Wake Forest University cancels Oct. 7 event featuring pro-Palestine speaker after outcry

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — An event planned to feature a pro-Palestinian speaker on Oct. 7 at Wake Forest University has been canceled after fierce backlash from Jewish student groups at the university .

The event was set to feature Rabab Abdulhadi , a San Francisco State University professor and founding director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program, as well as co-founding editorial board member of the Islamaphobia Studies Journal.

Abdulhadi was scheduled to speak at an event entitled “One year since al-Aqsa Flood: Reflections on a Year of Genocide and Resistance” on Oct. 7, exactly one year after Hamas, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization , launched an attack on Israel killing nearly 1,200 people and kidnapping hundreds of others.

On Thursday, University President Susan Wente and Provost Michele Gillespie issued a statement announcing that the event was canceled.

Wente and Gillespie said that the university would not host events “that are inherently contentious and stand to stoke division in our campus community.”

“We are living in complex times, and yet we remain hopeful about the future because of this caring community and our shared mission to serve humanity,” Wente and Gillespie said.

The WFU leaders highlighted instead an Interfaith Prayers for Peace that will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m on the Manchester Quad with a Community Reflection Event set for 4:45 p.m. on the front steps of Wait Chapel.

The full statement is included below:

Dear members of the Wake Forest community:

We write to update you on several events planned for Monday, October 7.

We recognize that this date is significant for many reasons and to many different members of our community, our country, and people around the world. We empathize with the emotions felt by many Wake Foresters as the date approaches, including those who lost friends, family members and colleagues on October 7, 2023.

As a university community, there are many ways that we could choose to recognize this day. At Wake Forest, we will emphasize our ability to come together to support one another, holding space for our many different perspectives and experiences. As such, we invite you to join us for several university-sponsored events.

Interfaith Prayers for Peace will take place from 11 a.m.-1 p.m on the Manchester Quad. A Community Reflection Event will be held at 4:45 p.m. on the front steps of Wait Chapel. At both events, students, faculty and staff are invited to pause, reflect, and write a prayer or light a candle for peace. At the Community Reflection event, members of the Wake Forest community will offer prayers and readings for peace.

We have also made the conscious decision not to host events on this day that are inherently contentious and stand to stoke division in our campus community. Thus, we have informed the academic units sponsoring Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi’s campus lecture on October 7 that it cannot take place.

We are living in complex times, and yet we remain hopeful about the future because of this caring community and our shared mission to serve humanity.

Sincerely,

Susan R. Wente
President

Michele Gillespie
Provost

The now-canceled event featuring Abdulhadi prompted Isabelle Laxer, president of the WFU Chabad student organization, and four other Jewish Wake Forest University students to advocate against Abdulhadi coming to campus to speak.

They created a student petition that garnered more than 4,000 signatures in its first 24 hours, lobbying the university and the departments listed on the poster to rescind their invitation.

Among their concerns, Abdulhabi hosted a digital event with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 2019, considered by the United States to be a terrorist organization.

“We support free speech, we encourage the university to host people with a variety of different viewpoints, to share different perspectives, encourage and foster dialogue on our campus. However about a week ago they put up posters for this event with antisemitic and pro-terrorist language,” Laxer said.

Andrew Orfaly, president of the student-run Rosenblatt Family Hillel at Wake Forest, said using the term “al-Aqsa Flood,” which Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups use to refer to the attack, in the event’s title would be similar to using Al-Qaeda’s term for the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It’s incredibly disheartening to see this happening on a day that saw the greatest loss of Jewish life since the holocaust,” said Laxer.

We emailed the chairs of all departments listed on the flyer and did not get a response, nor did we hear back from Abdulhadi.

Approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict since Oct. 7 as the two sides battle in the ongoing war.

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