Committee on Academic Freedom – Informed Comment

Protesting Wake Forest University’s Cancellation of a Lecture by Professor Rabab Abdelhadi

Committee on Academic Freedom — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 04:02:25 +0000

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | –

Dear President Wente and Provost Gillespie:

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our concern about Wake Forest University’s decision to cancel a scheduled lecture by Professor Rabab Abdelhadi, who is currently director of San Francisco State University’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative. We regard Wake Forest’s action as a severe violation of the principles of academic freedom.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

According to media reports, Professor Abdelhadi was scheduled to speak on 7 October 2024 at an event sponsored by five academic units at Wake Forest. After the event was announced, a number of campus organizations launched an online petition drive demanding that the university cancel it. Apparently bowing to pressure, the university cancelled the event. In an email message to the campus community announcing the decision, the two of you stated: “We have also made the conscious decision not to host events on this day that are inherently contentious and stand to stoke division in our campus community. We are living in complex times, and yet we remain hopeful about the future because of this caring community and our shared mission to serve humanity.”

Exercising caution about contention and “stoking division” may be a laudable goal, but for Wake Forest to cancel an academic event because some people object to an invited speaker’s perspective on an issue of public interest betrays the university’s avowed commitment to academic freedom and to the free and open exchange of ideas, principles which are fundamental to the integrity and mission of our institutions of higher education. Moreover, the contention and “division” which you seek to avoid – when thought of as healthy disagreement and debate among scholars and students – is a laudable goal in and of itself for a college or university. Whether or not everyone at Wake Forest agrees with Professor Abdelhadi’s opinions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, silencing her cannot be acceptable at an institution which claims to uphold academic freedom and freedom of speech.

In these fraught times, college and university leaders have a heightened responsibility to protect the freedom of speech and academic freedom of all members of their communities – and their invited guests. This country’s institutions of higher education should be places in which a broad range of perspectives can be expressed, debated and criticized without fear of defamation, harassment or termination. As MESA’s Board of Directors put it in a statement dated 18 December 2023: “We call on university leaders and administrations to affirmatively assert and protect the rights to academic freedom and freedom of speech on their campuses. We reaffirm that there can be no compromise of the right and ability of students, faculty, and staff at universities across North America (and elsewhere) to express their viewpoints free of harassment, intimidation, and threats to their livelihoods and safety.”

We therefore call on you to immediately reverse the decision to cancel Professor Abdelhadi’s lecture at Wake Forest. We further call on you to vigorously reaffirm your commitment to uphold academic freedom and freedom of speech at Wake Forest and to actively foster an atmosphere of free academic inquiry and discussion, including the unhindered right of faculty and invited guests of the campus community to express their political opinions in the public realm.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli

MESA President

Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

Protesting Cornell University’s Suspension and threatened Deportation of graduate Student Momodou Taal for Protest

Committee on Academic Freedom — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 04:06:51 +0000

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | –

Dear Interim President Kotlikoff, Provost Bala, Dr. Lombardi and Ms. Liang:

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our extreme concern about your decision to temporarily suspend Cornell graduate student Momodou Taal, without proper due process, on the grounds of his alleged disruptive participation in a pro-Palestine campus protest. We are particularly concerned that, as a result of this callous and arbitrary decision, Mr. Taal, an international student attending Cornell on an F-1 visa, is facing immediate deportation, without adequate opportunity to defend himself against these allegations.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

Mr. Taal, who is an instructor at Cornell University as well as a graduate student, has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights. On 18 September 2024, along with approximately 100 other students, he participated in, and gave a short speech at, a demonstration outside of a career fair held at the university’s Statler Hotel. The demonstrators were protesting the presence on campus of defense contractors Boeing and L3Harris, whom they regarded as complicit in Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian population of Gaza. Video evidence from the protest shows that some students pushed through a police line to enter the job fair site, with others following. However, the footage also appears to show that Mr. Taal did not come into direct contact with the police line and entered the grounds only after access had been achieved by other students. Once inside, the students conducted a nonviolent demonstration which disrupted the job fair through chants and drumming, resulting in the fair being shut down. It is important to note that, according to his account, Mr. Taal was present in the hotel lobby for only a few minutes and left the protest early; we understand that he does not appear in any of the video footage documenting the protest inside the hotel.

On 23 September 2024 Interim President Michael I. Kotlikoff issued a statement condemning the student protestors for what he described as “highly disruptive and intentionally menacing behavior.” He claimed that demonstrators had violated university rules by pushing aside Cornell Police officers, forcibly entering the career fair site, creating excessive noise and disrupting display tables. He warned that the students involved would face immediate suspension or employment sanctions. However, of all the students who participated in the demonstration, Mr. Taal was reportedly the only one to receive a message directing him to report to Cornell’s Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. On the same day that the Interim President made his statement, Mr. Taal was informed of his temporary suspension, given a physical copy of a no-trespass order barring him from campus, and notified that his F-1 visa would be terminated. It is our understanding that he was not fully informed of the specific allegations against him or given a reasonable opportunity to respond to them.

