“It’s getting closer and closer”: Debate team takes stock after students’ antisemitic comments on club trip

 From The Sentinel, full story here. Written by Dani Klein. Feature Writer Dani Klein is a member of Whitman’s Speech team, which functions separately from Whitman Debate. Online Editor-in-Chief Ethan Schenker was a member of Whitman’s Public Forum Debate team from 2019 to 2022.

Two students on Whitman’s Debate team allegedly made a series of antisemitic comments about their Jewish teammates during an off-campus team trip in mid-December. The allegations were first reported on Sunday by The Washington Post, which had obtained a January email that a student team member sent to the team’s parent board. 

According to the email, which was also obtained by The Black & White, the two students allegedly joked about using challah to lure Jewish people — including specific Debate team members — to the secluded Andaman Islands and burn them at the stake. The email reported that the two students referenced burning Jewish people while playing Kanye West music and “mosque music.” None of the Jewish team members named nor MCPS staff members were present at the time of the incident. 

Following the report, school administrators asked members of the Debate team not to speak to their peers about the incident and the report’s contents. MCPS’ Hate Bias Incident Reporting procedures outline that as part of “Interim Measures,” administrators may place “restrictions on contact” between the students involved in the conflict during an active investigation. 

And:

Administrators publicly acknowledged the alleged antisemitic statements for the first time in an email to the Whitman community yesterday afternoon, nearly a month after the original complaint and subsequent investigation in partnership with the debate leadership.