Earlham College responds to Israel-Gaza war in Middle East from a Quakers perspective

RICHMOND, Ind. — Earlham College has not been silent on where it stands on the Israel-Gaza conflict in the Middle East since a terrorist attack by Hamas on the country back on Oct. 7.

On that day, HAMAS, an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, an Islamic Resistance Movement in control of Gaza and designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, unleashed a rocket barrage of at least 3,000 before fighters broke a barrier wall separating Gaza and Israel.

About 1,200 Israelis were killed in the attack while more than 200 were taken hostage, resulting in the government of Israel declaring war on Hamas the next day and forming a unity government Oct. 11, the same day as Earlham's first response to the conflict.

On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Earlham College's Board President Tom Thornburg (Class of 1984) sent an email to the Earlham community on behalf of the Board of Trustees. responding to statements and an email by Earlham College President Anne Houtman regarding the school's responses to the violence in the Middle East.

Thornburg, while stating support of the president's efforts in addressing the crisis, said Houtman's expressions do not reflect a "consensus in the Earlham community around this crisis."

The email was as follows:

Dear Earlham Community:

Earlham and Quakers have a longstanding concern for the Middle East — from the Ramallah Friends School to former President Landrum Bolling’s work to build peace and understanding among Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Earlham has had alumni, students, and faculty from both Palestine and Israel. In light of recent email exchanges, social media posts and messages to members of Earlham’s Board of Trustees and administration, the Board affirms and supports statements made by President Anne Houtman on October 11 and in the November 8 email that Anne sent to a group of alumni in response to their concerns.

The Board supports the efforts of Anne and the Earlham faculty, staff and administration in addressing the impact of this crisis on our students and the wider campus community.

The safety of our students and faculty is our highest priority, and we are grateful that the violence and hate speech that other campuses are experiencing has not happened at Earlham. This is lived evidence of our Principles and Practices, which call on us to celebrate and respect the diverse perspectives that each member of the community brings to Earlham.

We stand with Anne and her senior leadership team in affirming and supporting the rights of students and alumni to engage on this issue. Given the fact that the Earlham community comprises thousands of people with individual perspectives on world events, we do not expect nor would we support Anne issuing a statement that implies or assumes there is consensus in the Earlham community around this crisis.

The Board is holding in the light Palestinians and Israelis at Earlham, in the Middle East and around the world.

Thomas H. Thornburg ’84, Chair

On behalf of the Earlham Board of Trustees

The email by Thornburg on behalf of the board was the first statement by the trustees regarding the war in Gaza after President Anne Houtman made two statements, the first a video on Oct. 11 shortly after the war broke out, and the second an email response sent to a group of alumni who had concerns after Houtman's first comments.

The following is the email response Houtman had sent to the alumni group regarding the concerns they raised after Houtman's initial statement:

While it is not my standard practice to respond to unsigned messages, I would like to clarify some of the points that you have raised and share some of what we have been doing to support our students.

Today, the lead story in the Chronicle of Higher Education bears the headline “The Israel-Hamas War Is Escalating. Colleges Are Caught in the Middle.” The article begins with a scene playing out on campuses across the country, including Earlham: “Faculty members, donors, and advocates for both sides in the conflict have flooded administrators’ inboxes with a flurry of letters, statements, and petitions in recent weeks, demanding that they denounce, speak up for, or stay silent in response to campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.”

The article goes on to describe violent campus protests, harsh rhetoric and, in one state university system, a call to shut down campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine.

This is not our experience at Earlham. We have not experienced that level of hatred and divisiveness because we are committed to supporting all of our students, and our students are committed to supporting one another.

Individually and as a community, we are working through our grief over the massive loss of life, horrific violence, and atrocities that are in direct opposition to our Quaker legacy, principles and practices. When we issued a statement to our campus community on Oct. 11, which can be found here, we were the first among our peers in the Great Lakes Colleges Association and the Independent Colleges of Indiana to do so; many have remained silent.

That said, a statement does not necessarily equate to meaningful action. In keeping with our Quaker identity, we have invited all of our community to stop whatever they are doing every day at 12:50 and 3:50 to have a moment of silence to focus on peace and an end to violence and oppression in all the places that they exist in the world. We have organized a weekly gathering for silent worship on one accord — peace. We have encouraged community members to seek additional resources from Religious Life and Counseling. We have encouraged students to join the initiative of the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s call to de-escalate violence in Israel and Gaza. And we have encouraged all members of our community to reach out to elected officials to call for a ceasefire.

I send this knowing that all of this will not be enough for some, and that the College’s lack of a bold public stance is and will continue to be a point of contention on campus and beyond.

Myself and members of my senior leadership team have engaged in dialogue with representatives from Students for Justice in Palestine, residents of the JCC house, and other organizations on campus. These conversations have not been easy, but they have been respectful.

We will not respond to ultimatums or provocation on social media or through other anonymous means, but we are committed to face-to-face conversations and deep listening across differences of opinion. This is not silence. Nor is it a bold public statement. It is a lived commitment to our community.

Anne

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Earlham College Board of Trustees issues response to Israel-Gaza conflict in Middle East