Name: Shezza Abboushi Dallal
Year: Senior (Class of 2016)
School: Barnard College
Major: History
Hometown: Beirut, Lebanon
Motto or catchphrase you live by? There’s nothing wrong with planning out lunch while you eat your breakfast.
Spirit animal: I’d like to think I’m a lion, but I’m really more of a sloth.
What are you involved with on campus?
I’m a Resident Assistant and a longstanding member of Students for Justice in Palestine, Turath (the Arab Students Association), and the Middle Eastern chapter of the Columbia Mentor Initiative. I also used to be a member of the Columbia Palestinian Dabkeh Brigade, but that was a dance gig and nothing involving any sort of physical activity tends to last in my life.
Why did you get involved in Students for Justice in Palestine, Turath and the Middle Eastern chapter of the Columbia Mentor initiative?
I got involved in each of those organizations for very different reasons. I’ve always felt like the most important thing I could do for my own formation is identify a cause that demands moral accountability and merits my passion, energy, and unwavering dedication. Students for Justice in Palestine became a project that could embody my commitment to justice and my determination to cultivate moral consciousness, political engagement, and courage in both my surrounding community and myself. My decision to get involved with Turath and the Middle Eastern Chapter of the Columbia Mentor Initiative centered around my desire to create a home away from home, as well as a cultural outlet for expression and empowerment, for a range of individuals hailing from family, geographic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds with which I am both familiar and in love.
What should people know about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? What do you hope to shed light on?
More. There is no possible way for me to take on the task of truly educating a campus, or even an individual. However, there is no doubt that the majority of individuals on this campus either have limited-to-no knowledge of the political reality in Occupied Palestine, or have been exposed to an incredibly narrow and highly problematic narrative. It is my hope that my very existence on this campus and engagement with this issue will offer a counter-narrative and spark curiosity and concern in those this massive injustice has not yet touched.
How has the conflict affected you personally?
I am Lebanese-Palestinian-American, so I hail from two countries that have been savagely impacted by the Occupation. As such, I belong to the Palestinian Diaspora of individuals forcefully displaced from their homeland. My hometown is also Beirut, a city that has long suffered the consequences of mass displacement and, in turn, experienced its fair share of asymmetrical Israeli warfare. My heritage and identity is made of the effects of my region’s political reality.
Lastly, how did you celebrate New York’s second biggest snowstorm?
I was quite the champ. I went to brunch in Flatiron, ran back home in fear, and then trekked to EC in the evening for two wild birthday parties. Side note: I know how basic it sounds that I HAD to go to brunch in the middle of a blizzard, but I’m a lot more complex of a character. I promise.
**Disclaimer: This is a personal piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of Her Campus Media.