Re: Letter to Pres. Salovey fw: Vandalism of menorah on the Green
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Just a follow up. I had a couple of good follow-up exchanges by email with President Salovey today. He sent me a message at 5 pm letting me know that he has posted the following statement.
The Yalies4Palestine group and the other organizers of the event have tried to distance themselves from the menorah incident on social media. See below.
I've seen very little coverage of this in the news.
From:[email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of David Sasso via groups.io <david.sasso@...>
Sent:?Sunday, December 10, 2023 12:42 PM To:[email protected] <[email protected]> Subject:?[YFJFF] Letter to Pres. Salovey fw: Vandalism of menorah on the Green ?
FYI, I sent this letter to President Salovey, Provost Strobel, and Secretary Goff-Crews moments ago. I have shared with Gayle Slossberg at Federation.
I encourage others to write as well if they wish.
From:?Sasso, David <david.sasso@...>
Sent:?Sunday, December 10, 2023 12:38 PM To:?President Peter Salovey <president@...>; Salovey, Peter <peter.salovey@...> Cc:?Strobel, Scott <scott.strobel@...>; Goff-Crews, Kimberly <kimberly.goff-crews@...> Subject:?Vandalism of menorah on the Green ?
Dear President Salovey,
I hope that you and your loved ones are enjoying a happy Hanukkah, made
all the more difficult, and meaningful, by the events we confront at this time.?
Following up on our conversation in October and your letter after the recent congressional hearings, I want to make sure that you are aware of this incident on the New Haven Green yesterday. It was part of an event that I understand was cosponsored by Yalies4Palestine. (Some will argue that the other participants wanted the flag taken down because it was important to them not to vandalize a menorah. It is clear from listening to the video that they were instead concerned with optics.) I trust that Yale will investigate to determine if any of these were Yale students. Will there be a statement from the University condemning what occurred? Even if these were not Yale-affiliated students, this occurred in Yale¡®s backyard, and the event was sponsored by a Yale?affiliated group (which should no longer receive Yale support or recognition).? I urge you to consider what kind of statement Yale would release if
such an incident were to occur in New Haven, cosponsored by a Yale student group targeting a religious or cultural symbol of any other group and to act without double standard.
Your recent letter stated: ¡°Chants or messages that express hatred, celebrate the killing of civilians, or contain calls for genocide of any group are utterly against our ideals and certainly are not characteristic of our broader community.¡± The march yesterday included chants that, as you well know, do all of those
things. I urge you to demonstrate to the world that Yale will not tolerate such behavior or language, just as you would do, and have done, in many other instances.?
Free speech is a bedrock principle. What is occurring has crossed from
free speech into calls for violence and actual vandalism of a religious symbol. The double standards are glaring. This is not the time to hide behind free speech. We have seen what the world thinks of that sort of equivocation.?
As always, I welcome your response and further conversation.
Sincerely,
David?
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David A. Sasso, MD, MPH
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Psychiatry / Child Study Center
Yale School of Medicine
Therapeutic Center for Children and Families, Westport, CT
Phone: (203) 454-2428, ext. 718
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