Courtesy of Alexa Smith On October 4th, Emory Douglas was invited to speak to students at University of Michigan as part of the Stamps School of Art & Design’s “Penny Stamps Speakers Series Presentation.” Students receive academic credit for attending these lectures. While his lecture was about his work, the Black Panther Party, and the early days of voting rights, Douglas showed a slide that compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, accusing him of genocide. “Guilty of Genocide” is written across Netanyahu’s forehead, and his hand is raised as if he is giving a Nazi salute. One student in attendance captured a photo of the slide, posting it to Facebook and criticizing the administration for allowing such a comparison to be made in a mandatory course. In addition to claiming that this was not the first time a Stamps lecture speaker had demonized Israelis, she said: “As a Wolverine, I sat through this lecture horrified at the hatred and intolerance being spewed on our campus. As a Jew who is proud of my people and my homeland, I sat through this lecture feeling targeted and smeared to be as evil as the man who perpetuated the Holocaust and systematically murdered six million Jews… . The administration is repeatedly failing to forcefully respond to antisemitism, and so it comes back worse and worse each time. A line needs to be drawn and it needs to be drawn now.” On October 8th, the same student announced that she and other Jewish students had met with the Dean of Stamps and the university’s Chief Diversity Officer, demanding that the university adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. One example included in the IHRA definition says that “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” constitutes anti-Semitism, which is exactly what Douglas did during his presentation. A follow-up meeting has been scheduled to discuss the matter further. The day after Douglas’s presentation, the administration issued a statement saying that “The Israeli leader’s image in question was on a single slide among nearly 200 other slides not related to Israel that were presented over the course of an hour. Douglas’ work is critical of a wide range of world leaders, including several U.S. presidents. The video of the talk may shed more light on his message.” Additionally, they defended the speaker’s right to freedom of speech, stating: “Freedom of speech, for both invited speakers and community members, is a bedrock principle of our academic community … There are instances where some or many members of our community may find a speaker or the content of their speech reprehensible or hateful. A speaker’s appearance on our campus does not imply any endorsement. By protecting the constitutional right to free speech and expression for those we disagree with, we are protecting our own right to express that disagreement. If our laws and practices allowed us to prevent objectionable speech, the very groups that today are exercising their own speech rights to protest against such a speaker, might have those rights threatened in the future.” On October 9th, President Mark S. Schissel and Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Martin A. Philbert issued a more detailed statement. While they reiterated their stance on allowing speakers to voice their views, even if they’re controversial, they stated that: “It also is important to note that the ideas discussed in our teaching venues do not necessarily reflect the institutional values or position of the University of Michigan or its regents … Hitler and the genocide that he led, however, represent a horrific level of evil with few if any parallels in human history. We understand how these images are offensive, particularly in this case to Jewish students. We are sorry students were hurt by this experience.” While the speaker does have a right to freedom of speech, many Jewish students were offended by the comparison for a reason, especially since this incident comes on the heels of other anti-Semitic incidents against students, perpetrated by instructors on campus. University of Michigan has been facing severe backlash after two instructors denied letters of recommendations to Jewish students after learning that they were planning to study aboard in Israel. While they did this in support of the BDS movement, the university’s administration has continuously stated that they do not support the BDS movement. The administration has disciplined the first professor, condemned their actions, and established a panel to examine faculty members’ obligations towards students. In their October 9th statement, the administration also addressed these incidents. Direct to all members of the campus community, they said: “Recent events on our campus have raised important questions around issues of personal beliefs, our responsibilities as educators, and anti-Semitism. Provost Philbert and I, along with the Board of Regents and several academic leaders, have been engaged in discussions about these issues with members of the university and broader communities in recent weeks. The incidents have caused hurt and made some members of our community feel that their religious identity and academic aspirations are not valued. We want everyone in our Jewish community and beyond to know that we are committed to upholding an equitable and inclusive environment where everyone is given a chance to succeed and pursue the academic opportunities they have earned. First and foremost, this applies to our students. These are core values of our university, and even in moments of turmoil and strong disagreement, they guide our work and give us a path forward.” The university is taking steps in the right direction by reiterating their stance against BDS, making it clear that discriminatory actions will not be tolerated by instructors, and establishing a panel and policies that will hopefully reduce the likelihood of such incidents occurring in the future. By adopting the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, as recommended by University of Michigan students, the university would help protect Jewish students from future discrimination on campus.