Mr. Taal appealed his suspension on 25 September 2024. One day later that appeal was rejected by Dr. Ryan Lombardi, Vice President of Student and Campus Life. We are deeply concerned about the apparent lack of a properly conducted formal investigation into the allegations against Mr. Taal, the denial of an adequate opportunity for him to respond to the allegations against him, Cornell’s failure to hold a disciplinary hearing before a full review panel and violations of Mr. Taal’s procedural rights under Cornell’s own policies. On 27 September 2024 Mr. Taal submitted a second, and as we understand it final, appeal to the Provost’s Office and is currently awaiting a response. We note that this is not the first time Mr. Taal has been specifically targeted for his pro-Palestinian activities: in April 2024 he was one of just four students threatened with suspension over involvement in a pro-Palestine encampment that involved hundreds of participants.

We believe that there is good reason to conclude that Cornell University, by ignoring due process and arbitrarily suspending Mr. Taal, has violated its own Student Code of Conduct Procedures. Moreover, the university administration must have been aware that his suspension would result in the termination of his F-1 visa, subjecting him to deportation. We believe that the use of suspension resulting in deportation sets an extremely dangerous precedent and threatens the free speech rights and the academic freedom of Cornell’s students, faculty and staff. We also note that, as a member of Cornell Graduate Students United-UE, Mr. Taal is entitled to union representation in disciplinary matters, as outlined in the union’s Memorandum of Agreement with the university. Given that the union has asserted its right to bargain over the disciplining of Mr. Taal, your administration’s unilateral actions appear to violate this agreement.

Mr. Taal is a promising graduate student with an outstanding academic record. As a Black Muslim international student, he is among the most vulnerable members of Cornell’s student body and deserves, at a minimum, the same level of procedural protection and consideration that Cornell’s policies are supposed to afford to all its students. The university’s actions are an affront to its stated commitment to diversity and inclusion and to its Core Values, which emphasize “free and open inquiry and expression—tenets that underlie academic freedom—even of ideas some may consider wrong or offensive.” Moreover, by taking discriminatory disciplinary action against a marginalized student, without due process, the university’s actions are also likely to have a chilling effect on other members of the campus community – especially other racialized and international students – thereby undermining their ability to exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly and their academic freedom. In this context we call your attention to the statement issued by MESA’s board of directors and its Committee on Academic Freedom on 6 May 2024 which denounced actions by university leaders that delegitimize and repress campus advocacy opposing Israel’s war in Gaza.

We therefore join the Cornell chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Cornell Graduate Student Union as well as many members of the Cornell community and the public in calling on you to immediately rescind the temporary suspension of Mr. Taal. We further urge Cornell University to refrain from arbitrary and draconian disciplinary measures against students, faculty and staff exercising their right to freedom of speech and assembly, and their academic freedom, including by expressing their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli

MESA President

Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

Protesting the Firing of Tenured Professor Maura Finkelstein for Criticizing Zionism

Committee on Academic Freedom — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 04:06:44 +0000

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | –

Dear President Harring, Provost Furge and Professor Dowd:

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the announcement by Muhlenberg College that it intends to terminate Dr. Maura Finkelstein, a tenured member of the college’s faculty, because of an Instagram post that she had reposted. Even if some people may find the post objectionable, we believe that Professor Finkelstein’s reposting is protected by the First Amendment and by the principles of academic freedom. It cannot reasonably be construed as a violation of Muhlenberg College’s equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policy or justify her termination.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

Dr. Finkelstein is a cultural anthropologist whose research has addressed multiple geographies and theoretical realms. Her first book, The Archive of Loss: Lively Ruination in Mill Land Mumbai, charted the experiences of textile mill workers in the city of Mumbai. She is currently at work on a second book about equine-assisted therapy. Her scholarship and pedagogy have also engaged a range of issues relating to Palestine/Israel; her teaching includes a course on Palestine and she has published peer-reviewed work on her experiences teaching this material.

In the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 assault on Israel, Professor Finkelstein was subjected to intense attacks as a result of the criticism of Israel and of Zionism that she expressed in published work, academic forums and social media posts. Among other things, a number of donors to and alumni of Muhlenberg College circulated a petition demanding her removal from her tenured position. In January 2024 Professor Finkelstein was placed on administrative leave after reposting someone else’s Instagram post which was critical of Zionism and Zionists. The Muhlenberg College administration subsequently claimed that Professor Finkelstein’s reposting had violated its equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policy.

An outside firm hired by the college to investigate the case determined that Professor Finkelstein’s Instagram post had not constituted a violation of college policy. However, an ad hoc committee appointed by Muhlenberg’s Title IX office subsequently reversed this determination, without specifying the grounds for its decision. In late May 2024 Professor Finkelstein was informed that the college intended to terminate her for cause, because her Instagram post allegedly “met the standard for online discrimination and harassment involving hateful speech. It was severe and objectively offensive, and it denies or limits the ability to participate in the College’s programs.” She has appealed and is awaiting the decision of the college’s Faculty, Personnel and Policies Committee.

We note that Muhlenberg College has declared that it “endorses the robust, stimulating and thought-provoking exchange of ideas, which requires in-depth and complex educational experiences as well as the space for divergent perspectives.” We further note that neither college policy nor federal law defines those who adhere to or advocate for particular political ideologies (such as Zionism) as members of legally protected classes. As we have pointed out elsewhere, critiques of Israeli policies or of Zionism must not be conflated with antisemitism, nor should expressions of political opinion be sanctioned.

