Haverford College's Young Democratic Socialists of America accused the administration of silencing Palestinian students after President Wendy Raymond canceled a pro-Palestine art event.
The Haverford YDSA and the Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America issued a joint Instagram statement on Wednesday, Oct. 7, disputing the cancellation and escalating a campus free-speech dispute.
Raymond canceled the "Art Campaign in Solidarity with Palestine" on Tuesday, Oct. 6, one day before it was scheduled at James House. The event would have included chalk art and a Palestinian poetry reading circle.
In a community-wide email, Raymond acknowledged the event fell within college policy. She said the timing on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks was unnecessarily hurtful and did not reflect the college's values of inclusion. She cited safety concerns and care for the entire community as reasons for the cancellation.
Student organizers pushed back.
According to Campus Reform, the YDSA said organizers met with administrators on Monday, Oct. 5, and presented a safety plan. They declined to reschedule because the event did not violate college policy.
The joint statement went further. The groups accused administrators of bowing to pressure from what they called Zionist members of the Haverford community and Zionist external actors, according to Campus Reform's reporting on the Instagram post.
The statement also linked the cancellation to Haverford's August 2026 settlement in the lawsuit Jews at Haverford v. The Corporation of Haverford College. That settlement included updated antisemitism policies, mandatory annual training and a nine-member College Antisemitism Committee. The YDSA described it as a sweeping anti-free-speech settlement, Campus Reform reported.
The YDSA statement said silencing Palestinian and Muslim voices was not inclusion for all, according to the Bi-College News. The group said the cancellation showed a complete lack of care for communities carrying immense pain through what it called three years of livestreamed genocide.
In her Oct. 6 email, Raymond said the college would continue working with organizers to hold the event at a later date if they chose. She also invited students to a Space of Reflection and Repose in the Multicultural Center, Stokes 106, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7, Thursday, Oct. 8, and Friday, Oct. 9.
On Oct. 7, several chalk messages appeared around campus, including one reading "Honor the Martyrs." The Bi-College News reported that it is unknown who left them.
No administration response to the joint statement has appeared in public records as of publication. No follow-up meeting between the administration and YDSA organizers has been announced.
