CMU graduation marred by anti-Zionist, anti-Hindu messaging on the Fence
New message conflates Nazism, Zionism and Hinduism
Carnegie Mellon University’s Fence was once again used to deliver an anti-Israel message.
The phrases “Down with Nazism, Zionism, Hindutva,” “End the capitalist empire,” and “Defend Sudan, Palestine, Kashmir and W. Sudan” were painted on the university landmark the Saturday of the university’s commencement weekend.
The message was not the Fence’s first blush with anti-Zionist or antisemitic messages, but it was the first time Nazim, Zionism and Hindutva, a form of Hindu-nationalism, were conflated into one message.
In October 2023, just days after Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel that killed more than 1,200 people, the messages “76 years of occupation,” and “Free Palestine,” were painted on the Fence.
At the time, a university spokesperson told the Chronicle that the Fence is “student governed,” with rules applied by the Student Government Graffiti and Poster Policy. Students are allowed to paint messages on the Fence, he explained, between midnight and 4 a.m. As long as students stand guard during those hours, no one is allowed to paint a new message until the following day.
CMU’s website is unclear if there are any restrictions on the messages painted on the fence but Cassie Crogan, interim director of media relations for the university, said that the Fence has long served as a medium of student expression and is a physical manifestation of its commitment to upholding and exercising free speech on our campus.
“Even so,” she said, “the message displayed was deeply disappointing and upsetting.”
The university, Crogan noted, “remains committed to building bridges of understanding so that all students learn how their words and actions affect others and how we can work together to foster an inclusive community.”
Social media reaction to the posts was immediate with both pro and con messages.
The Instagram account “cmufence,” which features pictures of the various messages painted, had nearly 500 comments, with the majority of those speaking out against the messaging.
On Facebook the reaction was more varied, where many on the far-left expressed support of the messaging.
Chad Collins, a pastor at Valley View Presbyterian Church, wrote “beautiful,” on one person’s post.
Collins’ daughter Micaiah was recently charged by the federal government with conspiring to manufacture and possess a destructive device, and discussed the potential uses for the devices being built and tested. His daughter Nesta was arrested and charged with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct at the anti-Zionist encampments at the University of Pittsburgh.
Bhavini Patel, executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh, reposted pictures of the Fence on her Facebook account, writing that, “This dangerous rhetoric incites hostility and opens the door to violence against Jewish and Hindu students, families and institutions.”
Masking hate as activism, she continued, erodes the foundation of pluralism and pits communities against each other, emboldening extremism, normalizing bigotry and poisoning democratic society.
In an interview with the Chronicle, Patel said that falsely equating entire communities with Nazism dehumanizes those communities and has real-world consequences that lay the groundwork for discrimination, harassment and violence, like the arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Free speech, she said, is vital, “but so is responsibility and suggesting that certain identities are oppressive or dangerous legitimizes hostility toward them.”
“It’s our responsibility as a society,” she noted, “to determine what kind of social permission is allowed for hate,” she said.
Beth Vander Stoep, assistant director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council, said the CRC was “appalled by the incident.”
“Done on graduation weekend with the knowledge that many Jewish, Israeli, Indian and Hindu parents would be coming to see their students graduating, it’s absolutely terrible that this has happened,” she said.
Vander Stoep said that the CRC was in constant contact with both Hillel Jewish University Center and the CMU administration to address the root causes of antisemitism on campus.
Speaking from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv the morning Edan Alexander was freed after more than 583 days in Hamas captivity, Julie Paris, Mid-Atlantic regional director with StandWithUs, said the messaging was part of a “greater trend of the normalization of dangerous misinformation and the misappropriation and Holocaust inversion in making false comparisons between Nazis, Zionists and members of the Hindu community.”
The messaging, she said, is hate speech and should be fought with more speech.
“We should be out there speaking out. We should be signaling to university and campus administrators that we expect them to also issue statements and to speak out whenever they see hate speech targeting our communities,” she said.
And, Paris said, the anti-Zionist and anti-Hindu messages are simply more proof that the Jewish and Hindu communities should be working together.
The two communities did just that Sunday, according to Vander Stoep, when Jewish and Hindu students came together to repaint the Fence with a positive message.
The new message, painted in blue and white, read “CMU 25” on one side of the Fence and “Keep your heart in the work” on the other side.
The messages painted on the Fence were not the only anti-Israeli messages featured during graduation ceremonies this weekend.
Students for Justice in Palestine posted a video of the University of Pittsburgh’s commencement ceremony that featured students carrying Palestinian flags with the messages “Divest from death” and “Divest from genocide,” written on them.
The organization was suspended earlier this year by the university, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union to sue Pitt on behalf of SJP.
The anti-Zionism and anti-Hindu messages, Paris said, are an opportunity for university administrators to take a stand.
“We expect administrators to speak out now like they would with all hate speech.”
And, in the end, she said, “We have to use our voices to speak out.”
The University of Pittsburgh did not respond to requests for comment by the Chronicle’s publication deadline. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
comments