[The following letter, signed by faculty from sixteen colleges of the City University of New York (CUNY), was released on 1 September 2014. For more information, or to sign on as a CUNY faculty signatory or an affiliate supporter, click here.]
As members of the CUNY faculty, we are writing this open letter to administrators throughout the CUNY system regarding principles of freedom of speech and assembly, and how such freedoms apply to students involved in organizing with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at several of the CUNY colleges.
We have viewed with great concern instances of unequal and unfair treatment of SJP by members of the CUNY administration over the past few years. These have been well documented by legal rights groups such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild, and Palestine Solidarity Legal Support, as well as by students involved in SJP at CUNY and their faculty advisers. These include arbitrary changes in policies regarding student groups, aimed specifically at curtailing SJP activities; the over-policing of SJP events and activities, including simple actions like handing out fliers, in a way that has caused intimidation to students; and making unfounded accusations that lead to “investigations” into widely publicized events. All of these actions have a chilling effect on free exchange and open dialogue.
We call upon members of the administration throughout the CUNY system to treat SJP as they would any other student organization, respecting their right to organize events and activities within the existing rules and practices governing such organizations and refraining from setting up unfair barriers or subjecting SJP to standards different from those applied to other student groups. These students are acting within the traditions of intellectual inquiry and public responsibility that have guided CUNY since its inception.
We realize that you will continue to come under pressure from groups and individuals, both inside and outside the university, who have an interest in preventing open and honest discussions of issues related to Israel and Palestine. We urge you to show courage in upholding the principles of freedom of speech and assembly. We realize that you may not agree with the views espoused at events and activities organized by SJP; indeed, some of us signing this letter may not agree with all of their views. But we support unconditionally their right to express these views without fear of reprisals or unfair treatment by this university. As faculty, we know that our own right to free speech is inseparable from those of our students, whatever their views. This right is only meaningful if it applies to issues that are contentious.
In the coming academic year, we will be watching closely to make sure that the CUNY administration—at the level of both campuses and the Central Office—respects the right of SJP to organize at CUNY without further administrative hindrance or harassment. The principles of equality and free speech should apply to all student groups, without discrimination.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned (signatories in process)
Ervand Abrahamian, Distinguished Professor of History, Baruch College and The Graduate Center
Tanya Agathocleous, Associate Professor of English, Hunter College
Ammiel Alcalay, Professor of Classical, Middle Eastern & Asian Languages & Cultures, Queens College, and English, The Graduate Center
Linda Martín Alcoff, Director, Women`s Studies Certificate Program and Center for the Study of Women and Society, The Graduate Center
Anthony Alessandrini, Associate Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College and the Program in Middle Eastern Studies, The Graduate Center
Meena Alexander, Distinguished Professor of English and Women’s Studies, Hunter College and the Graduate Center
Bonnie S. Anderson, Professor Emerita of History, Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center
Tom Angotti, Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning, Hunter College and The Graduate Center
John Arena, Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island
Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, The Graduate Center
Arto Artinian, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Borough of Manhattan Community College
Talal Asad, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Center
Eleanor J. Bader, Kingsborough Community College
Austin Bailey, Department of English, Hunter College
Anny Bakalian, Associate Director, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, MA Program in Middle East Studies, The Graduate Center
Beth Baron, Professor of History, City College and The Graduate Center
Jennifer Baumgartner, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of English, LaGuardia Community College
Moustafa Bayoumi, Professor of English, Brooklyn College
Lenore Beaky, Professor Emerita of English, LaGuardia Community College
Lara Beaty, Associate Professor of Psychology, LaGuardia Community College
Sarah Benesch, Professor of English, College of Staten Island
Marimer Berberena, Adjunct Lecturer, Hostos Community College
Nancy Berke, Associate Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
Arthur L. Binford, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, College of Staten Island
Stephen Blum, Professor of Music, The Graduate Center
Natascia Boeri, Department of Sociology, York College
Cathy R. Borck, Department of Sociology, Borough of Manhattan Community College
Avram S. Bornstein, Associate Professor of Anthropology, John Jay College
