitism complaint]
A spokesperson for Arizona State University told The State Press that MECHA de ASU was placed on an interim suspension, which the organization has appealed.
”Student organizations are subject to the Student Code of Conduct to the same extent as students,” the ASU spokesperson said.
Left-leaning campus organizations across Arizona, including the Democratic Socialists of the Phoenix Metro Area and the Phoenix Communist Party signed a statement posted to Instagram, where they condemned the suspension as an attack on the First Amendment:
”We believe that this action taken by the university was the result of targeted pressure by Zionist groups from both on and oft campus, and is an active attempt to suppress pro-Palestinian advocacy groups at ASU. MECHA de ASU has long been an active participant in the struggle for Palestine at ASU, and we believe that they are being punished for that role. The university has made clear that it does not care about the desires of its student body to not be complicit in genocide, nor does it actually value freedom of speech like it claims to do,” reads the statement. “Freedom of speech and assembly on college campuses has been historically proven to be a farce when desires for real institutional change from the student body come into conflict with the academy’s desire to continue the status quo.”
”We condemn the suspension of MECHA de ASU and demand that ASU immediately reinstate MECHA de ASU as a student organization. We further demand that ASU reaffirm the right of student organizations to freedom of expression and the right to advocate for a people facing genocide by a colonial occupier,” the groups added.
Notably, Arizona State University is under investigation over its response to anti-Semitism on campus, as Campus Reform previously reported.
