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Review: Women's Tennis

After suffering two losses last week, the Panthers women’s tennis team (3–3) won back-to-back matches against Amherst and Skidmore this weekend, a performance largely spearheaded by the rookie class.   On Saturday, women’s tennis hosted Amherst (2–2), a NESCAC West Division foe. In doubles play, first-year tandem Kavina Amin ’24 and Gena Huang ’24 won, 8–5, while Amherst triumphed in the other two matches. In singles play, Amin and Huang again clinched victories, while Emily Bian ’21 and Sami Remis ’24 also chipped in wins.  The following day, the Panthers hosted the undefeated Skidmore Thoroughbreds (4–1), handing them their first loss of the season. Once again, Amin and Huang won in doubles play, marking their second collective win of the weekend. In singles play, Caitlin Neal ’23 got in the win column, while Remis, Amin and Huang all won for a second straight day.  “Our freshmen have really stepped up and handled the pressure wonderfully,” senior captain Ann-Martin Skelly ’21 said. “All four of them have worked so hard this entire year and it's great getting to see that pay off on the court. They each bring big energy to the court and I know this is just the beginning of what will be a great college career for them.” “For never playing college matches before, they’ve done a great job with handling nerves and pressure,” head coach Rachel Kahan added of the rookie class. “Whether singles or doubles, the first-year class has done a great job of staying strong and focused.” Question marks still circle NESCAC championships and NCAA tournament play, so the Panthers are taking things day by day. Next Sunday, Middlebury hosts Williams (1–2) at 1 p.m.

News in Brief: College to host BIPOC vaccination clinic tomorrow, April 28

Middlebury is holding a vaccination clinic for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) who live in Addison County — as well as members of their households — at the Athletics Complex this Wednesday in partnership with the Rutland Area NAACP and the Vermont Department of Health.  The clinic will offer 102 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from 4–6 p.m. tomorrow. The college plans to host a clinic for administering second doses of the vaccine on May 19. “We are grateful to be able to help support the healthcare of BIPOC members of our community, including our own faculty, staff, and students," President Laurie Patton told the Middlebury Newsroom. "It's important for the college to contribute to the vaccination effort in Addison County, which has provided us with so much support during the pandemic. We're glad to be able to offer our facilities for the event, and to contribute to health equity in our own communities.” The clinic joins a state-wide effort to close the vaccination gap between white and BIPOC Vermonters. As of early April, just over 20% of BIPOC residents were partially or fully vaccinated, compared to around 33% of non-Hispanic white Vermonters, according to a press release from Governor Phil Scott. This gap has since narrowed to just over seven percentage points. BIPOC residents have also been overrepresented in the state’s Covid-19 case counts. BIPOC Vermonters made up 6% of the state’s population but 18% of its Covid-19 cases as of December 2020. Of the 2,142 BIPOC residents of Addison County, 55.2% have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the Vermont Department of Health Vaccine Dashboard. This figure is seven percentage points below the equivalent number for non-Hispanic white residents. BIPOC residents were prioritized at different stages in Vermont’s vaccine rollout. The state opened appointments to all BIPOC residents age 16 or older on April 1. Before that date, BIPOC residents who were eligible earlier in the rollout due to age, occupation or health reasons could also schedule appointments for members of their household.  Currently, 59.3% of all eligible Vermonters have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 41% are fully vaccinated. Eligible residents can make appointments through the Department of Health website or by calling the department at 855-722-7878.

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April 15, 2021 issue

Today, The Campus presents its seventh issue of the spring semester. The stories [post_grid id='54917'] Today's Front Page https://issuu.com/middleburycampus/docs/4-15-2021_front_page  

