A note from Stephanie Rugoff:
I am a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), a branch of the State University of New York (SUNY) located in Manhattan in NYC. I have also, over the years, including this semester, continued to take classes there as I enjoy the creative atmosphere at the place. Here’s an email I sent to all my classmates and the president of FIT Wednesday with the subject line: Very sad time at FIT.
Good morning all,
This morning I was so sad to hear on the news that the beautiful encampment of FIT students standing up for morality and justice on the FIT campus had been shut down and 50 courageous students arrested. Then, it was even more upsetting to get this email from the FIT president filled with misinterpretations of what’s going on.
This isn’t “just” a war between Israel and Hamas. It’s a genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians being carried out by the government of Israel with the support of the U.S. government (payment, weapons, etc.). Secondly, whose point of view was being silenced by the brave students who stood up to clearly state their point of view and perspective? If anything, the point of view of the students in the encampment was and is since they were not provided with official channels. Who shut down the entrances, etc., to FIT making us go around a maze to get to our classes? It wasn’t the demonstrators, it was the FIT administration. What was the administration afraid of? Who was unsafe? Nobody. What fear, what suffering at FIT prior to last night? Come on.
For a while there, I was feeling so proud that the FIT from which I graduated and from which I continue to take classes, was the last college in NYC to still have a Free Palestine encampment. I no longer feel that way and am saddened to see that the FIT administration is following the same playbook as the other NYC colleges that have unfeelingly just gone along with whatever is coming down from DC.
-Stephanie