Jacqueline Brady, Associate Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College
Naomi Braine, Associate Professor of Sociology, Brooklyn College
Celia Braxton, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Speech Communications & Theatre, Queensborough Community College, and Theatre Program, LaGuardia Community College
Renate Bridenthal, Professor of History (retired), Brooklyn College
Matt Brim, Assistant Professor of English, College of Staten Island
Jacqueline Brown, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Hunter College and The Graduate Center
Jonathan Buchsbaum, Professor of Media Studies, Queens College and The Graduate Center
Susan Buck-Morss, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, The Graduate Center
Lale Can, Assistant Professor of History, City College
Jennifer Caroccio, Adjunct Lecturer, English Department, Brooklyn College
Claire Carroll, Professor of Comparative Literature, Queens College
Noel Carroll, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, The Graduate Center
Yatsen Chan, Education and Language Acquisition Department, LaGuardia Community College
Amy Chazkel, Associate Professor of History, Queens College and The Graduate Center
Sarah E. Chinn, Associate Professor of English, Hunter College, and Program in Liberal Studies, The Graduate Center
Cynthia Chris, Associate Professor of Media Culture, College of Staten Island
Matthew Chrisler, Department of Anthropology, Queens College
Mark Christian, Professor and Chair, Department of African and African American Studies, Lehman College
Kandice Chuh, Professor of English, The Graduate Center
Patricia Ticineto Clough, Professor of Sociology, Queens College and the Graduate Center
Martin Cobian, Department of Anthropology, City College
Shuki Cohen, Assistant Professor of Psychology, John Jay College
Alyson Cole, Associate Professor of Political Science, Queens College and The Graduate Center
Blanche Wiesen Cook, Distinguished Professor of History, John Jay College and The Graduate Center
Sandi E. Cooper, Professor of History, College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center
Kate Crehan, Professor of Anthropology, College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center
Paisley Currah, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center
James Davis, Associate Professor of English, Brooklyn College
Ashley Dawson, Professor of English, College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center
Aparajita De, Assistant Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College
Mercedes del Rosario, ePortfolio Project Director, Center for Teaching and Learning, Assistant Professor (Adjunct) Education and Language Acquisition, LaGuardia Community College
Jackie DiSalvo, Associate Professor of English (retired), Baruch College and The Graduate Center
Sarah E. Durand, Associate Professor of Biology, LaGuardia Community College
Hester Eisenstein, Professor of Sociology, Queens College and The Graduate Center
Alexander Elinson, Associate Professor of Arabic, Hunter College and The Graduate Center
Dahlia Elsayed, Assistant Professor of Art, LaGuardia Community College
Joseph Entin, Associate Professor of English and American Studies, Brooklyn College
Colleen Eren, Assistant Professor of Sociology, LaGuardia Community College
Mohammed Ezzeldin, Department of History, City College
Liza Featherstone, Belle Zeller Visiting Professor in Public Policy, Department of Political Science, Brooklyn College
Sujatha Ferdandes, Associate Professor of Sociology, Queens College and The Graduate Center
Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology, Women’s Studies, and Urban Education, The Graduate Center
Louis Fishman, Assistant Professor of History, Brooklyn College
David Forbes, Associate Professor of Education, Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center
George Fragopoulos, Assistant Professor of English, Queensborough Community College
Erik Freas, Assistant Professor, Borough of Manhattan Community College
Lisa Freedman, Writing Instructor, Kingsborough Community College
Kristen Gallagher, Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
David Gerstner, Professor of Cinema Studies, College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center
Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences and American Studies, The Graduate Center
Jeremy Glick, Assistant Professor of English, Hunter College
Zoltan Gluck, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Baruch College
Elizabeth Goetz, Department of English, Hunter College
Tami Gold, Professor of Integrated Media Arts, Hunter College
David Greetham, Distinguished Professor of English (retired), The Graduate Center
Stafford Gregoire, Assistant Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
Kate Griffiths-Dingani, Department of Anthropology, Hunter College
Samira Haj, Professor of History, College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center
Jean Halley, Associate Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island
Karen Allison Hammer, Department of English, Baruch College
John L. Hammond, Professor of Sociology, Hunter College and The Graduate Center
David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and History, The Graduate Center
Ron Hayduk, Professor of Political Science, Queens College
Omar Ait Hellal, Associate Professor of Computer Science, LaGuardia Community College
Nancy Hoch, Associate Professor of English, School of Professional Studies
Reem Jaafar, Associate Professor, LaGuardia Community College