Students quarantined for Covid-19 violations regardless of evidence of exposure

Middlebury students have become accustomed to quarantining when they have been exposed to Covid-19 or as a preemptive move-in measure, but a new and unannounced policy temporarily places students into quarantine housing after they’ve committed Covid-19 policy violations if those violations included high-risk behavior.   This new measure, which Dean of Students Derek Doucet said has impacted around a dozen individuals, puts students in quarantine for Covid-19 protocol violations that the Office of Community Standards deems “a credible allegation of behavior that might lead to transmission.” Doucet said that the policy is designed to combat potential public health risks.  The policy The college enacted the policy of quarantining students who violated Covid-19 guidelines at the beginning of this semester, according to Doucet. Administrators realized that existing disciplinary procedures did not take into account the immediate public health risk posed by certain types of Covid-19 protocol violations like large gatherings in small spaces without masks.  “When we have those incidents, we're really worried about the possibility of exposure and transmission, and so we ask those students to go into quarantine as a public health measure,” Doucet said. “It's not intended as a punitive measure.”  Though this policy has reportedly been in place for months, the college never informed the student body of its implementation.  While the Spring Campus Guide Conduct Expectations section does inform students that they must “participate in isolation and quarantine when directed,” it does not mention the possibility of being placed in quarantine for a Covid-19 rule violation.  Instead, the Contact Tracing, Isolation, and Quarantine section describes quarantine as “a way for individuals who may have been exposed to Covid-19 through close contact with an infected individual to limit their contact with others while it is determined whether they have Covid-19.” Students were not placed in quarantine until up to two days following their violation. Doucet says administrators try to process Covid-19 conduct incident reports and meet with students within the first two days of the incident because “the science suggests that the chance of passing on the virus remains low in that time period.” Students may then be instructed to complete a quarantine if it is found that there is a credible allegation that the student engaged in unsafe behavior.  Unlike students under quarantine as close contacts, who are tested separately at Parton to avoid exposure to other students and in accordance with the exact timing of their day-seven tests, students quarantined for violations are tested at the Virtue Field House during the normal testing times with the rest of the student body, according to Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator Jennifer Kazmeirczak. Doucet said the discrepancy is “related to a different level of perceived risk.” “Quarantining students who have violated the covid guidelines is done out of an abundance of caution because of the heightened chance of exposure. Quarantining close contacts is done when there is known exposure,” Doucet said in an email to The Campus. “Sending students with confirmed exposure into close proximity with others [at general testing] is higher risk than asking a student about whom we're concerned about a heightened possibility of exposure.” Students whose Day Seven test falls outside of the college’s regular testing schedule may be able to schedule a test at Parton or at the Vermont Department of Health’s Creek Road testing center in town, according to Kazmeirczak.  Students quarantined for Covid-19 guideline violations also do not receive daily phone call check-ins from the college’s Covid Operations office asking about their health status as close contacts do. They are expected, like all students on campus, to fill out daily Policy Path health surveys for symptoms, according to Kazmeirczak.  The college also does not extend the disciplinary amnesty policy, which allows violations revealed through contact tracing to go undisciplined, to those quarantined for Covid-19 guideline violations. Students quarantined for Covid-19 guideline violations are not asked who else attended the gathering, but if other students are revealed to have attended, they will not be exempt from disciplinary action, according to Doucet. These students quarantining for conduct violations are not listed on the Covid-19 reporting dashboard, which only displays the number of quarantining close contacts. According to Doucet, that is not an intentional omission, and the college is “considering adding conduct-related quarantine numbers to the dash.” A timeline of a Covid-19 violation quarantine  The Campus spoke to 10 students who were quarantined for Covid-19 guideline violations in early March. Here’s a look at how the policy — which was confusing to many of the students quarantined under it — works. 11 p.m. Friday, March 5 - A group of 15–20 first-year students gather in the cavernous student activity room in the basement of Forest Hall on the night of Friday, March 5 to celebrate their return to campus.  11:30 p.m. - 12 a.m. - Several Public Safety officers and Reslife staff members block two of the three entrances and demand IDs from the students. Some bolt for the open exit but others mill about in confusion, unaware that, though a sign on the wall advertised a 30-person occupancy limit, students are only able to gather outside and in groups of ten.  DPS reports 10 students to the Office of Community Standards for Covid-19 violations. Weekend - The cited students go to the dining halls, attend in-person classes, practice with their sports teams and spend time unmasked with close contacts.   Monday, March 8 – Cited students attend in-person classes. Cited students go to mandatory testing. 7 p.m – Students receive an email from Dean of Community Standards Brian Lind asking them to schedule a disciplinary meeting. 3:39 p.m. - Nine of the students receive an email from Dean of Students Derek Doucet instructing them to begin room quarantine immediately and to prepare to move into temporary housing. They receive no guidance about their roommates who had not attended the gathering, with whom they had interacted closely. “We are concerned this gathering could have presented the opportunity for transmission of Covid-19,” Doucet writes in an email to cited students. Doucet says it was unlikely that any students were contagious yet if exposed, but that the choice to isolate students is necessary as they entered the period where transmission of the virus is most likely, had they been exposed to Covid-19 at the Forest gathering.  One cited student reportedly receives no such email. Midday Tuesday, March 8 - Students receive a call from Covid Operations telling them to move into quarantine housing at Porter, about three and a half days after their possible exposure Friday night. Students ask why they were being quarantined, but Covid Operations staff are reportedly not aware of the policy and unable to provide clarity.  Covid Operations Coordinator Daniel Celik confirmed administrators had not informed them of the policy. 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 9 - Lind emails students informing them of the disciplinary decision of removal from campus held in abeyance, which means that students will likely be kicked off of campus if they commit another Covid-19 rules violation this semester. They are informed that they will be released from quarantine pending a negative test result and are reminded to get tested at Virtue Field House the next day.  Thursday, March 10 – All students get tested at Virtue Field House alongside the rest of the student body. Friday, March 11 - All 10 students receive negative results and expect to be released from quarantine. Upon further inquiry, they discover that this does not count as a Day Seven test, and they will have to wait until the next general testing day on Monday in order to be released on Tuesday, 11 full days after the gathering. By this point, they have already missed several in-person classes.  Saturday, March 12 - At their request, Doucet allows the students to temporarily leave quarantine and walk to the Department of Health’s Creek Road testing center in town to get tested before the next college-administered student testing day on Monday. Morning of Sunday, March 13 – All students receive negative test results and inform Covid Operations. 4-6 p.m. Sunday, March 13 - All students are released from quarantine — nine days after the Forest Hall gathering and seven days into their quarantine. The gathering is shown to have resulted in no positive cases.