In these fraught times, college and university leaders have a heightened responsibility to protect the freedom of speech and academic freedom of all members of their communities. This country’s institutions of higher education should be places in which a broad range of perspectives can be expressed, debated and criticized without fear of defamation, harassment or termination. As MESA’s Board of Directors put it in a statement dated 18 December 2023: “We call on university leaders and administrations to affirmatively assert and protect the rights to academic freedom and freedom of speech on their campuses. We reaffirm that there can be no compromise of the right and ability of students, faculty, and staff at universities across North America (and elsewhere) to express their viewpoints free of harassment, intimidation, and threats to their livelihoods and safety.”

We therefore call on you to immediately reverse the decision to terminate Professor Finkelstein and to publicly declare her exonerated of the charges brought against her. We further call on you to vigorously reaffirm your commitment to uphold academic freedom and freedom of speech at Muhlenberg and to actively foster an atmosphere of free academic inquiry and discussion, including the unhindered right of faculty and other members of the campus community to express their political opinions in the public realm.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli
MESA President
Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

Protesting Israel’s targeted destruction of all Schools and Universities in Gaza

Committee on Academic Freedom — Sat, 14 Sep 2024 04:06:23 +0000

Middle East Studies Association Board | Committee on Academic Freedom | –

Dear President Biden, Vice-President Harris, Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Austin,

We write to you on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) and the Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to vehemently condemn the government of Israel’s brutal and cruel military campaign against the Palestinian people of Gaza and beseech you to urgently insist upon its immediate cessation. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health – Gaza, the death toll of Gazan Palestinians from Israeli attacks from 7 October 2023 until 9 September 2024 reached a shocking 40,972, with at least 94,761 wounded and untold numbers of dead who remain beneath the rubble. In this letter, as in our last two letters to Israeli government officials (25 January 2024; 21 November 2023), we focus on the decimation of the education sector in the Gaza Strip through the military’s killing of students, faculty, and staff and its targeted destruction of schools, university buildings, and related facilities. We are especially concerned to underscore the magnitude of the decimation by identifying by name and affiliation as many of the murdered Gazan scholars as is possible at this time.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, MESA publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

Over the past 11 months, the unprecedented extent of death and destruction wrought by Israel’s war on Gaza has devastated the educational sector. According to the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 625,000 students—90,000 of whom are university students—and close to 23,000 teachers have been impacted by attacks on educational facilities and school closures. All remain without access to formal education or even a safe place to shelter.

According to the UN in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, as of 8 September 2024, more than 10,000 students and 411 educational staff have been killed, while more than 15,394 students and 2,411 teachers have been injured since 7 October (OCHA, Humanitarian Situation Update #215, Gaza Strip, 9 September 2024). Moreover, 90 percent of school buildings have been damaged, and 85 percent of educational facilities are “out of service due to direct and deliberate targeting” (OCHA, Gaza Humanitarian Response Update, 22 July–4 August 2024). Within the first 100 days of the onslaught, all major universities were destroyed [see our letter 25 January 2024]. To date, numerous colleges and technical institutes have been severely damaged, if not destroyed. The physical infrastructure necessary for higher education—including laboratories, libraries, classrooms, the latest technologies, etc.—no longer exists. Furthermore, in the absence of (reliable) electricity, internet connectivity and even phone reception, even remote instruction is extremely challenging, if not practically impossible.

As for primary and secondary education, 191 schools, including those run by UNRWA, have been bombed or vandalized. UNRWA, for one, has reported that no official schooling is available at any of its 200 schools. While 119 government schools have been heavily damaged, more than 62 have been completely destroyed. Many schools that have served to shelter internally displaced Palestinians, either because of the destruction of their homes or because of (repeated) evacuation orders, are among those facilities that have been destroyed, if not severely damaged, leading to the deaths of many of those taking shelter. Recent examples include: incidents on 6 and 7 September, when a tent housing internally displaced persons in Halima Al Sadia School in Jabalya Camp and a prayer hall inside Amr Ibn Al Aas school in Gaza city were hit; the targeting of a school in Deir el-Balah on 20 August, a school in Gaza City on 10 August (OCHA Humanitarian Situation Update #203, 12 Aug 2024) and two on 8 August (OCHA Humanitarian Situation Update #202, 9 August 2024), causing tremendous loss of life. Just the week before, four schools serving as shelters were attacked. Indeed, according to an assessment conducted by UNICEF, OCHA and Save the Children, 53% of schools used as shelters — amounting to some 190 — have been directly and deliberately hit by Israel’s military in the last 11 months.

In addition to the massive destruction of Gaza’s physical educational infrastructure — the rebuilding of which will require many years and billions of dollars — the systematic killing of our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza needs to be highlighted. Scholars from across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields, widely respected by their peers and students, have been targeted and murdered. These academics represented the intellectual leadership of the Palestinian community in Gaza and were the foundation for the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge.

