With tensions exploding over Gaza on campuses across the country, NYU Law student Ryna Workman lost their position as student body president and a job offer.
Three days after Hamas’s attack on Israel, New York University Law School student body president Ryna Workman sent a newsletter to classmates expressing “unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression toward liberation and self-determination.” Workman assigned the blame for “this tremendous loss of life” to Israel’s apartheid regime over Palestinians, while not mentioning Hamas, whose attack killed some 1,300 Israelis.
Workman told The Intercept that the intention was an intra-community message that spoke to Israel’s 75-year violent regime over Palestine and expressed support for Palestinians’ basic human rights.
Yet the newsletter drew widespread criticism for not directly condemning Hamas’s killing of Israeli civilians — and the backlash was swift. Workman was ousted as student body president; had a job offer rescinded by a firm they previously interned at, Winston & Strawn; and received a litany of threats online.
Workman told The Intercept they maintain resolve for the sake of two goals: that people should not be punished for advocating for Palestinian human rights; and that everyone who cares about human life should be doing what they can to call for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.
“What’s been driving me is the resilience of Palestinians in this moment,” Workman told The Intercept in their first interview with the news media. “The fact that they are still using their voice, that they are still standing strong, that they are still here, and that they are asking us to continue to speak out and show up for them through this and to not let this be their end.”
“And so for me, I will continue to speak out for them and ask for these demands of an immediate ceasefire and this provision of this humanitarian assistance in a safe, secure, and timely fashion to the people of Gaza.”
“I will continue to speak out for them and ask for these demands of an immediate ceasefire and this provision of this humanitarian assistance.”
Workman is not alone in facing backlash, with students across the country, particularly at Harvard, facing condemnation for similar statements and even broadly protesting Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. The attacks in universities and colleges are part of a longer history of people being targeted for expressing support for Palestinians or criticizing Israel’s policies. Palestine Legal, an advocacy group that supports threatened pro-Palestinian activists, says it has responded to 1,707 incidents between 2014 and 2020 alone, including cases of discrimination, disciplinary investigations, and censorship.
CONTINUE READING ON THE INTERCEPT
Prem Thakker is a politics reporter for The Intercept. His interests include climate and the environment, corporate and political corruption, civil rights and justice, and labor. Prem previously worked at The New Republic, The American Prospect, and CNN. He grew up in North Dakota and now lives in Washington, D.C.