Review: Women’s softball

The Panthers (1–4) played three games against Williams this past weekend, losing all three and extending their losing streak to four games. On Saturday, the team hosted Williams and fell, 3–0 and 4–0 respectively. The next day, the Panthers traveled to Williamstown, where they battled to a 4–3 loss.  Sophie Bolinger ’22, Sophia Marlino ’22, and Jen McGann ’22 all scored for the Panthers in the weekend’s final contest, and Melanie Mandell ’21 also tallied three RBIs. Pitcher Jewel Ashbrook ’23 impressed from the mound, striking out the Ephs three times.  Despite the Panthers’ tough weekend, their strong performance on Sunday inspires confidence ahead of their upcoming three-game weekend against Wesleyan. They will take the field in Connecticut for a double-header on Saturday, April 17 and then return home to play the weekend’s final match on Sunday, April 18. 

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Review: Women's softball

Women’s softball opened their 14-game spring season at home on Saturday, splitting a doubleheader against Tufts.  The Panthers emerged victorious in the first game, winning 3–2. Jewel Ashbrook ’23 was a standout pitcher for the Panthers, earning her first win for Middlebury. The winning run was scored by Tori Papaleo ’23, who ran home after Noelle Ruschil ’22 hit a walk-off single. In the second game of the afternoon, the Panthers fell, 10–4. Despite the loss, Megan Fox ’24 and Melanie Mandell ’21 both registered impressive performances, recording two hits each. Mandell is one of three captains on the Panthers, joined by Emily Moore ’21 and Kaylee Gumm ’21.  The first team from Middlebury to officially compete this semester, the softball team enters the season confident, refusing to be discouraged by the unusual season ahead of them. “Due to Covid, we didn’t start practicing as a team until late February,” Papaleo said. “But in the time we were given, we’ve all been working hard and practicing almost every day. Overall, I feel really confident in my team’s ability going into the season.”   “I think the NESCAC has done a great job making sure we are competing as safely as possible,” Lizzie Hannafey ’23 added. “I am confident that our team will do a good job staying safe and following the regulations.” The women’s softball team is guided by Kelly Bevere ’99, who enters her 15th season as head coach. Bevere, who has a career record of 257–176–1, has taken the team to the NESCAC Tournament in seven of the past nine times it’s been run.  The softball team will be back in action on Saturday, April 10, when they face Williams in a doubleheader at home.

