Club council invited anti-Israel speaker to speak at Club Day

Anti-Israel speakers were invited to give political speech by De Anza’s Inter-club Council on Club Day last Thursday, according to one of the speakers. ICC Programs Chair had prior knowledge of speech content, which violated ICC Code on mutual respect, mandating that clubs do not present negative items against other clubs in their presentations. The anti-Israel speech was given in front of a booth for Jews, Israelis, and Friends, which featured large Israeli flags.

Two San Jose State students, along with a De Anza student, spoke against the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa, calling them oppressive, at De Anza’s Club Day, under a time slot reserved by Latino-advocacy group, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA).

Callahan said that Club Day exists for De Anza clubs to recruit members, advertise themselves, and maintain a table. Among the clubs present, Jews, Israelis, and Friends (JIF) had a booth set up in close proximity to the speakers, and featured large Israeli flags on each side of the booth.

The speakers, SJSU’s Sulaiman Hyatt and Shahid Ali, along with De Anza student and MEChA member, Anthony Choice, used the performance time allotted to MEChA to speak about the “oppressive” nations. The speech included statements about the definition of an oppressive nation and how the four countries practice it, according to students and community members present at the event, and La Voz, De Anza’s student paper. The moderator of the event, Inter-Club Council (ICC) Chair of Programs, Hala Hyatt, is responsible for ICC-sponsored events, according to ICC Chair, Sarah Joy Callahan. Her position as chair of programs requires her to emcee the yearly event. Ms. Hyatt is the sister of one of the speakers, Sulaiman Hyatt.

Mr. Hyatt stated on Tuesday that he had been invited to speak by the ICC, and collaborated with Choice to utilize MEChA’s time slot for the speech. Mr. Hyatt stated that he was speaking on behalf of “MSA Bay Area.” Hyatt said he used the Latino-advocacy time because MEChA has more to do with just Latino issues, and said he spoke at the event because “action needed to be taken.” The performances for Club Day, including the speech, were predetermined by a sign-up sheet that stated only the time and name of the club.

Hyatt said that he has done several speeches with similar content, and that his sister, and De Anza’s ICC Chair of Programs, Hala Hyatt has been present at some of these events.

ICC Chair, Callahan, said that the performances are not screened beforehand because the clubs are trusted to have performances that do not violate the ICC Code. The Code states in Article IV Mutual Respect, that “all activity planned by a club must be socially acceptable…” and must be “mutually respectful to the diversity of our campus when planning events…” Section D states “Clubs must not advertise/promote negative items about another club.”

Ms. Callahan stated, “I’m not going to say it doesn’t look bad.” Hala Hyatt was unavailable for comment, but Ms. Callahan stated, “If Hala did something to violate the Code she swore to uphold, it would have been out of ignorance and not malicious intent.” Callahan said, “Even if she had a lapse of judgment—which is not good—but [we should] make the punishment fit the crime.” She said that ultimately, failure for an ICC officer to uphold the Code would result in expulsion, but the issue must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Sulaiman Hyatt held a meeting for a group at SJSU’s MOSAIC room Tuesday afternoon, a group he referred to as “Concerned Students,” whose goal is to try to correct the “fundamental flaws of the MSA” (Muslim Student Association). In the meeting, Mr. Hyatt spoke about the Muslim community’s need to become more active. He said that he aims to use events to “kick somebody in the nuts and see how they respond.” He said that the speech at De Anza was meant to cause uproar on campus. “Mission accomplished.” Mr. Hyatt said. Another member of the group, who identified himself as “Bob,” said that the group will meet a lot of opposition, especially from the Zionist movement, and the group should not worry about this opposition because they have experience dealing with it.
Mr. Hyatt said that the group’s main issues address 9/11, Zionism, the Iraq War, and Black Power. On Zionism, Hyatt stated, “Israel is a state that needs to be dissolved. That is the only way to deal with the issue.”