Gaurav Jashnani, Department of Psychology, City College
David Joselit, Distinguished Professor of Art History, The Graduate Center
Cindi Katz, Professor of Geography in Environmental Psychology and Women’s Studies, The Graduate Center
Ramzi Kassem, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Sean M. Kennedy, Department of English, Medgar Evers College
Chris Knight, Department of English, City College
Simone Kolysh, Department of Sociology, Brooklyn College
John Krinsky, Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science, City College
Peter Kwong, Distinguished Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning, Hunter College, and Sociology, The Graduate Center
John Lawrence, Professor of Psychology, College of Staten Island
Shirley Lindenbaum, Professor Emerita of Anthropology, The Graduate Center
Antonio Lorenzoni, Adjunct Lecturer, Borough of Manhattan Community College
Eric Lott, Professor of English, The Graduate Center
Jane Marcus, Distinguished Professor of English, City College and The Graduate Center
Michael Marcus, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, City College
Gerald Markowitz, Distinguished Professor of History, John Jay College and The Graduate Center
Christine Marks, Assistant Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
Arianna Martinez, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, LaGuardia Community College
J. W. Mason, Assistant Professor of Economics, John Jay College
Steve McFarland, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Queens College
Neil Meyer, Assistant Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
Karen Miller, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and History, LaGuardia Community College
Donald Monaco, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Sociology, LaGuardia Community College
Pablo Moraga, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Spanish, Queens College
Eileen Moran, Research Associate (retired), Michael Harrington Center and Department of Sociology, Queens College
Eman Mosharafa, Professor of Communication, LaGuardia Community College
Ananya Mukherjea, Associate Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island
Roopali Mukherjee, Associate Professor of Media Studies, Queens College
Leith Mullings, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Center
Carolina Bank Muñoz, Associate Professor of Sociology, Brooklyn College
Mojúbàolú Olufunke Okome, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College
David O’Brien, Professor of Psychology, Baruch College and The Graduate Center
Susan O’Malley, Professor of English (retired), Kingsborough Community College
Roslyn Orgel, Center for Teaching and Learning, LaGuardia Community College
Rupal Oza, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Hunter College and The Graduate Center
Helen Panagiotopoulos, Department of Anthropology, Hunter College
Lindsay Parme, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, City College
Sonali Perera, Associate Professor of English, Hunter College
Sreca Perunovic, Associate Professor of Sociology, LaGuardia Community College
Rosalind Petchesky, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Hunter College and the Graduate Center
Kristofer Petersen-Overton, Department of Political Science, Lehman College
John Pittman, Associate Professor of Philosophy, John Jay College
Charles Post, Professor of Sociology, Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Graduate Center
Shirley Rausher, Department of English, Borough of Manhattan Community College
Catherine Raissiguier, Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Hunter College
Conor Tomás Reed, Department of English, Medgar Evers College
Kristina Richardson, Assistant Professor of History, Queens College
Justin Rogers-Cooper, Assistant Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
Corey Robin, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center
Randy Saad, Science Department, LaGuardia Community College
Christa Salamandra, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Lehman College and The Graduate Canter
Alexandra Schindler, Anthropology Department, Hunter College
Jane Schneider, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, The Graduate Center
Sarah Schulman, Distinguished Professor of the Humanities, College of Staten Island
Jesse Schwartz, Assistant Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
Jillian Schwedler, Professor of Political Science, Hunter College and The Graduate Center
Charity Scribner, Associate Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College, and Comparative Literature, The Graduate Center
Jacob Segal, Associate Professor of Political Science, Kingsborough Community College
Don Selby, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, College of Staten Island
Jonathan Shannon, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Hunter College and The Graduate Center
Douaa Sheet, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Baruch College
Sigmund Shen, Associate Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
Nichole Shippen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, LaGuardia Community College
Carol Smith, Associate Professor of Counseling (retired), SEEK Program, City College
Julia Sneeringer, Associate Professor of History, Queens College and The Graduate Center
Robyn Spencer, Assistant Professor of History, Lehman College
Christopher Stone, Associate Professor of Arabic, Hunter College and The Graduate Center
Aoibheann Sweeney, Executive Director, Center for the Humanities, The Graduate Center
