Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association, August 17 https://www.juancole.com/2024/08/university-protesting-censorship.html
Raymond Rodrigues Chancellor, State University System of Florida 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. . . . ... 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;” ... . . . 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 <https://floridapolitics.com/archives/681211-gov-desantis-oks-adding-definition-of-antisemitism-to-florida-law/> 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 <https://www.flbog.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Deactivation-of-Students-for-Justice-in-Palestine.pdf> “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 <https://www.aclu.org/cases/students-for-justice-in-palestine-at-the-university-of-florida-v-raymond-rodrigues> 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 <https://www.aaup.org/file/AAUP_Florida_final.pdf> 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 <https://www.aaup.org/file/AAUP_Florida_final.pdf> 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. . . . 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 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#31668): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/31668 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/107946539/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