Various organizations have been documenting the Israeli military’s killing of Palestinian scholars and university professors. As a precise accounting is obstructed by the ongoing attacks and insecurity, we provide below only a partial list of the names and, where possible, academic affiliations of those scholars who have been killed. These individuals represent a very small percentage of those who have been integral to higher education and intellectual life in the Gaza Strip and have been catastrophically affected by death and suffering: the hundreds of faculty and staff and thousands of students and their families who have been killed in military assaults, bombings, or through prolonged exposure to starvation and disease since 7 October 2023.

University Presidents:
Professor Sufyan Tayeh, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Said Al-Zibda, University College of Applied Sciences
Professor Muhammad Eid Shabir, former President, Islamic University of Gaza

Deans:
Dean Ibrahim al-Astal, Islamic University of Gaza
Dean Khitam Al-Wasifi, Islamic University of Gaza
Dean Mahmoud Abu Daf, Islamic University of Gaza
Dean Omar Farwanah, Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza
Dean Taysir Ibrahim, Faculty of Shari’a and Law, Islamic University of Gaza
Dean Nasser Abu Al-Nour, Faculty of Nursing, Islamic University of Gaza
Dean Ahmed Abu Absa, University of Palestine
Dean Ahmed Al-Dalu, University of Palestine
Dean Naim Baroud, Faculty of Arts, Islamic University of Gaza

Professors and academic staff (listed in groups by institutional affiliation):
Professor Adham Hassouna, Al-Aqsa University
Professor Ahmad Mahmoud al-Qara, Al-Aqsa University
Professor Nesma Abu Shaqra, Al-Aqsa University
Professor Abdel-Nasir Al-Saqqa, Al-Aqsa University
Professor Nidal Qaddura, Al-Aqsa University
Professor Wiesam Essa, Al-Aqsa University
Professor Fadil Abu Hain, Al-Aqsa University
Dr. Mohamad Hammad, lecturer in Business, Al-Aqsa University
Yahya Ghabban, lecturer, Faculty of Arts, Al-Aqsa University

Professor Jihad Al-Masri, Al-Quds Open University
Professor Hassan Kafarneh, Al-Quds Open University
Professor Muhammed Atef Awad, Al-Quds Open University
Professor Muhammad Al-Nabahin, Al-Quds Open University

Professor Ibrahim Barhoum Abu Salah, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Prof Mohammad Bakheit, Islamic University of Gaza
Islam Suleiman Haboush, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Midhat Saidem, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Nahed Al-Rafati, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Refaat AlAreer, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Mohammed Awad, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Rizq Arruq, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Azzu Affanah, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Education, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Muhammad Bakhit, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Salem Abu-Mukhdah, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Muhammad Dabbour Assad, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Nasir Al-Yafawi, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Sharif Al-Assali, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Youssef al-Kahlout, Arabic Language & Literature, Islamic University of Gaza
Rahaf Hanideq, lecturer, Islamic University of Gaza
Professor Mohamad Abu Al-Saeed, Islamic University of Gaza
Dr. Hossam Hamada, Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza
Amin Dabbour, Professor of Political Science, Islamic University of Gaza
Dr. Mohammad Dabbour, cancer pathologist and head of the preclinical department, College of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza
Dr. Adnan Ahmad Al-Barsh, Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza
Mohamad Al-Bakhiet, Islamic University of Gaza

Professor Amin Al-Bahtiti, Al-Azhar University of Gaza
Bassam Shahin, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Intermediate Studies, Al Azhar University

Professor Ali Al-Qirinawi, University of Palestine
Professor Ibrahim Saidam, University of Palestine
Professor Mustafa Al-Laqta, University of Palestine
Professor Mustafa Al-Naqib, University of Palestine
Anas Al-Bursh, lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Palestine

Director Tareq Thabet, University College of Applied Sciences
Professor Shaher Yaghi, University College of Applied Sciences
Professor Wael Al-Zard, University College of Applied Sciences

Professor Mohamad Abd Al-Ghuffur, Islamic Da’wah College

Marwan Tarazi, Director, Center for Continuing Education at Birzeit University, Gaza office

Do’a Al-Masri, librarian and researcher, Edward Said Library

Faculty, academic staff and researchers (institutional affiliation incomplete):
Dr. Ziad Tatri, researcher in Neonatology and lecturer
Dr. Mohamad Adwan, professor of Medicine
Shahidah Al-Bahbani, poet and writer
Abd Al-Karim Hashash, historian, researcher, writer
Rola Fadl Abd Al-Jawad, professor of Multimedia
Muhamad Fayez al-Najjar, professor of Engineering
Hassan Al-Rafid, researcher, writer, lecturer in Economics

Dr. Rafet Lobad
Professor Khalil Abu Yahya
Dr. Maisara Al-Rayyes
Professor Sereen Al-Attar
Professor Usama Al-Muzayni
Professor Ismail Abu Sa’adah
Professor Khaled Al-Ramlawi
Professor Said Al-Dahshan
Professor Raed Qaddura
Professor Muhammad Abu-Zur
Professor Yusuf Juma’a Salameh
Professor Nida Affanah
Professor Mu’min Shuwaydah
Professor Siddiq Nassar
Professor Ahmad Abu Saadah
Professor Jamilah Al-Shanti
Professor Muhamamd Jamil Za’anin
Professor Ismail Al-Ghamri
Professor Walid Al-Amudi
Professor Abdullah Al-Amudi
Professsor Hassan Al-Radi’
Professor Muhammad Abu Amara
Professor Mahmud Al-Loh
Professor Khalid Al-Najjar
Professor Muhammad Al-Najjar
Professor Muhammad Hassounah
Professor Yasir Radwan
Professor Jihad Al-Baz
Professor Hazem Al-Jamali
Professor Muhammad Nassar
Professor Essam Al-Lulu

