More information has been divulged about the student who was assaulted April 1 on Sproul Plaza while tabling for a pro-Palestinian group.
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau acknowledged the altercation, which was allegedly about a disagreement regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in his response to the passage of SB 160 — a bill that divests ASUC funds from companies affiliated with Israel’s military.
The victim, who was handing out fliers for a student group’s pro-Palestinian event, was asked by his alleged assailant whether he thought Israel was an apartheid state. When the victim responded affirmatively, the attacker allegedly punched him in the face with a closed fist, causing the victim to fall to the ground.
The victim, who has asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said that while he appreciates the chancellor’s condemnation of the assault, he feels campus officers and officials took the incident lightly.
“In terms of campus climate, (the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) is a big issue, and there are definitely two sides to it,” the victim said. “The truth is, initially, the university administration took what happened to me lightly. It took (the campus) two weeks to have a public statement in the chancellor’s response to divestment condemning the assault, but it took the chancellor only a few hours to condemn the divestment bill.”
Lt. Eric Tejada of UCPD said that police have not yet apprehended the suspect but have sent out a sketch of the alleged assailant.
“A leap that’s being made is that the attacker was pro-Israel,” Tejada said. “We don’t know what the motivation was. Until we have more solid information of what the motivation was, it’s kind of hearsay.”
Alex Schmaus was tabling alongside the victim when the assault occurred.
“I didn’t witness the punch, but I turned around and saw the victim, who’s my friend and colleague, on the ground on his back,” Schmaus said. “He had scrapes on his elbow, and his cheek, where he was punched, was starting to turn color, and he seemed disoriented and confused.”
In the wake of the bill’s passage, several senators, including Student Action Senator Rosemary Hua, who voted against SB 160, have also reported threatening emails and interactions on campus.
“The more extreme circumstance involved 4 men (that identified themselves as Palestinian students who sat through the Senate meeting),” said Hua in an email. “The 4 men aggressively expressed their disgust at my ‘people pleasing tendency’ which I told the audience as context to explain why this decision was so hard for me. Then, one of the men in the group told me he would gladly strap on a bomb as a form of protest.”
The confrontation occurred last Thursday, the day the bill was passed.
Campus officials said that there will be no tolerance for physical attacks.
“I only hope the perpetrator turns out not to be one of our students,” said Vice Chancellor Gibor Basri in an email regarding the April 1 assault. “The vote (on divestment) is not a positive force for campus climate (it has generated a lot of vituperative emails and raised passions without moving the issues perceptibly forward).”
Ally Rondoni is the lead student government reporter. Contact her at [email protected].