Letter to the Editor: Emerson College fired me for speaking out against genocide

On Tuesday, May 13th, an hour before I left for the airport to fly home for the summer, Emerson College’s Housing and Residential Education (HRE) department summoned me to a mandatory meeting. At the meeting, they informed me that due to a change in my status with the College, the department had decided to terminate my employment as a resident assistant.

This five-minute meeting was the culmination of a month-long Community Standards process. I was first summoned to a hearing with the Office of Community Standards as a result of my alleged participation in a pro-Palestine protest on March 20th. Their allegations were based on pictures taken by an Emerson professor, showing students in the Boston Common, which did not provide evidence of any violation of the college’s policies. The same professor posted the pictures on a private Facebook page for Zionist Emerson parents. Individuals in the group then sent the images to the College.  Emerson used these images obtained through harassment to hold me responsible for violations of school policy and traffic laws. The College denied my appeal and upheld my sanctions: six months of college probation and a four-to-five-page reflection paper.

Emerson College has now fired four RAs for exercising their freedom of expression. Three of these RAs are people of color, and all four are queer. Three of the RAs were also union stewards prior to their termination.

The college’s actions have ramifications that extend beyond job loss. These terminated RAs are now scrambling to find housing and stable sources of income before the upcoming school year. Emerson College has provided no support to any of these community members.

Each and every RA who was terminated exemplifies the values that the Housing and Residential Education department claims to stand for. In every training module, statement, and staff meeting, the department preaches equity, access, and social justice. When its staff takes action to uphold these values, however, department administrators silence their voices and revoke their access to housing and food.

I became an RA because I wanted to be a resource and source of support for my community. Like many new and prospective students, I saw this school as a space for creatives to grow alongside each other while pursuing a common goal of expression. I was drawn to what I saw as a supportive environment created by individuals who value empathy and innovation. In my time at Emerson, however, I have experienced a rigid and oppressive institution. The school has failed its students time and time again. Emerson administrators are running this institution without heeding the voices of those who form the foundation for its existence. It is clear that the school values enrollment over expression and income over innovation.

In terminating these RAs, Emerson’s Housing and Residential Education department and Emerson College as a whole are actively partaking in the national wave of fascism that is overtaking the country. They are complying with the Trump administration’s agenda surrounding a crackdown on student protestors. Additionally, they are complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people. In the face of termination, we remind the administration that silencing our voices will not end the struggle for Palestinian liberation. On the contrary, it fortifies the movement and deepens our solidarity.

I call on our Emerson community to stand with the four terminated RAs and to speak out for a free Palestine. We are privileged to receive a college education at a private institution in the United States. We must use this privilege to advocate in any way we can.  Against the oppressive efforts of fascist administrations, we must continue to call for global liberation.