Shareah Taleghani, Assistant Professor, Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian Languages and Cultures, Queens College
Laura Tanenbaum, Associate Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College
Peter M. Taubman, Professor of Secondary Education, Brooklyn College
Lynne Teplin, Counseling Department, LaGuardia Community College
Jeanne Theoharis, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College
Saadia Toor, Associate Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island
Ellen Tremper, Professor of English, Brooklyn College
Mark Turner, Director of the Artino Laboratory for Computational Mathematics, City College
Blanca Vázquez, Department of Film and Media Studies, Hunter College
Leonard Vogt, Professor Emeritus of English, LaGuardia Community College
H. Alexander Welcome, Assistant Professor of Sociology, LaGuardia Community College
John Whitlow, Clinical Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
Gary Wilder, Associate Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Center
Joshua Wilner, Professor of English, City College and The Graduate Center
Barbara Winslow, Professor of Secondary Education and Women`s and Gender Studies; Director, Shirley Chisholm Project of Brooklyn Women`s Activism, Brooklyn College
Eben Wood, Associate Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College
Susan L. Woodward, Professor of Political Science, The Graduate Center
Sameera Younus-Khan, Center for Contract Training, LaGuardia Community College
ADDITIONAL SUPPORTERS
Rabab Abdulhadi, Associate Professor of Race & Resistance Studies, San Francisco State University
Asad Abukhalil, Professor of Political Science, California State University, Stanislaus
Danya Al-Saleh, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Elizabeth Arestyl, Library, LaGuardia Community College
Paola Bacchetta, Associate Professor of Gender & Women`s Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Rosalyn Baxandall, Distinguished Teaching Professor (retired), SUNY Old Westbury
Jess Bier, Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology, Erasmus University, Roterdam
Cynthia Grant Bowman, Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of Law, Cornell University Law School
Charles E. Butterworth, Emeritus Professor, Department of Government & Politics, University of Maryland
Shefali Chandra, Associate Professor of History, International and Area Studies, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Washington University in St. Louis
Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Annam Choudhry, MA Student in International Relations, City College (Brooklyn College alumnus)
Arif Dirlik, Independent scholar, Eugene, OR
Omnia El Shakry, Associate Professor of History, University of California, Davis
Mohamed Elgohari, New York University
Mohammad Fadel, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Alexa Firat, Assistant Professor of Arabic, Temple University
Christopher Ian Foster, Dissertation Fellow, Department of English, CUNY Graduate Center
Linda Gordon, Florence Kelley Professor of History, New York University
Jean Jackson, Professor of Anthropology Emerita, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hazem Jamjoum, PhD Candidate, Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University
Marwa Janini, Graduate Student, Middle East Studies, CUNY Graduate Center
Carole Joffe, Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of California at Davis
Louis Kampf, Professor Emeritus of Literature, MIT
Malav Kanuga, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center
Temma Kaplan, Professor of History, Rutgers University
Arang Keshavarzian, Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University
Satish Kolluri, Associate Professor of Communication, Pace University
Mark LeVine, Professor of History, University of California-Irvine, Hunter College Religion Program Alumnus/Lecturer
Silvia Lu, Library, LaGuardia Community College
Yates Mckee, PhD Candidate, Art History, CUNY Graduate Center
Suneela Mubayi, PhD Candidate, Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University
Bill V. Mullen, Professor of English and American Studies, Purdue University (CUNY alumnus)
Carol Murry, Retired, University of Hawai`i
Jack Norton, PhD Candidate, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center
Amira Pierce, Language Lecturer, Expository Writing Program, New York University
The Postcolonial Studies Group, CUNY Graduate Center
Jean Quataert, Professor of History, Binghmamton University
Dina A. Ramadan, Assistant Professor of Arabic, Bard College
Yasmine Ramadan, Assistant Professor of Arabic, The University of Iowa
Ellen Ross, Professor of History and Women’s Studies (retired), Ramapo College
Jeff Sacks, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California, Riverside
Svati P. Shah, Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Elizabeth A. Sibilia, PhD Candidate, Geography, The Graduate Center
Daniel Skinner, Assistant Professor of Health Policy, Ohio University
James Smethurst, Professor of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst (City College alumnus)
Jonathan Soffer, Professor of History, New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering
Helga Tawil-Souri, Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University
Cihan Tekay, PhD Candidate, Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center
Ulku Tekten, PhD Student, English, CUNY Graduate Center
Leigh Ann Wheeler, Professor of History, Binghmamton University
** Affiliations are for identification purposes only.