The Duke Student Government approved $5,000 in payment to Mohammed El-Kurd to speak at Duke University for an event organized by Duke Students for Justice in Palestine, scheduled for March 31, 2022. Mohammed El-Kurd is a blood libelist and outspoken antisemite who has compared Jewish people to Nazis. See more on the ADL’s website: https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/mohammed-el-kurd

The Duke Student Government has the discretionary power to allocate student money from the Undergraduate Student Activity Fee to support “events of an educational, cultural, or of an otherwise valuable nature” (SOFC By-Law Title VIII). Furthermore, Section 7 of the DSG Constitution Bill of Rights states, “All students have the right to freely associate…But this Article shall not be construed to grant to groups all the rights secured to individuals, to privilege any student from accountability for misconduct, or to permit the otherwise prohibited expenditure of funds.”

In light of these policies, the Duke Student Government should not have approved thousands of dollars in funding to host an antisemitic speaker on campus. How can this be deemed a “valuable” use of student money when Jewish students feel threatened and fear for their safety? Providing funding and a platform for this speaker signals to the Jewish community that their well-being is not of concern to the University, although Jewish people continue to face discrimination and hatred. Jewish people make up only two percent of the U.S. population yet are victims of approximately 60 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States.

Sign this petition to stand with the Jewish community and call on the Duke Administration and Duke Student Government to revoke funding for Mohammed El-Kurd to speak at Duke University.

Read more about this in an op-ed written by a Jewish student at Duke: https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2022/03/03252022-ahdoot