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Hey all, Georgia Tech is trying to censor one of our chapter youth sections, the Young Democratic Socialists of America at Georgia Tech. We're joining them in calling on Dean of Students John Stein to rescind the Institute’s disciplinary actions, which violate YDSA GT’s rights to free speech, assembly and due process, and in calling on Georgia Tech to issue a public apology. Here's an urgent message from YDSA GT:
To our supporters, members, and classmates,
Over the last 6 months, YDSA GT has been targeted by an unlawful campaign of intimidation and political repression by Georgia Tech in retaliation for hosting a Palestine 101 meeting in April. The Office of Student Integrity (OSI) aims to police our political views by placing us on disciplinary probation and unconstitutionally dictating our political programming.
Back in April, in response to the news of our Palestine 101 meeting, a non-student staff organizer for a pro-Israel organization sent out a mass email saying they "condemn" YDSA and planned to heckle our meeting with a pro-Israel "counter-narrative." They were denied entry because of their obvious intention to hijack our meeting. They then filed bogus OSI complaints alleging that YDSA was a hate group and that turning away the staffer was "discrimination." This is clearly false. We made no decisions on the basis of any protected characteristic, we had many Jewish students and members who freely attended the event, and our meeting presentation featured a Jewish guest speaker from Jewish Voice for Peace. We rebuke anti-Semitism in all its forms, it is a vile bigotry that has seen an alarming rise over last the few years, but to conflate being pro-Palestinian with being anti-Semetic is absurd.
Further, OSI has repeatedly mishandled the investigative process - violating their own policies and our right to due process. For example, OSI:
Dragged out a process that should've been handled in 30 days to over 6 months
Literally changed the charge that we would be judged on 15 minutes after our hearing was scheduled to begin, 5 months after the original charge was first stated
Refused to justify the basis of their sanctions or even tell us what specifically we're accused of doing (we've mostly had to guess)
This is hardly an exhaustive list. This entire process has been corrupted by bias and incompetency, rigged from the start by a gutless administration only interested in preserving the political status quo.
On Tuesday we filed an appeal to Dean of Students John Stein, but more importantly, we have assembled a broad coalition of community organizations who are forming a united front against political censorship. The Council on American-Islamic Relations of Georgia, Jewish Voice For Peace, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Project South, Palestine Legal, national DSA and YDSA, and many more are joining our petition to Reject Georgia Tech's Political Censorship of YDSA GT. Together, we are calling on Dean Stein to rescind the Institute’s disciplinary actions, which violate YDSA GT’s rights to free speech, assembly and due process, and on Georgia Tech to issue a public apology.
Of course we're going to contest this with our appeal and potentially litigation, but real power comes from mass action. That's why we're asking for your help.
Hello, I am calling in support of Young Democratic Socialists of America at Georgia Tech. I find the action taken against YDSA because of their political views to be very troubling. It's clear that Georgia Tech has botched the disciplinary process and is retaliating against YDSA for exercising their constitutional right to freedom of speech and assembly. The sanctions levied against YDSA will compromise their organization’s ability to organize around their stated beliefs and goals. This is a deep blow against the values that Georgia Tech claims to uphold. Dean Stein should rescind the Institute’s disciplinary actions, which violate YDSA GT’s rights to free speech, assembly and due process, and Georgia Tech should issue a public apology. Thank you for your time.
The reality is that our YDSA chapter has grown massively in just two years time to almost 100 dues paying members. We're the largest political organization on campus and we've repeatedly forced concessions from the administration, most notably their new counseling center hires.
This is clearly intended solely to obstruct our political speech and organizing. The administration and the campus right are doing this because they're afraid of us: they'd rather we all shut up and sit down. But we will not be intimidated.
If anything, this conflict has solidified our support for the Palestinian people, and further exposed the Institute's opaque, undemocratic, and right-wing character.
We're going to fight back and we won't back down.
In Solidarity,
YDSA Georgia Tech