In our letters to Israeli government officials regarding the current war on Gaza [25 January 2024; 21 Nov 2023], we insisted that as the occupying authority, Israel’s targeting of the Palestinian educational sector buildings through bombings and other forms of aggression constituted a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, relating to the protection of civilians in time of war. The government and military’s resultant obstruction of education has also been a clear violation of the right to education enshrined in Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 13 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The right to education is binding under all circumstances and to be protected in all situations, including during crises and emergencies resulting from civil strife and war. Israel is a party to the UDHR and a signatory to the ICESCR and is therefore obligated to uphold them. We remind you that as a party to the Geneva Conventions and as a leading supporter of international human rights law, the United States also bears a substantial responsibility to ensure that countries like Israel that receive substantial financial and military support from the United States observe their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.

The massive assaults against educational infrastructure, educators and students at all levels and throughout Gaza since 7 October are part and parcel of a larger, deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing intended to destroy the very foundations and bases of continued Palestinian life in Gaza, in violation of all of Israel’s legal obligations and, indeed, in violation of basic precepts of humanity. See summaries and statements of the International Court of Justice 19 July 2024, 24 May 2024; MESA letter 11 March 2024.

We heed the call of our esteemed Palestinian colleagues in Gaza (Open letter 29 May 2024) to support them as they resist the brutal military onslaught and strive to continue to teach their students and rebuild their education sector. We urge the United States’ Government to demand an immediate and permanent cease-fire and the total withdrawal of Israeli military forces from the Gaza Strip – indeed, the termination of the genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli
MESA President
Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

Rebuking New York University for trying to Outlaw Criticism of Israel by Conflating Zionism with Judaism

Committee on Academic Freedom — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 04:02:30 +0000

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | –

Linda G. Mills

President, New York University

linda.mills@nyu.edu

Georgina Dopico

Provost, New York University

georgina.dopico@nyu.edu . . .

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the updated Guidance and Expectations for Student Conduct which the administration of New York University (NYU) circulated to the university community on 22 August 2024. Some of the provisions of this new policy statement impose unacceptable limits on the right of students and faculty to freedom of speech and assembly, and the guidelines also threaten academic freedom. They thereby infringe on the values of open inquiry and freedom of expression that are foundational to higher education and to citizenship in a democracy.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

The new policy purports to clarify the meanings of discrimination and harassment as stipulated in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which defines discrimination as adverse treatment based on protected characteristics such as race, color or national origin. We find it disturbing that the policy’s explanation of what constitutes discriminatory or harassing behavior asserts, among other things, that “Using code words, like ‘Zionist,’ does not eliminate the possibility that your speech violates the NDAH [Non-discrimination and anti-harassment] Policy” because “For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity.” The implication that the term “Zionist” is self-evidently or always a “code word” whose use and interpretation can and should be policed by university administrators is dangerous. It is rooted in the improper conflation of criticism of Israel and of Zionism – a political ideology – with antisemitism, which we have criticized on many occasions.

We call your attention to alternative perspectives on the relationship of Judaism and Zionism, for example, the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, which has been endorsed by hundreds of eminent scholars of Jewish studies and Holocaust history. This statement rejects the conflation of Zionism with Judaism, clearly distinguishes between the two and establishes that criticism of the former (and of the actions and policies of the State of Israel) must be regarded as legitimate. We also note that equating Zionism with Judaism, as the NYU policy statement does, effaces the many Jewish students for whom Zionism is not part of their religious nor ethnic identity.

We are further concerned that the new policy gives administrators power over what goes on in NYU’s classrooms. Offering the hypothetical example of a professor teaching a class on international politics, it states that while discussing a particular country’s policies does not violate university rules, “if conduct that otherwise appears to be based on views about a country’s policies or practices is targeted at or infused with discriminatory comments…then it would implicate the NDAH.” We find this language vague and obfuscatory, and we are concerned that its intention or effect may be to shield Israeli government policies from open discussion in the classroom. The policy also undermines a bedrock principle of academic freedom: the right of faculty to determine what and how to teach their students, without interference from university administrators or external pressure groups.

We note as well that the new policy severely restricts how students may engage in protest activity on campus, but it also seems intended to apply well beyond the university campus. It asserts that student protestors have latitude to express themselves in public spaces, only to turn around and warn them that “protesting at an off-campus location does not immunize your conduct from University policies.” The new policy threatens consequences if protests have “continuing adverse effects on campus or in any NYU activity,” a dangerously vague formulation.

In short, in its explicit provisions but also in its elisions, contradictions and ambiguities, the new policy is likely to undermine the ability of students to exercise their First Amendment right to freedom of speech and assembly, while also threatening the academic freedom of NYU faculty by subjecting them to monitoring and sanctions by administrators. Regrettably, this is exactly the kind of revised policy designed to suppress student and faculty activism against which the American Association of University Professors warned in its 14 August 2024 statement.

