BY SARA EISENHAUER
News Editor
Photo displays about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that were set up around Saint Mary’s University by students to create dialogue have raised concerns that led to the administration’s removal of two photos, said Dorothy Diehl, chair of the Modern and Classical Languages Department.
James Bedtke, vice president for the College, removed the photos after people complained that they were disrespectful to what happened during the Holocaust and were unpleasant to look at. One photo was of a Nazi soldier holding a gun to a Jewish prisoner, which was placed next to a similar photo with an Israeli person and a Palestinian prisoner, Diehl said.
These photos were taken down because they were seen as “more inflammatory than the others,” Diehl said. Bedtke explained his decision and confirmed Diehl’s account of the situation but declined to comment further, noting that he had already addressed Diehl’s Global Issues class that set up the displays.
Diehl said a group is currently being formed to discuss the logistics of how to handle similar situations involving student projects and whether or not to have a policy regulating these types of displays. The displays were part of an awareness campaign that Diehl assigns to her Global Issues classes to demonstrate what they feel is important about issues discussed in class. The students in the class about the Palestinian- Israeli conflict produced several projects including: the displays; and fund raising events Iron Chef and Pennies for Palestine.
“I hope (the students) will take away something that has really touched them,” said Diehl.
She also wants the displays to inform people about the side of the issue that she says is normally not talked about.
“The hope is that people would see these things and then there would be a discussion,” Diehl said. “Nothing will change if we don’t dialogue.”
The awareness campaign projects will remain on display around campus until Thanksgiving break. Diehl developed the course content after her sabbatical in the West Bank last year. She said the trip was a “transforming experience” because it exposed her to the effects of the “oppressive Israeli regime” that affects all people in the territory, not just Palestinians. “I realized that the refugees were just one part of the situation on the West Bank,” Diehl said. “It’s my duty as a citizen to speak out and say that there’s another side than what we see.”
The class discussed issues surrounding the West Bank situation while reading texts from a variety of groups including Israelis, Israeli peace groups, the United States and the Palestinians. Junior Emily Dee, who participated in the awareness campaign, hopes that the projects will influence people to become more aware of and active in what is going on.
“We can get so caught up in our daily lives that we forget there are people and events outside of our communities that are just as important to think and be concerned about,” said Dee, who helped organize SMU Iron Chef to raise money for Bethlehem University, a Christian Brothers university in the Palestinian territory.
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