Baruch College’s Middle Eastern North African club was prevented from having a table at club fair on Sept. 19 despite having previously received a confirmation email notifying the club of its ability to participate.
At 8:59 a.m. on Sept. 19 the Office of Student Life notified MENA via email that students would not be given a table at club fair.
“We have learned from the Office of the Dean of Students that your application to function as a registered student club for the academic year is pending,” the email said. “Therefore, you will not be allowed to participate in Club Fair happening today, Thursday, September 19, 2024. Once we hear back from the Dean of Student’s Office, we will follow up with you regarding your club’s registration status.”
“For us to not be able to do that over something we didn’t do and something that feels like a targeted attack to dismiss the Arab life on campus,” Du’a Zaid, the president of MENA, said in an interview with The Ticker. “It’s just really unfair.”
Although the Office of Student Life permitted clubs in the process of completing necessary registration – like SPARC and BOLT training modules – to participate in club fair-MENA’s status was suspended.
The club was notified that its registration was pending investigation into allegations that MENA was involved with a protest that disrupted an off-campus Hillel welcome dinner at Mr. Broadway restaurant.
“They claimed MENA students were harassing Hillel students,” Zaid said. “MENA did not endorse that. MENA was not there.”
MENA was not given a timeline for the investigation’s conclusion.
Zaid pointed out that the rally MENA organized did not mention anything about a march.
“Even on our flyer, it says, rally at Baruch,”she said. “We had no knowledge that there was going to be a march and that there was going to be a disruption in front of Mr. Broadway. We didn’t even know the dinner was happening.”
When MENA was notified that the club was barred from participating in club fair, it reached out to other clubs to ask that they make statements in solidarity.
“Club fair is a vital part of our club community and the unification of students,” MENA asked clubs to share, in an Instagram DM sent on Sept. 19. “By denying MENA the ability to attend club fair, you are erasing the Arab life on campus and taking away students sense of community. My board and I kindly request you rethink this decision and allow them to resume at today’s club fair.”
Zaid urged Baruch to reinstate MENA’s status as a club.
“Let us resume being a club, because we are already the only club, as I’ve been repeating, for Arab students on campus,” Zaid said. “It’s not like anyone can go anywhere else. We had so many events planned to benefit the community, like beyond the Arab life.”
One student, who wished to remain anonymous due to concerns about their safety, said they felt it was important administration make it clear the MENA students have a right to stand up for their beliefs.
“Stop trying to tell them they can’t protest it, they can’t stand up for what they believe is right,” they said. “I feel like this is a free country and it was built on freedom of speech, freedom of press. We should be able to talk about what we feel is important without anyone having to silence us or tell us we can’t participate in certain things or placing sanctions on our clubs.”
Additional reporting by Alina Sluzhyvenkova and Dua Jafri
