RAs walk out on training session, cite anti-Palestinian racism

Multiple resident assistants walked out of a University-mandated training session on Tuesday that some say under- and misrepresent Palestinian people, according to an Instagram post by Students for Justice in Palestine at Rutgers—New Brunswick (SJP). The Daily Targum was able to independently verify the account of events in the SJP post but not the quotes from the post.

The bias training was presented by the harassment awareness group Right To Be under the title "Bystander Intervention To Stop Antisemitic, Xenophobic And Islamophobic Harassment." Right To Be's description of the training says it aims to teach attendees about the "spectrum of disrespect" Jewish and Muslim people experience and steps to safely intervene in a situation of antisemitism or Islamophobia: Distract, delegate, document, delay and direct.

The walkout occurred at the beginning of the presentation, which allegedly framed October 7 in the context of religious bias, rather than historical events.

SJP also took issue with the training's use of statistics from the Anti-Defamation League, which University President Jonathan Holloway told Congress in May would be a collaborator in an upcoming training program, as previously reported by the Targum.

It is unconfirmed whether he was referring to the resident assistant program or a different one. SJP further disagreed with the presented definition of antisemitism — though the exact verbiage was not specified.

According to SJP, the speakers also self-identified as Israeli and Middle Eastern. No-one explicitly claimed Palestinian heritage, though one speaker reportedly self-identified as Arab. Palestinian people were only mentioned when speakers talked about Hamas, the post read.

One such speaker, identified by an image search from a photo in the SJP post, appears to be Ariel-Nachman Kent. Kent, a Los Angeles-born, Atlanta-raised training and facilitation specialist at Right To Be, reportedly talked about his experiences living in Israel for more than 12 years and allegedly frequently self-identified as Israeli.

Lastly, the training made no mention of anti-Palestinian racism, despite recognition in a bill passed in the Rutgers University Student Assembly in April, according to SJP.

"These trainings were included to supplement Holloway's testaments to Congress this summer that Rutgers is doing everything in their power to combat Anti-Zionism in the name of Antisemitism," SJP wrote.

Tuesday's training comes after the University's recent ban on encampments and introduction of tighter restrictions on protesting in its new Free Expression website, as well as its second suspension of SJP. Earlier this month, the University also faced scrutiny for its New Student Orientation programming that dissuaded students from engaging in protests, as previously reported by the Targum.

A University spokesperson confirmed the walkout and added that resident assistants later returned to the event and discussed it with University staff after the training session ended.

Editor's note: This story was updated to include a University spokesperson statement confirming the walkout occurred.