In an earlier version of its NDAH policy, issued in 2021, NYU declared that “The University also recognizes that a critically engaged, activist student body contributes to NYU’s academic mission. Free inquiry, expression, and free association enhances academic freedom and intellectual engagement.” We find it distressing that NYU seems to have forgotten the principles to which it once claimed to adhere. We therefore call on NYU to rescind the new NDAH policy guidelines and to invite all members of the university community to engage in a transparent, collective and democratic process to develop a policy that will truly foster non-discrimination and combat all forms of racism, including antisemitism, while safeguarding academic freedom, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly on campus.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli

MESA President

Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

Denouncing the University of Pennsylvania’s collaboration with the House Education Committee investigation of Faculty Members

Committee on Academic Freedom — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 04:02:15 +0000

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | –

Larry Jameson

Interim President, the University of Pennsylvania

president@upenn.edu

John Jackson

Provost, the University of Pennsylvania

provost@upenn.edu . . .

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the apparent cooperation of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) with the witch-hunt which the Republican majority on the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce is conducting against several members of its faculty, as well as faculty and students at other institutions of higher education. Your failure to resist the committee’s improper demands and resolutely defend your faculty makes a mockery of your university’s avowed commitment to academic freedom.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

In a letter to the president of the University of Pennsylvania and the chair of its board of trustees dated 24 January 2024, Representative Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, alleged that the university had failed to address antisemitism on campus or protect its Jewish students, and she requested that the university turn over to the committee a very broad range of documents that would ostensibly enable the committee to investigate these allegations. The letter falsely accused three members of Penn’s faculty — Associate Professor of Arabic Literature Huda Fakhreddine, Dr. Ahmad Almallah, an artist-in-residence at Penn’s Creative Writing Program, and Professor of Political Science Robert Vitalis – of making “antisemitic remarks and statements of support for Hamas.” As we noted in a 9 November 2023 letter calling on Penn’s administration to defend its faculty against vicious attacks on social media, “[t]hese allegations are based on the tendentious conflation of criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and its well-documented violations of Palestinian rights and aspirations with antisemitism.”

Unfortunately, it appears that since January 2024 Penn has provided the committee with some of the materials it requested – even though no subpoena has been issued with which the university is legally obligated to comply. On 20 August 2024 the university’s counsel informed Professor Fakhreddine and Dr. Almallah that it had received a request from the committee to provide it with their c.v.s, their syllabi since the fall 2022 semester, “all course-wide communications for courses since the fall 2023 semester, and any communications since 8/1/23 relating to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, Faculty for Justice in Palestine, and/or the Palestine Writes Festival.” Penn has agreed to turn over Professor Fakhreddine’s and Dr. Almallah’s c.v.s and syllabi. The extent to which it will comply with the committee’s other demands is not clear, but it has apparently placed holds on Professor Fakhreddine’s and Dr. Almallah’s university email accounts, which indicates that it may give the committee access to their email messages.

As we noted in a 7 May 2024 letter to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, “[t]hrough its recent investigations and public hearings, the committee has threatened the freedoms essential to university life and learning, including academic freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly. As a result of this campaign, the committee has made our campuses less safe for students, faculty and staff alike. These efforts shock the conscience and violate the First Amendment in ways that are reminiscent of the now-disgraced House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in the late 1940s and 1950s.” The letter went on to note that “the framing and content of [the committee’s hearings and investigations] make it clear that many committee members are less concerned with combatting invidious discrimination than with suppressing and punishing pro-Palestine speech.”

That the University of Pennsylvania would collaborate with the committee’s politically motivated investigations, at the cost of sacrificing the academic freedom and right to free speech of members of its faculty, is deeply troubling. We must remind you of the statement on “Academic Freedom in Times of War” issued by the AAUP on 24 October 2023, which is directly relevant to the current circumstances: “It is in tumultuous times that colleges’ and universities’ stated commitments to protect academic freedom are most put to the test. As the Israel-Hamas war rages and campus protests proliferate, institutional authorities must refrain from sanctioning faculty members for expressing politically controversial views and should instead defend their right, under principles of academic freedom, to do so.”

We therefore call on the University of Pennsylvania to immediately desist from any form of cooperation with the witch-hunt which the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has launched against members of its faculty. We further call on you to affirm your commitment to protect the academic freedom of your faculty, students and staff, and to vigorously defend them against all forms of governmental harassment and intimidation. Finally, we urge you to offer a public apology to the Penn faculty members whose information you chose to turn over to the committee.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli

MESA President

Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

cc:

aaup.penn@gmail.com

sigalbp@upenn.edu

lisa.bellini@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Letter to Florida State University System Protesting the Policing and Censorship of course Materials relating to Israel/Palestine

Committee on Academic Freedom — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 04:06:43 +0000

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | –

Letter to the Chancellor of the Florida State University System regarding the policing and censorship of course materials relating to Israel/Palestine

Raymond Rodrigues
Chancellor, State University System of Florida
chancellor@flbog.edu

Dear Chancellor Rodrigues:

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about recent measures announced by the State University System of Florida that will police and censor teaching about Israel, Palestine, the Middle East and related topics at the state’s public universities and colleges. While the State University System has framed these measures as combatting “antisemitism” and “anti-Israeli bias,” we regard this new policy directive, along with other recent measures taken by the state and its officials, as a politically motivated attack against First Amendment-protected speech and academic freedom at Florida’s public institutions of higher education.

