UPDATE: April 30, 3:39 p.m.
The Daily Illini: What role do you serve here on campus?
Danny Faibishenko: I’m on the executive board for Chabad.
DI: This event that you guys are coordinating here today, why did you guys choose to come out to Alma Mater?
Faibishenko: The protest is across campus. And what people don’t understand is that this has an effect on the Jewish community. There are rises in antisemitism, and there are people that are scared to leave their homes or leave their apartments. The whole point of today was we were trying to bring everyone out to show that we are still one community.
We just wanted to show everyone here that they belong on this campus and they’re able to express themselves proudly. That’s what was behind choosing Alma Mater as the location, which is the central part, or the heart of campus.
DI: With the flags being hung up on Alma Mater, did you guys have to ask the University for permission to do that or were you permitted?
Faibishenko: We tried our best to follow every campus policy. It is perfectly legal according to the University.
DI: Is there any kind of message you want to send across campus and across the quad to any of the other students here right now?
Faibishenko: That the Jewish community is here and we are not going anywhere. We’re gonna continue being proud. We’re going to continue showing what we believe in spite of everything that’s going on.
