Troubling Handling of International Issues at USC

According to an article in the Daily Trojan (the college paper at the University of Southern California), last week 2 representatives of a pro-Israel group were removed from an open meeting at the request of organizations petitioning for California’s divestment in Israel.

When the pair arrived, it seems that attendees started yelling at them. The report continues:

[USC Students for Justice in Palestine] President Marwa Katbi called [the USC Department of Public Safety] to the scene and the officers escorted Rothstein and Ratner outside of the room.

“Given that they were not well received, were causing an environment of extreme discomfort and heightened tensions within the room, I made a decision to call DPS and have officers handle the situation from that point onwards,” Katbi said in an e-mail.

It’s very troubling to think that officials escorted the pair out simply because “they were not well received.” It was an open meeting, with an agenda that included discussing a potential issue on an upcoming California ballot.

Were you there? Did you see what happened? Is the Daily Trojan getting the story right?

>> Link: DPS to apologize to attendees of SJP-hosted event | Daily Trojan.

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