In Defense of Academic Freedom:
Defamation, Intimidation, Suspension
The assault on academic freedom is growing on University campuses. We are launching this series to address the cases of defamation, intimidation, and suspension that faculty are being subjected to in the United States and beyond. This series aims to raise awareness of the conditions and pretenses under which such violations occur and provide resources to contend with them, not least in support of the most vulnerable targets.
In this fifth installment, our guests discuss their recent scholarship about the current assault on U.S. higher education by right-wing and Zionist institutions, including the targeted harassment of faculty and students expressing support for Palestine amidst Israel's ongoing Genocide in Gaza.Their scholarship is vital to developing systems-based analysis of academic repression and how to better collectively face current conditions.
Severe limitations on academic freedom for Palestinian scholars in Israeli universities are directly tied to the wider project of targeting Palestinian education. We address the Israeli academy's repression of Palestinian critical research and pedagogy, in light of the arrest of Hebrew University Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, and the power of Palestinian feminist anti-colonial writing and teaching to bring true academic freedom for all. We also discuss Maya Wind’s Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom.
In this third installment, our faculty guests have been suspended or relieved of their teaching duties for their support of Palestine in Israel’s ongoing Genocide in Gaza. They will tell their own story and address the context of their scholarship and advocacy, as well as how their academic freedom was violated. They are not alone AM .
In this second installment, we host two faculty members who have been suspended/fired for their support of Palestine during Israel’s ongoing Genocide in Gaza. They will tell their own story and address the context of their scholarship and advocacy, as well as how their academic freedom was violated. They are not alone.
In this first installment of a new series, "In Defense of Academic Freedom", we host faculty members who have been suspended or placed on administrative leave for their support of Palestine during Israel’s ongoing Genocide in Gaza. They will tell their own story and address the context of their scholarship and advocacy, as well as how their academic freedom was violated. They are not alone.
Resources from MESA’s In Defense of Academic Freedom Session [In no particular order. This list will be further curated after our event on “Resources”]
In Defense of Academic Freedom Series Link
https://www.palestineincontext.org/in-defense-of-academic-freedom.html [Additional Resources at www.PalestineInContext.org]
Links provided by Speakers
https://scholarsagainstwar.org/toolkit/ ;https://librarianswithpalestine.org/gaza-report-2024/
https://librarianswithpalestine.org/campaigns-2/onebookcampaign/
Sherene Seikaly (Nov 13, 2024, 12:22 PM)
https://www.palestine-studies.org/ar/node/1655344;
https://right2edu.birzeit.edu/
MESA
https://mesana.org/advocacy/task-force-on-civil-and-human-rights/2024/02/15/documenting-shifts-in-campus-climate-in-north-america
https://mesana.org/advocacy/committee-on-academic-freedom/2023/11/21/campus-climate-resources
Coalition to End Zionist Repression
- Seneral Site: https://righttorejectzionism.com/
- Campus & Academia Alliance: https://bit.ly/campus-alliance
Some Mapping of the Diffusion of U.S. Zionist Institutions:
https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/45918
New AAUP Statement on Academic Boycotts
https://www.aaup.org/news/new-aaup-statement-academic-boycotts
The Top 10 Things Israel did to Gaza before 10.7.2023
https://www.juancole.com/2024/10/things-israel-october.html
Curriculum on Antisemitism From a Framework of Collective Liberation
PARCEO antisemitismcurriculum.org
https://www.antisemitismcurriculum.org
A possible resource for administrators
a helpful primer on anti-Palestinian racism and the scam of “dialogue”
https://youtu.be/Wfk3AinukSs?si=qX0Q0CTpNepMmvZH