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Sex Panther: Navigating Midd Tinder

We’ve all been there. Literally, all of us have been stuck quarantined in our rooms. It can get pretty boring. And lonely. So it is only natural to download Tinder, right? I mean, it’s a pandemic. If class is online, I guess my romantic life will be, too. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. And maybe you tell yourself you’ll delete it later. You’re just curious to see who’s out there! Ok, great, we’ve justified it — f**k it, download. Time to set up your profile. Obviously you’re outdoorsy, so you gotta include a picture of yourself at the Snow Bowl, but you’re also chill, so definitely a picture at WOMP too. Cute pic at the Knoll? Done. Of course, gotta include a pic with one of the stress-buster puppies. Everyone loves a puppy pic, that’ll get ‘em to swipe right.  Now for the real fun: time to swipe. First person you run into is your old FYC. Yikes. They’re kinda cute, but would that be weird? Next person is “Jake, 22” from Dartmouth, followed by “Olivia, 19” from UVM. Unfortunately, those are out of Addison County. Swipe left. Maybe it’s time to shrink the distance. Next one: the guy who rang up your order in town yesterday. Well, it’s a start. After some swiping, you’ll probably match with someone at Midd. Great! Now, what do you message them? Well, there are always canned yet timely pickup lines: “if covid doesn’t take you out, can I?” “Can’t spell quarantine without ‘u r a qt’” and “Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” are great (bad?) places to start.  You could instead check out their profile and ask them a question related to their interests, or maybe offer a compliment! Also, there’s always the option to be straight up. This is Middlebury, after all, and chances are you’ve seen them around campus.They’ll likely be a friend of a friend anyway, or maybe they lived three doors down from you on Coffrin 4 orange. “Wait, were you in my first year seminar?”  When starting something new, especially on a dating app like Tinder, it’s a great idea to talk about expectations. Are you looking for a serious relationship, a friend to eat dinner with at Proc or just a hookup? Whatever it is, it’s important to be honest with yourself and the other person, even if your wants don’t match up. At the very least, they can be someone you whisper “hi” or flash a soft smile to when you see them studying in Davis. So you’ve been chatting, you’re on the same page and you decide to meet up. But what can you even do in these #unprecedented Covid times? Perhaps you can take a tour of Midd’s beautiful campus as the spring weather rolls in, or walk to Otter Creek for coffee and scones. You can also try FaceTiming your date to test the waters without worrying about Covid exposure. Outdoors or online are both perfect pandemic first-date venues. If that goes well, and you catch yourself daydreaming about them in your microeconomics class, it might be time for something a bit more… intimate. If you decide to meet up and suspect it may get physical, have a safety plan in mind. Ask yourself, do I have room in my close contacts? Do they? Am I comfortable being close contacts with them? Don’t forget about STI protection! Have some barrier methods on hand, like internal and external condoms (they’re free at Health Services!). Also, consider telling a trusted friend who you’re seeing and where you’re hanging out. Hopefully it won’t be necessary, but some safety insurance never hurts.   Midd’s Tinder scene is a two way street: maybe you’ll find a few new friends, or maybe you’ll have no luck at all! As hard as it is, remember that your self-worth isn’t defined by the direction of someone else’s swipe. Whatever happens, just have fun and stay safe. Years from now, you’ll be celebrating your 25th anniversary with your Marriage Pact match, and you’ll think back and laugh at your Tinder antics. Did my FYC really think I was cute? What’s the BevCo guy up to now? Did Laurie have a burner account to snoop on the student body? Soon enough this pandemic will be a distant memory, and included in it, those bored hours swiping. But for now, enjoy it! Swipe away, little kittens, and maybe we’ll match. ;)