According to reporting in the Chronicle of Higher Education, during the week of 29 July 2024 you and Emily Sykes – the State University System’s interim vice chancellor for academic and student affairs – sent messages to, and held calls with, leaders of all twelve Florida public universities and colleges, instructing them to review course descriptions, syllabi, and test banks for “antisemitic material or anti-Israeli bias.” In an email to university presidents on 2 August 2024 you instructed presidents of Florida state universities and colleges that “any course that contains the following keywords: Israel, Israeli, Palestine, Palestinian, Middle East, Zionism, Zionist, Judaism, Jewish, or Jews [should] be flagged for review;” that “[t]his review should flag all instances of either antisemitism or anti-Israeli bias identified and report that information to [your] office;” and that the review should be “completed by the conclusion of the Fall Semester.” Your email also asserted “the need to implement a process for each faculty member to attest that they have reviewed all resources (textbooks, test banks, online materials, etc.) for each course that they teach.”

As reported by the Chronicle, your email did not define “antisemitism” or “anti-Israeli bias,” nor did it make clear what would happen to the courses or those who teach them should they purportedly manifest either form of discrimination. Nonetheless, the intent and consequences of the new policy are quite clear. Indeed, leading First Amendment advocacy organization FIRE has described the State University System directive as “Orwellian” and cautioned that it, and “the censorship that will follow, leaves students and faculty unsure about whether their discussions of course materials addressing current events – from terrorism, to the war in Gaza, to international relations more broadly – will land them in trouble with elected officials or campus administrators.” The measure also undermines a foundational aspect of academic freedom:, namely that faculty, who are experts in their fields, are exclusively responsible for the content and materials taught in university courses – —not university administrators, state officials, or politicians.

This directive is only the latest in a series of assaults that the State of Florida has launched against First Amendment-protected speech and academic freedom in its public universities and colleges, with the apparent aim of promoting pro-Israel viewpoints while censoring criticism of Israel and support for Palestinians. These efforts include the Florida legislature’s recent adoption of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which includes “examples” of antisemitism that are in fact First Amendment-protected critiques of the State of Israel. We also note that, in October 2023, you issued a memo “deactivating” all chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a pro-Palestine student group active at Florida public universities and colleges, because National SJP had allegedly provided material support to Hamas – a measure you were forced to rescind after the decision was challenged in court for violating the First Amendment.

Over the last few years, the state has also adopted a series of politically motivated laws and policies aimed, amongst other things, at eliminating DEI programs and so-called “Woke” ideology” at its public universities and college. These developments led the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to conduct a special investigation of Florida’s higher education system, which concluded that “[a]cademic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history, which, if sustained, threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with dire implications for the entire country.” Combatting antisemitism and other forms of bias and racism are laudable goals, but it is clear from Florida’s track record that your recent directives are an additional instance of political interference in the state’s higher education system masquerading as anti-discrimination measures.

Instead of doing further damage to the standing and reputation of Florida’s higher education system, we urge you, in your capacity as chancellor, to heed the AAUP’s statement on “Academic Freedom in Times of War,” issued on 24 October 2023: “It is in tumultuous times that colleges’ and universities’ stated commitments to protect academic freedom are most put to the test. As the Israel-Hamas war rages and campus protests proliferate, institutional authorities must refrain from sanctioning faculty members for expressing politically controversial views and should instead defend their right, under principles of academic freedom, to do so.”

We therefore call on the State University System to rescind its recent politically motivated directives regarding Israel-Palestine and related topics, and to refrain from further action that threatens or undermines speech protected by the First Amendment and academic freedom at the state’s institutions of higher education.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli

MESA President

Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

Opposing a Bill Proposed by National Union of Israel Students to make Criticizing Israeli Gov’t a Firing Offense

Committee on Academic Freedom — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 04:04:21 +0000

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | =

Elhanan Fellheimer
Chairman, National Union of Israeli Students

Prof. Arie Zaban
President of Bar-Ilan University
Chairperson of Association of University Heads – VERA

President Zaban, Chairman Fellheimer,

We write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to express our profound concern over the National Union of Israeli Students’ proposed bill and billboard smear campaign against faculty in Israeli higher education institutions who are critical of Israeli government’s actions and policies. The proposed bill and billboard smear campaign appear to target, in particular, Professor Anat Matar and Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian (about whom we sent letters on 9 November 2023, 21 March 2024, and 6 May 2024).

