University Denounces Bogus Message Seeking to Discredit Palestine Solidarity Movement

The following letter was sent to students, faculty and other members of the Duke University community Wednesday by John F. Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

To the campus community:

Early this morning, several thousand people across the Duke community received an inflammatory e-mail message that appeared to have been sent by two Duke students who have taken the lead in organizing this weekend’s conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) on our campus. The message included statements in support of terrorism and a slogan used by the extremist group Hamas. It also had the wrong date for the conference, which raised questions about its legitimacy.

I am writing to inform you that the students did NOT send this message, which appears to be a deliberate act of disinformation and provocation on the part of people who do not want the conference to take place. The student whose e-mail address was used says she did not send the letter and explicitly does not support its contents. Our computer security staff is investigating the origins of the message, and we have been able to determine that it originated in California.

This incident is very similar to one that occurred two years ago at the University of Michigan, shortly before that university hosted the PSM conference. That earlier incident is described on the Michigan Web site here. That bogus e-mail also originated from California. In our conversations with officials at Michigan and the other universities that have hosted the PSM conference previously, we were warned that opponents of free speech might resort to such tactics at Duke as well. Sadly, those predictions have now proven correct.

Regardless of anyone’s political views about the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, I hope the entire Duke community will share our dismay at this tactic of misinformation. The university has not, as the message states, “stayed strong and stood up for the Palestinian people” or for any other side in the conflict. Rather, from the outset, our commitment has been to our tradition as a university to support academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas. As President Brodhead has said, all ideas are not equal but it is a foundational principle of our democracy that all ideas should have an equal opportunity to be heard.

Subsequent to the bogus message, we have received a number of expressions of concern about the safety of our campus community. The administration and the Duke Police have engaged in extensive planning to ensure these events remain safe and productive for all who choose to attend. We will not be deterred by provocateurs who willfully misrepresent our students and consciously seek to create chaos in our community. We deplore what they have done.

For more information contact:
David Jarmul | (919) 684-6815 | david.jarmul@duke.edu