College taps staff and hospice workers for campus Covid testing

The college enlisted the help of roughly 55 staff from Addison County Home Health and Hospice and several college departments to assist with testing on campus this spring. College employees were diverted from human resources, athletics and other departments to assist with Monday and Thursday testing sessions, according to Jen Kazmierczak, environmental health and safety officer at the college.  Staff are responsible for overseeing every step of testing, from check-ins and directing traffic to printing out labels and talking students through self-administering their nasal swabs. Every role has been carefully planned by the administration. “The testing center was designed with safety and efficiency in mind for individuals working at the testing center and for those coming to receive a test,” Kazmierczak said. Kazmierczak credited Middlebury Director of Event Management Jen Erwin with the success and safety of the testing process. Erwin is responsible for managing the testing center.  “Jen works tirelessly behind the scenes, on testing days and non-testing days, to keep the operation running smoothly while still supporting her own department,” Kazmierczak said. “[Her] dedication and operational skills have been essential to the success of our testing operations.” All employees who work at the testing center received training specific to their role through both videos and in-person training. They cover shifts either for a full day — from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. — or take on a half-day shift. All employees are provided with the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE).  One of those employees, Assistant Director of Athletics for Operations and Events Franklin Dean-Farrar, was initially hesitant to participate in the process. “The first time I was a [tester], I was assigned to the position, I didn’t volunteer to do it,” Dean-Farrar said. “I didn’t want to mess up and be the reason someone was in quarantine longer than they needed to be.”  However, Dean-Farrar has ultimately found the job to be a positive experience. The provision of PPE and the thorough measures taken by the testing committee have contributed to his confidence in the safety of the process and the unlikeliness of exposure. “The evolution of the testing site from August to today is a testament to continued improvements and thoughtfulness for [not only] the people working the testing site, but also the students, faculty and staff being tested,” Dean-Farrar said.  As an unexpected bonus, Dean-Farrar enjoys the chance to engage in in-person interaction with fellow staff and community members on testing days.  “Personally, it’s one of the best parts of the week,” Dean-Farrar said. “You have an opportunity to see many of the students and community members and be a part of something bigger than any one person.” Dean-Farrar also noted his appreciation for the fact that working at the testing site has provided him with a tangible way to help students and community members in a time of need.  “There are students going through so much change and uncertainty this last year, as well as staff members in our community working tirelessly to give our students the best possible experience they can.”  He noted that testing brings a level of certainty to students and staff members.  “At this point, almost everyone knows the process, and it’s a great time to meet members of the community I don’t know, or catch up with the ones I do,” Dean-Farrar said. “It’s a short window of time, but it’s amazingly rewarding.”

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Erin Quinn ’86 named Athletic Director of the Year

After a year of adjusting to Covid-19 restrictions to make athletics happen for students at Middlebury, Erin Quinn ’86 was recognized for his efforts. On March 10, Quinn was named by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) as a 2020-21 Division III Athletic Director of the Year. He is one of only four Division III athletic directors to win this year’s award. “I was working at home when I received the email notification,” Quinn said. “It was appropriate for the past year that I was by myself in a makeshift office in my basement when I received the notification.” This past year, Quinn helped navigate the pandemic-induced challenges that faced Middlebury athletics. His clear and constant communication with the Covid-19 Task Force allowed both recreational and varsity athletes to enjoy fitness opportunities on campus.  In the Peterson Family Athletic Complex, Quinn worked diligently to create cleaning, spacing and monitoring plans to allow students to use the various facilities. He also spent countless hours at Virtue Field House, which was transformed into the Covid-19 testing center throughout the year. “Any of our work around Covid was only possible because of the hard work of a lot of colleagues, both within our department and across campus,” Quinn said. “This adds up to a lot of meetings, but that is what has been necessary and has allowed us to navigate these challenging times as well as possible.” Quinn also impressed in his work towards racial diversity and inclusion in athletics. After protests in the name of racial injustice heightened this summer, Quinn doubled down in his effort to bring equality to campus, implementing a 21-day allyship challenge for staff members, the Leaning into Discomfort video series and diversity and inclusion education workshops. He also enlisted the help of Andrew Plumley ’11 — currently the director of inclusion at the American Alliance of Museums — to provide valuable insight on many conversations and decisions regarding race and athletics at Middlebury. Quinn spearheaded a five-year plan to further address these issues. “We have had an Athletics Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for the past 4–5 years, but we increased our efforts over the summer and through the academic year,” Quinn said. “We meet once per week as a full committee, and then various sub-committees meet as needed. We changed the makeup of the committee, [too], adding students.” Like other athletic directors, Quinn had to adapt to the uncertainty of the last year, and he did so by finding creative solutions, many of which he hopes to incorporate into his post-pandemic work. Most notably, Quinn has utilized Zoom to facilitate meetings with other athletics directors as well as the numerous other committees he is involved in. “As much as we all have Zoom fatigue right now, the virtual meetings have provided an opportunity for collaborations that are not always practical as in-person meetings,” Quinn added. “I can imagine integrating virtual meetings into our regular practices moving forward.” The difficulties of the last year also reinforced Quinn’s feeling that all the work he does is part of a team effort. He stressed that his receival of the NACDA award reflects the hard work of the many committees, coaches and volunteers that keep student athletics operating effectively. Quinn will be recognized for his achievement at the 2021 NACDA and Affiliates Virtual Convention July 27–28.

