Professor goes on leave from La Salle University over social media post about Israel

The message went out on La Salle University’s X account, formerly known as Twitter, inviting people to come to a Mass to call for “an end to the violence and acts of terrorism against innocent Israelis and Palestinians.”

To Tali Reiner Brodetzki, an assistant professor there who is Israeli, it was like “somebody punched me in my gut.”

“I never thought that my own university would say that Israel is committing terror acts,” said Brodetzki, 42, who is in her second year of teaching in integrated science, business and technology at La Salle.

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Daniel J. Allen, La Salle’s president, met with her and apologized, she said, and the university took down the post, which was up for a period of hours. But he declined to issue a correction or state publicly why the university pulled it down, she said.

That was a deal-breaker for Brodetzki, who said she has taken a leave of absence from the Philadelphia university. She will use her paid medical leave and then go on unpaid leave, she told the Inquirer.

La Salle University said as a matter of policy it does not comment on personnel matters. But the university acknowledged that the social media post contained a “poorly worded phrase that was subject to misinterpretation” and that the school “quickly recognized and removed the post.”

The university also said in a statement that in Allen’s conversation with the professor and in a follow up written apology, the school made clear that “the university does not believe, and in no way meant to say or imply, that Israel is a terrorist state or that its actions were terroristic.”

The university pointed to two statements it made prior to the social media post, one on Oct. 10 and the other on Oct. 12, outlining its position on the war in Israel.

Since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and more than 200 were taken as hostages, Israeli air strike and a ground offensive have killed more than 8,000 people in Gaza, according to the New York Times.

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In its first statement, the university did not specifically mention Hamas, which Brodetzki faulted. But in a subsequent message, the president stated: “We condemn the acts of terror and violence against innocent civilians by Hamas.”

Administrators locally and nationally are wrestling with how to respond to the war. Walkouts supporting both Israel and Palestinians have been staged for the last three weeks at Penn, Temple and Drexel, and statements issued by college leaders have often been met roundly with disappointment.

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Brodetzki, who said she was teaching three classes this semester, said she is contemplating legal action against the university. She said the university’s actions have caused her pain and anxiety around coming to work.

“I represent La Salle to the world,” said Brodetzki, who previously did her postdoctoral work at Rutgers-Camden and the University of Pennsylvania. “And I can’t do that, if that’s not stated very clearly that it was not La Salle’s intention to call Israel terrorists.”

She said while campuses appear focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, it feels to her like that doesn’t apply to Jewish people.

“I thought that my ask from La Salle was very small,” she said, “and very simple. I didn’t ask for much and the fact that they wouldn’t do it, just hurts even more.”