Student Email to President Wong

On Wednesday, May 10, 2017, 5 student leaders met with President Wong concerning the letter they sent to him on April 3rd. 

​Dear Pres. Wong:

Thank you for taking nearly two hours of your time to meet with Jewish and Hillel students today. We appreciated the friendly tone of the meeting and your willingness to hear our concerns. 

We agree there were a number of potential positive outcomes from the meeting, but we wish to reiterate the concerns we expressed in the meeting. You asked us to support several efforts and programs that the University is trying to advance. We wish to support the University, but we need to see the University take real steps in the following areas first:

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1. Lack of acknowledgement of issues affecting Jewish students. We did not feel that you really acknowledged that Jewish students are actually being discriminated against and adversely affected on campus. You talked about a lot of issues around personal growth, but never really acknowledged the legitimacy of our concerns. 
2. Public clarification around Zionism. We asked you to clarify your quote in the J last week refusing to say that Zionists were categorically welcome on campus. In the meeting today, you said, "Zionism is a right to be a Jew." That definition is not any group's definition of Zionism. Your lack of understanding of this concerns us, considering what an important issue this is on this campus. But, based on your definition, we asked about how Zionists would not be categorically welcome on campus. Based on the confusion, we feel it necessary to ask you to publicly clarify that students who are Zionists are indeed welcome on campus. 
3. Clear statement of steps to condemn anti-normalization. You spoke a lot about planning around events so that future speakers aren't shouted down. We view "events" as a symptom, not a cause, of the larger anti-normalization problem. You heard today how being a part of the campus Jewish community is a litmus test, and students have to choose between, for example, being part of Hillel or being a part of the queer community. We need to see publicly laid out the steps that will actually begin to change the culture on this campus.   
4. Dean of Human Relations Position. You made a categorical statement that the position will be filled by the fall semester, either with an interim or full hire. While this is a strong action, we think it's more important for a well-qualified hire to be in place, than a person who is under-qualified but available in August. Our earlier complaint was that the wheels of the university were moving so slowly that several well qualified candidates dropped out. If this is a priority for the whole university, the wheels should be moving much quicker and more effectively to attract qualified candidates.   

Again, while we are appreciative of time with you, we sincerely feel that the University is not taking ownership of its past mistakes, and not acknowledging the legitimacy of our concerns over safety and discrimination.