Re: [Marxism] Tweets About Israel Land New Jersey Student [from Israel!] in Principal’s Office

[MM via Marxism]

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> On Jan 8, 2016, at 10:12 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism 
>  wrote:
> 
> On another recording Ms. Koval can heard telling the administrator that she 
> believed her tweets about Israel were “controversial” but not “problematic.”
> 
> “Well that’s your interpretation,” the administrator responded. “There’s a 
> state law that might interpret it differently.”

If an official representative of the school invoking the ludicrous fiction that 
a “state law” can “interpret” (as opposed to needing to be interpreted, by 
human beings) - and doing so for the clear purpose of intimidating the student, 
no less- doesn’t constitute bullying, then I’d be hard pressed to think of 
anything that does. Truly disgusting.

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Re: [Marxism] Tweets About Israel Land New Jersey Student [from Israel!] in Principal’s Office

[A.R. G via Marxism]

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Notice also how the Zio-Times erased the content of her tweets:

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/01/teenager-threatened-palestine?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List_campaign=30d9be466a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_medium=email_term=0_b86bace129-30d9be466a-398529149

Administrators are accusing her of bullying for being the victim of
bullying and for speaking out against bullying. Cheap and pathetic.

On Friday, January 8, 2016, MM via Marxism 
wrote:

>   POSTING RULES & NOTES  
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>
> > On Jan 8, 2016, at 10:12 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
> marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu > wrote:
> >
> > On another recording Ms. Koval can heard telling the administrator that
> she believed her tweets about Israel were “controversial” but not
> “problematic.”
> >
> > “Well that’s your interpretation,” the administrator responded. “There’s
> a state law that might interpret it differently.”
>
> If an official representative of the school invoking the ludicrous fiction
> that a “state law” can “interpret” (as opposed to needing to be
> interpreted, by human beings) - and doing so for the clear purpose of
> intimidating the student, no less- doesn’t constitute bullying, then I’d be
> hard pressed to think of anything that does. Truly disgusting.
>
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-- 
- Amith
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[Marxism] Tweets About Israel Land New Jersey Student [from Israel!] in Principal’s Office

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times, Jan. 8 2016
Tweets About Israel Land New Jersey Student in Principal’s Office
By LIAM STACK

A New Jersey high school student found herself in a social media storm 
on Wednesday after she live-tweeted and apparently secretly recorded a 
trip to her principal’s office.


She said administrators warned her that her comments about Israel and a 
fellow student on Twitter might have violated a state law against bullying.


The student, Bethany Koval, a 16-year-old Israeli Jew, said she had been 
reprimanded by administrators at Fair Lawn High School in Bergen County 
for a tweet that contained a string of expletives directed at Israel and 
expressed happiness that a pro-Israel classmate had unfollowed her 
Twitter account.


New Jersey has some of the toughest anti-bullying laws in the nation. 
After the suicide of a Rutgers University freshman, Tyler Clementi, in 
2010, it passed the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, a far-reaching law 
with stiff penalties for educators who do not sufficiently respond to 
complaints of harassment or intimidation.


Administrators took particular interest in a tweet that Ms. Koval posted 
on Dec. 27 after a classmate who had taken offense at her political 
views unfollowed her, she said. She said they also reprimanded her for a 
second tweet in which she told a friend she would name the student in a 
private message. They also searched her phone, suspecting that she was 
recording the meeting and warned that she could face legal action, she 
said. They were right to be suspicious. She later posted audio clips on 
Twitter.


Ms. Koval said she believed neither statement constituted an act of 
bullying.


“Her name was never mentioned,” she wrote in a message on Wednesday 
night. “I never degraded her. They use ‘bullying’ as a guise to cover 
their pro-Israel, pro-censorship agenda.”


Ms. Koval, who goes by the nickname Benny, found a well spring of 
support online, the blog Gothamist noted. Many of her more than 6,000 
followers expressed solidarity with the hashtag #IStandWithBenny.


In a recording posted by Ms. Koval, an administrator can be heard 
telling Ms. Koval that the state could determine that she had committed 
an act of bullying for a tweet that referred to a fellow student as 
“that pro-Israel girl from my school.”


“You are talking about her to someone else,” the administrator said.

“Yes, I am,” Ms. Koval responded.

On another recording Ms. Koval can heard telling the administrator that 
she believed her tweets about Israel were “controversial” but not 
“problematic.”


“Well that’s your interpretation,” the administrator responded. “There’s 
a state law that might interpret it differently.”


James Marcella, the principal of Fair Lawn High School, said in an email 
on Thursday that the issue had been referred to the superintendent of 
the Fair Lawn school district, Bruce Watson. Mr. Watson, in turn, said 
that the district could not discuss confidential matters involving 
students but was obligated by New Jersey’s strict bullying law to 
investigate a complaint alleging harassment.


“At no time have District officials sought to censor or reprimand any 
pupils for their online speech,” Mr. Watson wrote. “The investigation is 
focused solely on the factors we are required to apply by law and not 
upon any political opinions expressed by any pupils.”


Stanley Cohen, a lawyer who advised Ms. Koval and her family about the 
issue on Wednesday, said he doubted that the complaints over her tweets 
would evolve into a legal case. Mr. Cohen, a lawyer known for 
representing controversial clients, said he hoped school officials would 
“look beyond the emotion of the moment and say ‘Move on, this is no big 
deal.’  ”


Ms. Koval said she was “beyond grateful” for the online support but said 
the response offline had been less warm. Her parents were worried their 
home would be vandalized. They were planning to join her at a follow-up 
meeting with administrators. But she later told her Twitter followers 
that she had cut her school day short.


Just couldn't make it through the school day. Too much aggression 
amongst classmates here. Going home now. I'm safe.


— benny (@bendykoval) Jan. 7, 2016

Karen Workman contributed reporting.

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