One campus pro-Palestinian group is saying Penn State President Graham Spanier's beliefs -- not policies -- are the reason he won't sign their petition.
Spanier told the PSU Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) that he receives many petition requests and has a policy of not signing them, but SJP members say his explanation is contradictory. They note that Spanier helped to organize and sign a petition published as a full-page advertisement in the August 8, 2007 edition of The New York Times.
In the advertisement -- sponsored by the American Jewish Committee -- Spanier is listed with 285 other college presidents as endorsing a statement from Columbia University President Lee Bollinger denouncing a decision to promote a boycott of Israeli educational institutions.
Spanier could not be reached for comment, but Penn State Vice President for Administration Thomas Poole said Spanier couldn't respond because of his travel schedule.
The SJP petition was created following the May 31 "Freedom Flotilla" incident, in which nine activists on a ship bound for Gaza and attempting to break through an Israeli naval blockade were killed when the ship was raided by Israeli soldiers. At press time, 216 Penn State students and 34 faculty members had signed the SJP petition.
But on June 8, SJP was looking to add one more signature to the list, so SJP Vice President Shadi Ghrayep e-mailed Spanier asking him to sign.
Initially, Poole e-mailed Ghrayep (graduate-engineering) back to say schedule conflicts would likely delay Spanier's response, but he promised to still pass along the note.
More than three weeks passed, and Ghrayep still hadn't heard back -- so he e-mailed Poole again on July 1 and learned that his petition request had been declined.
"The President has returned from his travel and confirmed that he does not sign petitions," Poole wrote in a July 1 e-mail to Ghrayep. "He is presented with requests throughout the year and has a policy of not signing petitions."
When Ghrayep asked Poole about the 2007 petition, Poole responded via email explaining that The New York Times petition was "an educational initiative."
"He was asked to sign this as a president of the university that is a member of the educational organization and it was simply a statement about educational policy, something that would benefit higher education nationally and therefore Penn State as well," Poole said. "As a university president, that's part of his job to advocate on behalf of educational initiatives."
Ghrayep disagrees.
"It seems to us that he only signs pro-Israel petitions, not pro-justice ones," Ghrayep said. "And the university is run the same way Washington is run, which means subordinating the pursuit of justice for the pursuit of fundraising."
Ghrayep said the cause behind SJP's petition has ties to education, too. Students in the blockaded region are suffering academically because school supplies are among the items not allowed in, he said.
Ghrayep said he sent Poole and Spanier an article on June 8, written by Human Rights Watch about the blockade's effects on education in Gaza. He said he received no response and e-mailed Poole again on July 16 to ask about the delay, but he still hasn't gotten a reply.
Poole said he has no record of the two follow-up e-mails from Ghrayep, and he said his office tries to respond to each e-mail within one business day. He is not intentionally ignoring messages from SJP, he said.
But to Ghrayep, there's still "a clear bias."
"Spanier has clearly taken sides on this issue," Ghrayep said. "I think we caught him in a contradiction, and they're a little embarrassed."
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