Anti-Israel(i) students and organizations at the University of Virginia conspired to disrupt an October 23 on-grounds job fair.
The event, promoted by the UVA Career Center, was described as follows:
Join us for the upcoming in-person fair focusing on a variety of Career Industries on October 23rd 11:00am – 3:00pm in Newcomb Hall. Benefits of Attending a Career Fair: Connect a wide variety of employers across diverse industries. Employers are actively recruiting for jobs and internships. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with employers in-person.
According to a shared social media posting, student-agitprops were encouraged to “kick war profiteers off our campus!” by “wasting war manufacturers time,” citing “genocide” as a justification for their duplicity. $20 gift cards were offered to the most successful time-wasters.
Online response to the planned subversion was swift and fierce. To wit:
This happened today at the career fair. The pro disruption contingent of our student population set up tables outside and sent in students to give out fake resumes and take up the time of all of the companies that were there to hire prospective students. This is abhorrent, an embarrassment for UVA and doing absolutely nothing but blocking UVA students from getting to know companies and attending a job fair so they can become employed after leaving UVA. Everyone should be beyond outraged at this. Please email the administration with your thoughts.
The quantity, duration, and effectiveness of the obstruction is unknown, but the tactics could place participants in violation of the University’s Honor System, for lying, cheating, and possibly stealing. Definitions from UVA’s Honor Committee bylaws:
“Lying” shall mean the misrepresentation of one or more facts in order to gain a benefit or harm another person, where the actor knows or should know that the misrepresentation will be relied upon by another person.
“Cheating” shall mean a violation of any standards, conditions, or rules for which a student may receive benefit, credit, or acknowledgment, academic or otherwise. Cheating includes, but is not limited to, performance of any of the following acts, or abetting a fellow student in the performance of any of the following acts: using unauthorized materials in the completion of work, copying from a fellow student, plagiarism, multiple submission, false citation, false data submission, and/or unauthorized acquisition of advance knowledge of the contents of an exam or assignment.
“Stealing” shall mean the taking, keeping, or appropriation of the property of another without the owner’s permission or approval. Stealing also includes the planning of or participation in the taking, keeping, or appropriation of the property of another without the owner’s permission or approval. Stealing may include, without limitation, the passing of bad checks, the failure to pay for goods or services received, the failure to pay rent, and other failures to fulfill lawful financial obligations.
UVA’s ongoing tolerance for disruption, deception, and created disorder does a great disservice to abiding members of the University community. Coordinated subterfuge of official on-grounds events should be punished in accordance with guiding standards. Given the fecklessness of UVA administration, that eventuality appears unlikely.