‘Solidarity is the political version of love’

I fight for justice in Palestine for many reasons. On August 28, 1939, at the age of 16, my Jewish grandfather boarded a ship at Le Havre in Northern France bound for the United States. He was entirely alone. His family was already in the U.S., but he had waited months for his visa to be approved. In British-colonized Palestine, 1939 marked the end of what is termed the “Great Arab Revolt.” This three-year conflict left 10% of the adult male Palestinian-Arab population between the ages of 20 and 60 killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled. My grandfather had a home waiting for him, but millions of Palestinians did not and still do not.  Growing up, many of my friends’ grandparents were also Holocaust survivors. As a child, I was routinely fed a narrative that Jewish statehood and self-determination were the only ways to cope with this trauma and to ensure safety. It is sadly unsurprising that I never learned about the occupation since educators in my hometown faced potential lawsuits for practically uttering the word “Palestine.” It was only after coming to Middlebury that I learned the severity of the misinformation I had been exposed to throughout my childhood. Studying in Jordan and making Palestinian and Arab friends pushed me to seek out the truth. No one told me of the innumerable house demolitions, massacres like that at Deir Yassin in 1948 or the horrendous violence Palestinians face daily at the hands of the Israeli state and settlers. I can barely even begin to scrape the surface of the terrors inflicted upon Palestinians over decades upon decades of ethnic cleansing. It made (and makes) me sick to think my grandparents’ trauma could even remotely factor into this violence. How could any Jew, with our history of violent persecution, commit such atrocities?  The simple answer to this question also emerged from self-education: Judaism does not equal Zionism. In fact, working with Jewish Voice for Peace and developing friendships with anti-Zionist Jews taught me that the conflation of a political and historically contingent ideology with systematic religious persecution is extremely dangerous. If we cannot discern the differences between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, then how can we effectively combat antisemitism globally? During the Jan. 6 insurrection, white supremacists simultaneously flew the Israeli flag and wore shirts saying “six million wasn’t enough.” How can we make sense of that if not by distinguishing between the two? Reflection upon my identity as a queer individual has also significantly informed my relationship to Zionism. When planning to go abroad, many family members and friends expressed concerns for my safety in Jordan. In my Jewish community, an abstracted “Arabness” was marked as homophobic, while Israel was painted as queer-friendly. They appeared to believe that, the moment I stepped off the plane, I would be violently assaulted. For context, in 2009, the straight mayor of Tel Aviv participated in the “Brand Israel'' campaign that sought to portray Israel as a progressive, modern and democratic haven in the Middle East (Atshan, 3-4). Ultimately, this campaign aimed to whitewash human rights abuses against Palestinians. Central to that process was marketing Tel Aviv as a “safe haven” for LGBTQIA+ folx and a premier gay tourist destination. This is pinkwashing: the co-opting of queerness towards such malicious ends. I could not and will not stand for it. From there, my commitment to Palestine activism grew. Just as fighting misinformation became one of my primary concerns, so too did standing in solidarity with queer Palestinian folx.  When I returned to Middlebury last fall, I was eager to join Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for many reasons. For me, building SJP’s educational resource go/apartheid and writing the section on Zionism allowed me to provide individuals with some of the information I was not exposed to. Education was and is an act of radical solidarity. I want people to know that Zionism is not apolitical or ahistorical. Its contemporary iterations are rooted in European colonialism and they rationalize a system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing that shapes the lives of Palestinians. Plus, the abstraction of Zionism into the belief that Israel is the homeland for a supposed monolithic Jewish people also silences Jewish histories of resistance. The suppression of critiques of Zionism and Israel silences Jewish voices like mine. It silences queer voices like mine. And, thus, it inhibits me from weaponizing my privilege and bolstering marginalized Palestinians voices. As Jewish American lesbian feminist, author and activist Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz explains, “Solidarity is the political version of love.” This is why I fight for justice in Palestine.   Matt Martignoni is a co-President of SJP and a member of the class of 2021.5.  

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