Published using Google Docs
Support Our Palestinian Colleagues and Reject Israeli Measures Against Academic Freedom
Updated automatically every 5 minutes

CUNY Community Statement: Support Our Palestinian Colleagues,

Reject Israeli Measures Against Academic Freedom

Issued by CUNY for Palestine and Cross CUNY Working Group Against Racism and Colonialism, April 15, 2022. Individuals and groups can endorse the statement here.

 

We, as members of the City University of New York community, express our strong opposition to Israel’s most recent attempt to restrict Palestinian rights to education and to undermine the academic freedom and autonomy of Palestinian institutions of higher education. A new Israeli military order scheduled to take effect in May 2022, “Procedure for Entry and Residency of Foreigners in Judea and Samaria Region,” places Palestinian universities further under siege as it divests them of basic control over determining the needs and visions of their academic institutions. We understand this latest assault on Palestinian rights to education and academic freedom to be embedded in the broader project of settler colonialism that has targeted Palestinian identity, land, life, and sovereignty in a myriad of ways.

 

This law grants the Israeli military absolute power to select which international faculty, academic researchers, and students can be admitted to teach or study at Palestinian universities. Under the directive, Israeli military officials determine the criteria for which international researchers may be granted visas; which academic disciplines international faculty may be hired in; and which fields of study are permissible for international students. Only academics that an Israeli military official considers to be “accomplished” and who will contribute to “regional cooperation and peace” according to Israeli military officials will be granted visas. Quotas are placed on the number of internationals in Palestinian universities (100 for faculty and 150 for students, per year), and large financial bonds may be imposed as a condition for obtaining a visa. The duration of employment for international professors is limited to 5 non-consecutive years (with a requirement to leave for at least 9 months within those 5 years).  

“Foreigners” affected by this law include Palestinians whose residency rights have not been recognized by Israel. Many Palestinian students, faculty, and academic researchers currently working and studying in Palestinian universities will thus be immediately affected by this directive; some may lose their jobs and their access to education, and will be forced to uproot their lives.

We declare our support for the call to action issued by Birzeit University, and our intent to stand in solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues “to defend the Palestinian people’s right to education, free from duress, intervention, and political persecution.” We encourage everyone committed to educational and social justice to join us in heeding their call to “Work with us to break the siege that these regulations impose on Birzeit and other Palestinian universities. Accept our invitation to teach and learn in Palestine. Help us exercise our basic right to education and to preserve the institutional autonomy that we built over the decades despite all obstacles.”

 

At the heart of this new directive is the settler colonial drive of Indigenous erasure, as reflected in its use of “Judea and Samaria” in place of Palestine, or even the West Bank, in the title. As an occupying power, Israel is obligated under international law to refrain from impeding or harming Palestinian educational development. We call on Israel to abide by international law to both protect and facilitate the functioning of Palestinian civil institutions, including higher education. We urge Israeli authorities to repeal this destructive policy and instead adopt and implement a clearly documented and transparent policy enabling full access and presence to foreign nationals intending to work, study, or educate students at Palestinian universities in the occupied Palestinian territories. This is the bare minimum needed to ensure Palestinians’ right to education, and to secure for our Palestinian colleagues the forms of academic freedom that we so value for ourselves.

 

With little faith in Israel as an occupying power to uphold its obligations under international law, we call on CUNY, together with other US universities, to join us in our demands that Israel 1) repeal the new “Procedure for Entry and Residency of Foreigners;” 2) end its restrictions on entry based on political speech and Palestinian heritage; and 3) adopt policies granting visas for exchanges and work permits to Palestinian universities that are  fully equitable with those applied to Israeli universities. These demands are linked to our broader call on CUNY to endorse the Palestinian-led call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), including the boycott of Israeli cultural and academic institutions. Specifically, and as part of our broader support for implementing BDS at CUNY, we demand that CUNY suspend all study abroad programs in Israel and other forms of institutional collaboration with Israeli institutions, as well as divest from contracts with all companies that aid in or profit from Israeli colonization, occupation, and war crimes.[1]

We condemn Israel’s ongoing efforts to limit Palestinians’ academic freedom and join our Palestinian colleagues in asserting the right to education with dignity and autonomy. As our colleagues at Birzeit write, “This moment is dangerous for the future of Palestinian higher education, but it is also a moment to join together for justice, freedom, and equality. Palestinian universities, like all universities, are places of knowledge production that connect scholars and students across the globe and inspire them to imagine and build a better future for all.”

