This is a real email. The bold highlights are mine. Don't you just love their sensitive concern with "hate"? And don't you just love the idea of reporting speech to campus security? If I find this email offensive, or the SJP offensive, to whom do I report that emotion? I find this creepy, and wonder whether such tender solicitude (aka fear-enforced speech-control) would be shown to Ann Coulter, or George Bush, for that matter. For maximum effect, read out loud with a German accent. Achtung:
Members of the Georgetown University Community,
The Georgetown University Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) will host the fifth annual national conference of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement at Georgetown University over the President’s Day holiday weekend, February 17th to 19th, 2006. As Vice President for Student Affairs, I wanted to take this opportunity to respond to a number of questions our office has received concerning this conference and the controversy associated with it.
In conjunction with the University’s Office of Communications, we have created a website to respond to inquiries and provide other relevant information about the upcoming conference and related activities. That website can be found at: http://explore.georgetown.edu/documents/?DocumentID=12105.
It has also come to my attention that some members of the Georgetown community have received unsolicited emails criticizing the conference, its organizers, and the University. While we have and will continue to investigate these messages to the best of our ability, it may not always be possible to determine their origin. We anticipate
that such emails may continue. Conference organizers have informed the Office of Student Affairs that at least one such email, representing itself as from the Palestine Solidarity Movement, is fraudulent.
If you receive emails that are offensive or hateful in nature, please forward them to the University Information Security Office at %3Cmailto:abuse@georgetown.edu%3E. If you have further questions, please visit the website above.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Todd A. Olson, PhD
Vice President for Student Affairs
