Friday, October 9, 2015

Free Speech & Academic Freedom 10-9-2015

9, October 2015                    Free Speech & Academic Freedom

There has been mounting efforts to stifle free speech of Palestinian activists on college campuses claiming that criticism of Israeli policies constitutes anti-Semitism. A new report by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal has documented hundreds of cases of Palestinian activists being harassed and threatened for their support of Palestinian rights. For example, Steven Salaita’s tenured position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was withdrawn after he posted tweets harshly critical of the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza.

His ouster caused a firestorm with thousands of academics demanding Salaita’s reinstatement. University Chancellor Phyllis Wise, and her second-in-command, the provost, resigned in the ensuing scandal. Private emails accounts were surreptitiously used to bypass freedom of information requests. This is an extremely disturbing example of blind ideological commitments to Israel triumphing academic freedom. The board was fully complicit in Wise’s duplicity, including the chairman Christopher Kennedy, Robert Kennedy son. Even more egregious is the discovery of a letter from the Simon Wiesenthal Center congratulating the board on firing Salaita. 

Following their removal, a federal judge allowed a lawsuit filed by Professor Salaita to proceed. The university would be wise to issue an apology to Salaita, reinstate and reimburse him for lost earnings. Failure to do might trigger large punitive damages. This should serve as a wake-up call to other US colleges to stop harassing students and faculty who voice criticism of Israel’s actions and policies.



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