The Pitt News Refuses to Run Anti-Hamas Ad

The University of Pittsburgh Student Government Board allocated $2,524.42 in student money to bring the one-woman play “I Heart Hamas” to Pitt last Sunday. Sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine, the play’s titular support for a terrorist organization should have disqualified it from being paid for with student funds.

While a play entitled “I Heart the KKK” or “I Heart the 9/11 Hijackers” would most likely have disqualified it from being paid for with student money, it is revealing that this play — whose title lauds terrorists seeking the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews – was paid for with money collected by the University from every student. While the question of why it is socially acceptable on a college campus to support an anti-Jewish terrorist organization is an issue for another article, one incident emerged out of the play and the controversy surrounding it that should especially disturb Pitt students, alumni and members of the community: the student newspaper’s decision not to print an anti-Hamas advertisement.

As a student outraged by the fact that student money paid to bring hate speech to Pitt’s campus, Samantha Vinokor, President of the Pittsburgh Israel Public Affairs Committee, sought to run a paid ad in The Pitt News describing exactly what Hamas is and why it shouldn’t be loved. Also, unlike The Pitt News, Vinokor’s ad (PDF) reported the fact that more than $2,500 in student money paid for the play.

But, rather than accept Vinokor’s money and run the ad she had written, The Pitt News rejected the ad for reasons of “content.” Clearly, The Pitt News did not object to the ad’s inclusion of the phrase “I Heart Hamas” because, in publishing a fairly positive write-up of the play earlier this week, The Pitt News had itself published that very phrase.

In reading the ad, it’s difficult to imagine what content a publication like The Pitt News – a publication that regularly runs ads for strip clubs no less – could object to. Indeed, the ad itself is an ad opposing a terrorist organization and exposing that organization for the anti-Semitic filth that it is but The Pitt News apparently does not want its readers to see such a message.

While a privately owned newspaper like the Post-Gazette or Tribune-Review certainly has the right to publish or not publish any ad for any reason, The Pitt News is not a privately-owned newspaper. Instead, The Pitt News is the University-sanctioned, official student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh complete with a University-subsidized newsroom on the fourth floor of the William Pitt Union. This arrangement provides for The Pitt News to enjoy a significant advantage in controlling the discussion on Pitt’s campus and in determining what students do and don’t read about their community.

For these reasons, The Pitt News’ decision not to run an ad critical of a terrorist organization not only raises serious questions about the ethical standing of that organization but also raises questions about the ability of the student body to rely on The Pitt News as its official student newspaper.