As colleges across the country remain hotbeds for anger, protests and safety concerns during the Israel-Hamas war, two University of Pittsburgh professors — one Jewish, the other Muslim — want to foster dialogue and compassion on Pitt’s campus.
Political science professor Jennifer Murtazashvili, who is Jewish, and linguistics professor Abdesalam Soudi, who is Muslim, organized and moderated the university's second “United in Compassion” event Tuesday at the University Club. The first event was held weeks after the Israel-Hamas conflict began.
The two-hour event — attended by over 40 Pitt students, professors, administrators and Pittsburgh community members — centered around what compassion looks like locally and nationally during tumultuous times.
Ms. Murtazashvili, who grew up in Squirrel Hill and celebrated her bat mitzvah at the Tree of Life synagogue, described Tuesday’s event as “beautiful, heavy and emotional.” It aimed to create a “safe and welcoming” environment for discourse, she said.
“We’ve seen what’s happened on so many campuses across this country. We can disagree about things. We should disagree about things — if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be fulfilling the purpose of this university. We have a calling to disagree with each other, but what we can’t do is dehumanize each other,” Ms. Murtazashvili said. “We have to have compassion.”
On Oct. 7, the Islamist militant movement Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing hundreds of men, women and children and capturing others. In response, Israel declared war on Hamas. Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have died in the conflict.
Since the war began, antisemitic ideology has festered at universities across the country. At Cornell University, a junior was arrested after making violent antisemitic threats online. At a New York City college, Jewish students took refuge in a library while a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters pounded on locked doors. During a pro-Palestinian rally held on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in November, students and community members chanted, “Globalize the intifada,” a phrase that calls for a Palestinian uprising and is understood by many Jews to be a call for violence against Israelis or Jews.
And in Vermont, a recent shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent near the University of Vermont campus is being investigated as a hate crime.
At Pitt, officials confirmed two reported incidents of antisemitic harassment and graffiti since Oct. 7. Pitt has also seen an increase in reported antisemitic and anti-Muslim remarks, university spokesman Jared Stonesifer told the Post-Gazette.
Tuesday’s “United in Compassion” event aimed to stress the vitality of compassion and humanity amid disagreements at Pitt.
“This event is entirely guided by the framework of compassion, which serves as a testament to Pitt’s dedication to nurturing a community with compassion, care for each other, and respect,” Mr. Soudi said during his opening remarks.
After Mr. Soudi and Ms. Murtazashvili provided opening remarks and shared information about their upbringings, an open discussion about compassion ensued.
During the discussion, audience members referenced historical events such as the Israel-Hamas war, Nazi Germany, the Charleston church shooting and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
They also deliberated ethical questions, discussed the role of higher education during tense moments in history, and shared their own experiences with racism and antisemitism. There were moments of tears, silence and heavy questions. None of the speakers identified themselves as Pitt students.
Adam Leibovich, dean of Pitt’s Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences who attended the event, said it’s easy to gather for celebrations, but “more important” to gather at events like this.
“I think it’s even more important for us to gather when we’re struggling, when people are hurting or uncertain, because that’s when we need each other most,” he said.
Looking to the future, Ms. Murtazashvili would like the event’s framework to inspire a course about compassion that could be studied at numerous universities.
“It's really important that we say, ‘Here we are,’ and lay ourselves bare and say, ‘We’re going to have differences, but we need to treat each other with love and respect,’ ” she said. “That's really what's missing, not just on our campuses, but in so many different societies right now.”
First Published: December 5, 2023, 10:57 p.m.
Updated: December 6, 2023, 5:45 p.m.