Anti-Israel Meeting at Public University

Note: Today's discussion is a bit long because the topic is complex. I've broken it down so I think even a 4 year old could follow it and participate. 

Summary of Article: Last week, at Brooklyn College in New York, the Political Science Department, working with Students for Justice in Palestine, organized an event to discuss boycotting, divesting and sanctions (“BDS”) against Israel. According to a statement from the Chancellor, it appears that students “looking” Jewish (presumably wearing kippot) were denied admission even if they had pre-registered, that pro-Israel students who managed to get in were thrown out when they refused to turn over anti-BDS leaflets that they wished to distribute. When the pro-Israel students complained to a college official, they were told that the anti-Israel students were “calling the shots.” Click here for article.

Discussion for Kids

• On any topic, there are people who have different opinions. So too with Israel. Some people love Israel and some people don’t. [Insert here how your family feels about Israel. I will be saying that we love Israel and don’t agree with people who want to hurt Israel, but we believe they have the right to say whatever they want.]
• Last week at a New York college, some professors and students who hate Israel got together to talk about “boycotting and divesting” from Israel. This means they want to encourage people not to go to Israel, not to buy things from Israel, not to give money to companies that do business with Israel. How does this hurt Israel if it happens?
• Some students who love Israel tried to go and give their opinions about why divestment and boycotting is bad. These students weren’t allowed into the meeting; those who did get in and tried to hand out pro-Israel materials were thrown out. What do you think of this and why?
• We have a concept in our constitution called “the first amendment right to free speech.” It means that generally everyone has the right to say what they are thinking, even if they are bad thoughts. (You may recall we did a current event about free speech a few weeks ago). Did the professors and anti-Israel students have the right to say bad things about Israel?  Did the pro-Israel students have the right to say something good about Israel? Who was denied a constitutional right?
• What makes this more complicated is that the college at which this happened is public. What does that mean? It means it is paid for partially through taxpayer dollars. Why does the fact that it is public make it even worse that a constitutional right was violated? 
• Consider this quote by famous law professor Alan Dershowitz about the incident:
• “Had the event been sponsored only by student and outside private groups, their decision to exclude pro-Israel students and to prevent the distribution of anti-BDS leaflets would have been a private matter, that at worst may have violated the rules of the college. But the official co-sponsorship of the event by an academic department may have turned their exclusionary decisions into illegal ‘state action.’ For purposes of the First Amendment, the political science department is Brooklyn College, which is the City University of New York, which is the State of New York. It was the State of New York, therefore, that expelled pro-Israel students who wanted to distribute constitutionally protected leaflets and wanted to pose constitutionally protected political questions. Such state action violates the First Amendment and New York law."
• What do you think is going to happen to the professors and anti-Israel students for what they did? What do you think should happen?