Common ground is not just the name of an event partially produced by SUNY New Paltz students. It’s what journalist and visiting professor Noor Tagouri is hoping to realize at a forum discussing the May 2 police raid on a pro-Palestine campus encampment.

“That was the thing that the students kept bringing up over and over again," she said. "They felt like they hadn't had a place to process this or to heal. That it was just swept under the rug. That they had to go to school the next day without any acknowledgment of the violence that had happened the night before.”

But not everyone eas there to share their thoughts and feelings.

New Paltz Students for Palestine, the group that organized the encampment, boycotted the event. It’s being produced by Tagouri’s production company, At Your Service Media, but Students for Palestine feel used.

“They are centering our experiences, wanting to publicize what happened to us, the trauma that my friends experienced on the night when they were brutalized by police," said Kati Helena Sollecito, one of the group's members. 

There’s also ongoing litigation between the students who were arrested and school, police and state officials. The students feel that attending this event and being on camera could jeopardize their privacy.

“We are being publicized when we know that it can be dangerous for people who are actively organizing, especially in the current state of this country," Sollecito said. "I mean, it's terrifying to even be doing this now.”

Tagouri said she heard these concerns and edited the event, including telling students who were arrested to not go into detail about their arrest.

She thinks these students’ fears are valid, but hopes that the conversations shared can overcome that fear.

“We, in conversation, were able to give each other tools or reflections on how we move forward," Tagouri said. "What is the role that we play in all of this and what are some of the questions we can continue asking ourselves to make real cultural and policy change?”

The forum was officially sanctioned by SUNY New Paltz. In response to the forum, the administration said, "The safety of our campus community is paramount. We will always adhere to our content-neutral policy to protect freedom of expression in line with our time, place, and manner requirements.”