Protests don’t deter Robinson

“I had a conversation with President [James] Wagner this morning,” Robinson said last week in New York, where she is the executive director of the Ethical Globalization Initiative. “He reiterated warmly that he and his colleagues look forward to welcoming me as commencement speaker and on the occasion of receiving an honorary doctorate.”
More than 1,000 students and some academic staff at the university have signed an online petition accusing the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights of being anti-Semitic and fostering hostility toward Israel.
“This school is over a third Jewish,” said Lyle Rubin, a student leader in an effort to have school administrators disinvite Robinson because of the perceived pro-Palestinians stands she promoted while she was UN high commissioner for human rights.
“I don’t know why the administration would think we would want someone at our commencement who has voiced at times implicit justifications for Palestinian terrorism against Israelis,” said the 21-year-old Rubin, an international studies major from West Hartford, Conn.
Robinson told the Irish Times she was “very hurt and dismayed” that allegations of anti-Semitism made against her on a college campus in the U.S.
She added: “It is distressing that allegations are being made that are absolutely unfounded.”
Describing a meeting she had with interested parties at Emory, she said: “Some were convinced and some would not have been if I stayed a month. The unfortunate problem was a very difficult conference at Durban. Everyone who was at Durban knows I spoke out against anti-Semitism.”
Robinson was referring to her role, strongly criticized by pro-Israeli advocates, in the 2001 World Conference on Racism held in Durban in South Africa.
Emory students will have to get accustomed to Robinson’s presence on campus.
“I have accepted an appointment to join former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as an advisor,” at the school she added.
Carter issued his own statement last week endorsing Robinson as an advocate for human rights. “We have been heartened by her leadership and courage in speaking out for the voiceless in our world,” he said.
Several American Jewish groups have been vocal critics of Robinson’s positions promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees. When she received an appointment earlier this year to teach at Columbia University’s law school in New York, the Zionist Organization of America said she was “yet another anti-Israeli extremist” to join the faculty of the prestigious school.
The ZOA accused her of sanctioning suicide bombing as a means for Palestinians to fight Israel.
Some Emory University graduates, parents and students said they would discontinue financial support for the university and may boycott or disrupt the commencement exercises if Robinson participates.
Last week, Wagner acknowledged the concern of the university’s Jewish community over the selection of Robinson as this year’s commencement speaker, but said the administration is working with individuals and student groups to address these concerns and was “confident the parties would reach an agreement acceptable to all.”