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, MESA publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has close to 2800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and the freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

Contrary to the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression, the National Union of Israeli Students’ vaguely worded draft bill of 19 May 2024 proposes that: “Academic institutions will be obliged to immediately fire a lecturer, a teacher or researcher who expresses or acts in a manner that includes denial of the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incitement to racism, violence or terrorism and/or support for an armed struggle or an act of terrorism against Israel.” The draft bill also stipulates that even tenured faculty can be terminated immediately without compensation and that any institution refusing to abide by the proposed law by not firing a faculty member could lose state funding. To promote this bill, the National Union of Israeli Students has also funded what appears to be an expensive public campaign, which includes posters and billboards placed in various parts of Tel Aviv and its vicinity with quotes from Matar and Shalhoub-Kevorkian and which call for such faculty to be fired without compensation.

This flagrant disregard for the basic values that underpin academic scholarship is detrimental to Israeli academia in general and its struggle to remain relevant globally. On 21 May 2024, the Committee of University Heads of Israel (VERA) published a detailed, five-page letter to convince Spanish institutions not to boycott Israeli institutions, in which they argue that they share the “commitment to peace and justice in the region and […] agree with you that the situation in Gaza is tragic.” If VERA wishes for its claims to be taken seriously, campaigns promoting undemocratic, fascist policies against academics and students must be strongly and publicly resisted.

While it was indeed important that VERA published a letter on 3 June 2024 opposing the bill and calling on members of Israel’s parliament to reject it, further actions are required to protect academic freedom and the freedom of speech. VERA must stand behind faculty and students who are being attacked on campuses and in the public sphere. Furthermore, opposition to the war or any other Israeli policy must remain legal if, indeed, the academic sphere is to be described as liberal and democratic, committed to peace and justice in the region. Students, staff, and faculty, both Jewish Israeli and Palestinian, must be permitted to express themselves regarding the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, which is far more than simply “tragic.”

We call upon the National Union of Israeli Students to stop threatening critical voices at the country’s universities, thereby exacerbating student and faculty fears for their safety on and off campus, and instead promote open, democratic academic settings. Further, we urge VERA to be true to its own words and stand behind the effort to block the National Union’s dangerous proposed bill. A pluralistic political environment that ensures academic freedom for all requires nothing less.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli
MESA President
Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

Protesting the U of Minnesota Reneging on Job offer to Genocide Specialist Raz Segal over Gaza

Committee on Academic Freedom — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 04:02:17 +0000

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | –

Jeff Ettinger

Interim President
University of Minnesota

upres@umn.edu . . .

Dear President Ettinger and colleagues:

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about your decision to rescind the offer which the University of Minnesota (U of M) made to Dr. Raz Segal to assume the directorship of its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS). This action, the result of your capitulation to political pressure from groups based outside the university which had attacked Dr. Segal for his assessment of Israel’s war in Gaza, starkly contravenes your administration’s avowed commitment to academic freedom and to respect for the integrity of the faculty hiring process.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

Dr. Segal, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide at Stockton University, is widely regarded as a leading scholar in the academic fields in which he works. After a thorough search conducted in full accord with U of M procedures and policies, he was deemed the most qualified candidate for the directorship of CHGS and offered the position. Two members of the CHGS board resigned in protest, citing an October 2023 article in which Dr. Segal had described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “a textbook case of genocide.” Organizations and media outlets based outside the university, including the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, then launched a campaign to block Dr. Segal’s appointment.

Rather than defend academic freedom and the principle that faculty should make hiring decisions based exclusively on scholarly criteria, without interference by individuals or organizations pursuing their own political agenda, your administration first “paused” and then rescinded the offer to Dr. Segal. The video recording of President Ettinger’s 14 June 2024 report to the Board of Regents explaining his decision, available here (starting at 19:23), clearly indicates that the university surrendered to the campaign against Dr. Segal.

We note the statement issued by the U of M chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) on 12 June 2024 expressing alarm at the withdrawal of the offer to Dr. Segal and declaring that “the central administration has rewarded the brinkmanship of two faculty members acting outside the norms of acceptable faculty conduct, overruled a comprehensive faculty-led process of evaluating candidates for this position, and violated established policy and precedent regarding collegiate hiring practices.” The statement went on to characterize your action as “an appalling violation of academic freedom and a stain on the U’s record. If it goes uncorrected it will have a chilling effect on academic freedom at this institution, not only for faculty but also students and staff, by showing that our central administration will side with outside groups when they demand actions that violate academic freedom.” We also call your attention to the open letter signed by nearly a thousand faculty at universities across the United States and beyond, which noted that “by overruling the faculty experts who selected Dr. Segal, the University of Minnesota’s administrators have effectively issued a vote of no confidence in its own faculty. This move endangers the University’s reputation as an internationally-renowned research institution.”

We must remind you of the statement on “Academic Freedom in Times of War” issued by the AAUP on 24 October 2023, which is directly relevant to the current circumstances:

“It is in tumultuous times that colleges’ and universities’ stated commitments to protect academic freedom are most put to the test. As the Israel-Hamas war rages and campus protests proliferate, institutional authorities must refrain from sanctioning faculty members for expressing politically controversial views and should instead defend their right, under principles of academic freedom, to do so.”

We therefore call on you to immediately reinstate the offer made to Dr. Segal and apologize to him for surrendering to the smear campaign against him. We further urge you to publicly and forcefully reaffirm your commitment to the principles of academic freedom and to the integrity and independence of your institution’s faculty hiring process.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli

MESA President

Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California