“We decline to agree to future meetings”: UConn administration condemns antisemitic imagery 

University of Connecticut administrators have announced that they will no longer be meeting with the UConn Divest Coalition, a pro-Palestinian activism organization, after they said the group distributed flyers which depicted UConn President Radenka Maric with antisemitic exaggerations during a protest on Sept. 16. 

The depictions showed Maric, who is Jewish, with red devil horns alongside images of missiles and dollar bills, according to a letter from administrators. The illustrations were denounced in the letter addressed to the student protest group by Anne D’Alleva, provost and vice president of academic affairs, and Nathan Fuerst, vice president of student life and enrollment, as “grotesque and unacceptable”. 

“We witnessed expressions and actions that are deeply disturbing, counter to our values as an inclusive community, and make further meetings or discussions with your student group at this time untenable,” the letter reads. “Whether the authors of these images were aware of it or not, these are well-known, long-standing, and unmistakable antisemitic symbols.” 

The UConn Divest Coalition, a nonregistered organization of students and members of the public, promotes disclosure and divestment of the University’s partnerships from entities that the group says support Israeli industries. UConn has educational partnerships with aerospace and defense contractors RTX-Pratt and Whitney, General Dynamics and Sikorsky, which all have major offices and facilities in Connecticut. The coalition demands that these companies and others be banned from recruiting at UConn-sponsored career fairs, and for the charges to be dropped against 25 students who were arrested at their protest encampment this past April. 

The group posted a response to the letter on Instagram, saying in part, “We say it is deeply wrong and dangerous to invest in companies arming a genocide. [sic] …[and] to cooperate with universities on occupied land from which Palestinians have been ethnically cleansed in an ongoing Nakba,” making reference to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. UConn Divest has also previously used social media to show Maric as a clown with makeup reading “I love genocide” and has used the nickname “Raytheon Radenka.” 

The letter from administration included links to resources explaining the origin of the antisemitic imagery used by UConn Divest, including from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Brandeis Center for Human Rights and the American Jewish Committee (AJC), a nonprofit organization confronting antisemitism. According to AJC’s “Translate Hate” glossary, antisemitic tropes and caricatures have existed for many years and have evolved alongside mass media and communication changes. 

“[UConn has] a duty to enforce our policies and an obligation to address acts of harassment and discrimination that create a hostile learning or work environment for our students, faculty, and staff…Elements of what was witnessed during the demonstration do not represent our overall community or our values for an inclusive campus,” closes the letter. 

In their statement, UConn administration maintained its commitments to discussing student issues and their plans to meet with student representatives from USG and Muslim and Jewish student organizations, encouraging students looking for guidance to seek help through the Dean of Students and Student Health and Wellness offices. 

UConn Divest did not respond to a request by the Daily Campus for comment on Instagram. 

Correction: This article was updated on Sept. 25 to attribute claims of antisemitic imagery to the administration’s letter and to remove an unsubstantiated claim.

Update: This article was updated on Sept. 25 to remove a sentence suggesting UConn Divest had connections to registered student organizations. UConn Divest is not an RSO at UConn.