We invite individuals and organizations to endorse this statement. To endorse, please click here.

Want to do more? Please read and sign on to the “CUNY Community Statement of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.”


[1] Institutional collaboration between CUNY and Israeli institutions currently includes: the Ginsburg-Ingerman Overseas Student Exchange Program, an exchange program between City College and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; the BC Program Study in Israel (PSI), administered through Brooklyn College; the Queens College Ben-Gurion University of Negev Semester Abroad Fellowship; and a summer exchange program administered by Hunter College. Additionally, Baruch College, Brooklyn College, City College, Hunter College, Queens College, and the College of Staten Island have all received grant funding from US-Israel Binational Foundations, designed to “promote scientific relations between the U.S. and Israel by supporting collaborative research projects.” As of 2014, CUNY had invested at least $1,093,900 in weapons manufacturers such as Boeing, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon; tech and security companies such as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, G4S, and Motorola Solutions; and construction firms such as Caterpillar and Cemex.

 

Signatories

Organizations

U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI)

ICAHD-USA

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Bayonet Records

Academics for Palestine - Concordia University

Jews for Palestinian Right of Return

Labor for Palestine

Green Mountain Solidarity With Palestine

Jewish Voice for Peace

Ithaca CJP/JVP

Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace

Palestine Solidarity Alliance of Hunter College

Critical Palestine Studies Association

JAm It! Journal of American Studies in Italy

CUNY School of Law Students for Justice in Palestine

Arab Crossroads

CUNY NLG

OUTlaws

Latin American Law Students Association

John Jay Students for Justice in Palestine

Bergen County Green Party

Individuals

Anthony Alessandrini, CUNY Faculty

Christopher Stone, CUNY Faculty

thayer hastings, CUNY PhD Worker

Corinna Mullin, CUNY Faculty

Elizabeth Oram, CUNY Faculty

Naomi Schiller, CUNY Faculty

Alex Wolf, CUNY Faculty

Stuart Chen-Hayes, CUNY Faculty

Thomas Volscho, CUNY Faculty

Satish Kolluri, Pace University Faculty

Sofya Aptekar, CUNY Faculty

Sarah Schulman, CUNY Faculty

Nic Nicoludis, CUNY Faculty

Ozlem Goner, CUNY Faculty

Jean Halley, CUNY Faculty

Jeremy Randall, CUNY Grad Student

Rabab Abdulhadi, AMED Studies, SFSU

Fatima Tariq, CUNY Faculty

Jeannette Graulau, CUNY Faculty

Dana Francisco Miranda, U Mass Faculty

Tami Kashia Gold, CUNY Faculty

Jane Guskin,  CUNY Faculty

Christopher Santiago, CUNY Faculty

Britt Munro, CUNY Grad Student and Graduate Teaching Fellow

Kylie Broderick, UNC Chapel Hill Graduate Student Worker

Gerry Martini, CUNY Staff

Bruce Robbins, Columbia University Faculty

Susan Buck-Morss, CUNY Faculty

Benjamin Krusling, CUNY Grad Student

Oscar Aponte, CUNY Grad Student

