Thread by @MairavZ

Here is my report in @JewishCurrents on what happened at Bard, from the perspectives of the organizer, fellow panelists, protesters, audience members
jewishcurrents.org/what-really-ha…
cc @ShahannaMB @adamshatz @BenLorber8 @Arendt_Center @rudoren

Bard student and SJP member @akiva_hirsch said of his decision to protest the panel, “[Wisse] being Jewish did nothing to inspire the protest. And for what it’s worth, I don’t like protesting my fellow Jews. But sometimes the right thing isn’t the fun thing.”

“What it sounds like in this piece was that I was actually egging on the protest and encouraging the group in a way that simply did not happen. And I’m shocked by this misrepresentation and with the criticisms that are now coming my way." @ShahannaMB a Black Jewish educator.

"I am being accused in the media of antisemitism, without including that I’m Jewish, and this misrepresentation has been published without speaking to me for comment prior to publishing. It feels like bullying.” -@ShahannaMB

The most egregious, dangerous part of Batya's piece.

Ken Stern, who already wrote a response in The Forward, said he's been receiving emails from people who believed what they read without looking at context. “The article plays into the fear that one side was trying to shut down the other, and they weren’t. They were protesting."

From director of the @Arendt_Center Roger Berkowitz: “The title of the piece is so duplicitous it’s hard to imagine...For her [@bungarsargon] to say we didn’t have a plan is astoundingly false. And to suggest someone was not allowed to talk is just a fabrication.”

“It appears Ungar-Sargon used her platform to defame certain Jews and others who do not agree with her by accusing them of antisemitism—an accusation that carries significant reputational damage—without offering them a chance to respond.”

I also want to be very clear that there were many ways Batya and The Forward could have handled situation. Her piece could've been written in a tempered, responsible and nuanced way that raised the issues and discomfort w/o gross label of racism and mischaracterization of facts