Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine (SPJP) gathered Wednesday night to paint Beta Bridge with the slogan "Palestine Deserves a State," but after the banner was completed the bridge was repainted early Thursday morning with a white rectangle of paint eliminating the word "Palestine" and a white streak running through "Deserves." Students from the Middle Eastern community including representatives of Middle Eastern Leadership Council (MELC) and SPJP filed a bias report and will be meeting with Associate Dean of Students Aaron Laushway to discuss the incident further as well as to seek an appropriate response. Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Allen Groves stated that more speech is the solution to an occurrence like this. Student leaders have expressed that there are more constructive ways to share views on the Palestine question than what took place Thursday morning. SPJP has since repainted the bridge to reflect the original display and submitted an op-ed to the Cavalier Daily for publishing. The Cav Daily also reported the matter in a front page article Friday morning. For more information, see the following links:
Cavalier Daily Article:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2011/09/16/students-file-bias-report/
SPJP Op-Ed:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2011/09/16/brushing-over-the-problem/
Hoos for Israel member Op-Ed:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2011/09/20/proper-dialogue/
Managing Board Lead Editorial:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2011/09/20/bridging-the-gap-2/
Emma Bennett Letter to the Editor:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2011/09/19/political-speech-is-not-bias/
