Penn State President Graham Spanier has refused to sign a Students for Justice in Palestine petition condemning the Israeli flotilla attack citing a policy against signing petitions. Somehow this wasn’t an issue for an anti-boycott American Jewish Committee petition he signed in 2007. SJP thinks there might be something else behind it. The Daily Collegian reports:
Penn State President Graham Spanier has declined signing a petition circulated by the PSU Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), citing a policy of not signing petitions.
But three years ago, President Spanier was among nine college presidents who organized a petition to endorse Columbia University President Lee Bollinger’s statement denouncing a boycott of Israeli educational institutions. The petition, bearing the names of 286 college presidents, appeared in the August 8, 2007 edition of The New York Times as a full-page ad sponsored by the American Jewish Committee.
The SJP petition was initially sent to President Spanier on June 8, and condemned Israel’s actions in the May 31 "Freedom Flotilla" incident. It also expressed "solidarity" for those on the ship and asked for an immediate international investigation into the May 31 incident and into the ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza.
When SJP Vice President Shadi Ghrayep asked for an explanation as to why President Spanier signed the petition that appeared in the New York Times but not the SJP petition, he was told that the 2007 petition was signed because it was an "educational initiative."
A follow up article says, "one campus pro-Palestinian group is saying Penn State President Graham Spanier’s beliefs — not policies — are the reason he won’t sign their petition." This is probably true, why won’t the President just admit it?
