On the evening of May 26th, Chancellor Chrisopher Molloy and Provost Francine Conway released a statement addressing antisemitism. Briefly cited were also the death of George Floyd, and attacks against the AAPI community, Indigenous persons, Hindus, and Muslims, altogether in attempts to assert a blanket disposition against “racial injustice”. This statement was unwarranted due to the absence of any publicly reported antisemitic incidents in the Rutgers New Brunswick community that had not already been addressed by the administration, making it clear that its primary goal was to deflect from Rutgers University’s complicity in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Despite the statement’s mention of the “the deaths of children and adults and mass displacement of citizens in the Gaza region and the loss of lives in Israel,” it was devoid of any clear acknowledgment of the Palestinian community at Rutgers, who are currently grieving the loss of more than 250 Palestinian lives at the hands of Israel’s hate-driven militant occupation of Palestine.

Following our response on May 27th rejecting the statement released to the Rutgers general body on May 26th, and the support of Rutgers community members who sent action letters demanding accountability, Chancellor Molloy and Provost Conway have released a follow up titled “An Apology.”

The “apology” released by Chancellor Molloy and Provost Conway persists on the nonnecessity of actually supporting Palestinian students, faculty and allies as we grieve, organize, and resist the Zionist occupation of Palestine. Our existence is not contingent on the University’s acknowledgment, and the empty assertion that our community is “supported” may remain with the University, as it is an assertion that has not been backed by any tangible efforts and therefore will not be accepted by SJP Rutgers New Brunswick.