On Thursday, October 12, at 5:00 p.m. in the Board of Trustees Room, Stockton University President, Joe Bertolino gave his thoughts and listened to the opinions of others in the room on the current conflict between Israel and Palestine. This event was held in lieu of Bertolino’s State of the University Address, which was set to take place at 4:30 p.m.

Last Saturday, October 7, long-standing tensions between Israel and Palestine reached a boiling point when Hamas launched a series of violent attacks against Israel. This conflict has resulted in heightened tensions around the world and at higher education institutions like Stockton University.

Prior to this meeting, Bertolino sent out an email to the Stockton community on the escalating violence overseas, in which he condemned hate and terrorism. He later opened Thursday’s discussion by referencing his message.

“My commentary was brief and it was to simply say we abhor violence, we despise hateful rhetoric, we stand by the victims of this tragedy, and we stand by our students who are in pain. We are here to listen, to learn. But I could also use your help. I can’t relate to the pain that others are experiencing, but I want to. I want this institution to be a place where people can come together. I would also like to ask and invite our colleagues, particularly our faculty colleagues or community colleagues that have expertise in some of these areas to help us in how we move forward and to provide us with some advice and counsel,” Bertolino said.

The floor was then opened and two microphones were passed around to anyone in the audience who wanted their voice heard. The first to speak was Professor Micheal Hayse, who teaches Holocaust and Genocide Studies and works closely with the Holocaust Resource Center. 

“I want to say that it’s important to have a dialogue. The short notice of this procedure, I find problematic. Many of my Jewish colleagues and friends have expressed to me that they did not feel safe, that there needs to be, and I agree with this whole-heartedly, if we’re going to have a dialogue about this topic, the first things that we need to do is to recognize that the Hamas attacks are terrorism. They targeted civilians, indiscriminately, not combatants. This is not the time to say that both sides have good reasons for this. We cannot justify this kind of terrorism. I think this is the first thing that needs to be said, and to say that is not to condemn Palestinians, it’s not to condemn Muslims, certainly. But we do need to condemn the terrorists,” Hayse commented.

Next to speak was Professor of First Year Studies, Mariam Hussein. “I remember being in third grade, attending elementary school in Egypt, with my friends protesting, fighting for Palestinian children. I can say it’s been well over 20 years and still doing the same thing. There are civilians on both sides, there are people dying on both sides, there are children on both sides,” Hussein said in a speech that resulted in applause.

“Moving forward, we should think about how to increase teaching and learning on Palestine and Palestinians, on the conflict, and…also on violence. Context is key. It’s not going to be balanced, but it’s key in education. Now is the time to talk about this. This is our job,” Dr. Raz Segal, Director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies commented.

“We’re constantly having to re-remember that these things happened because we like to forget that happened in the first place; because it’s far more comfortable and feels much safer, mentally, to go back into our bubbles than to continue the conversation and be afraid to rouse people up and give them new ideas,” Dr. Ashlee Roberts, Director of Student Affairs said.

“Hamas does not represent all Palestinians and Netanyahu’s Government does not represent all Israelis, nor all Jewish people. Acknowledging the plight of Palestine in a statement that was directly in response to a terrorist attack by Hamas, you admitted the timing missed the mark because as much as we don’t want to take sides, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is really intractable. Meaning that it’s stuck in a stage of conflict where both sides will continue to use violence to hurt people over and over again. Civilians on both sides have become casualties of this conflict for decades… longer than decades, and that will continue to happen again and again and again. But acknowledging this long history and all of its complexity, as many people have said, should happen on an ongoing basis. Condemning a terrorist attack can be one-sided, it should be one-sided. Someone raised the issue, or the instance of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and we had a panel. There needs to be multiple panels. There needs to be attention to not just the curriculum, but the co-curriculum. Academic affairs can work with student affairs through resources like the Multicultural Center and our academic experts. We know how to do this and we should do this. So when we think through the opportunity to do this, on a long-term basis, it’s right there for us to take advantage, but condemning the terrorist attack should really be one-sided,” Dr. Tina Zappile, Chair of the Political Science Program said.

Inside the Board of Trustees Room, there was a calm, respectful silence. As the microphone was being passed around, there was a sense that people were hurting, but also that everyone was listening to those speaking and voices were being heard.

President Joe Bertolino concluded the event with a closing speech: “Thank you very much for spending some time with us this evening and thank you for your honesty. I know that there are probably others who would like to say a number of things that are on their mind but may not have felt comfortable saying it here at this time and that’s okay. I invite you to share with us, we’ll provide those times where there’s always… We are walking around campus quite a bit and as a result of that, I hope that you will stop us, pull us aside, and engage us in conversation…I am listening and learning. So, I want you to know, if nothing else, we have heard you and heard others throughout the course of the last several days”