Matthew Martin, CUNY

Janan Shouhayib, CUNY Grad Student

Zoe Griffith, CUNY Faculty

Hilarie Ashton, CUNY Grad Student

Patricia E Cipollitti Rodríguez, CUNY Grad Student

Ammiel Alcalay, CUNY Faculty

Sam Friedman, AIDS researcher; poet; socialist

Eric Dean Wilson, CUNY Grad Student

Elizabeth Bidwell Goetz,  CUNY Faculty

Morgan Richards-Melamdir, CUNY Grad Student

Sheehan Moore, CUNY Grad Student

Martin Aagaard Jensen, CUNY Grad Student

Frank E. Deale, CUNY Faculty

Trude Bennett, UNC Chapel Hill Faculty, emerita

Jodi Lynn Melamed, non-CUNY Faculty

Jonathan Shannon, CUNY Faculty

Michael Druffel, CUNY Faculty

Marta Guttenberg, non-CUNY supporter

Flora de Tournay, CUNY Doctoral Fellow

Allyson Ganster, CUNY Grad Student

Robert L Herbst, Herbst Law PLLC; ICAHD-USA, JVP

Petra Gregory, CUNY

Jeff Voss, CUNY Grad Student

Laura Kaplan, CUNY Alumna

Rupal Oza, CUNY Faculty

Zoe Goldstein, CUNY Grad Student

Douglas Medina, CUNY Grad Student and Staff

Terri Ginsberg, non-CUNY Faculty

Marge Sussman, CUNY Alumna

Bill Leavitt, Attorney

Deirdre Silverman, CUNY Alumna

Lana Savoca, JVP

Jini Watson, NYU Faculty

Colette Gerstmann, CUNY Grad Student

Michael Letwin, Former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW2325

Kimberly Stoddard

Sarah Meister, CUNY Alumna

Subramanian Shankar, non-CUNY Faculty

susie day, Monthly Review Press editor

Gerald Hassett

inma naima zanoguera, CUNY Grad Student

Shatzi Weisberger

Beth Harris, non-CUNY Faculty, emerita

Elena hollemon

Eve Hershcopf

carol sanders

David L Mandel, Human rights attorney; member, Jewish Voice for Peace

Jesse Schwartz, CUNY Faculty

Tiana Reid, Postdoctoral Associate, Brown University

Joan Meisel

pat westwater-jong, photo journalist/retired

David Bragin, Jewish Voice for Peace

Cynthia Franklin, University of Hawai’i Faculty

Sara Driscoll

Nicholas Glastonbury, CUNY Grad Student

Deeadra Brown, CUNY Faculty

Robert Nowak, Jewish Voice for Peace

Aparajita De, ex-CUNY Faculty

Barbara H. Chasin, CUNY Alumnus and Faculty Montclair State University, Emerita

Ana Celia Zentella, CUNY Faculty, Emerita

Anna Bernard, King's College London Faculty

Colleen Pearce, educator

James Hession, CUNY Faculty

Irene Gendzier, Boston University Faculty, Emerita

Alexandra Raskin, Professional Developer - NYC Department of Education

Katherine Wilson, CUNY Faculty

Aseel Sawalha, CUNY Alumna

Jillian Schwedler, CUNY Faculty

Ellen Brotsky

Başak Ertür, Birkbeck and University of London Faculty

Malini Johar Schueller, Professor  

Asa Mendelsohn, CUNY Faculty

David Kanbergs, CUNY Faculty

Cassandra Engstrom, CUNY Grad Student

Tyler Crown, CUNY Grad Student

Nicole Haiber, CUNY Grad Student

Yzza Sedrati, CUNY Grad Student

Stefano Morello, CUNY Grad Student

Scott Erich, CUNY Grad Student

Jacob Aplaca, CUNY Grad Student and Faculty

Salman Hayat, CUNY Grad Student

Ari Marcus, CUNY Grad Student

Silas K Grossberndt, CUNY Grad Student

Man Hei Chan , CUNY Grad Student

David Patrick Gallagher, CUNY Grad Student

Natalie Boykoff, CUNY Graduate Assistant

Ola Galal, CUNY Grad Student

Khaled Al Hilli, CUNY Grad Student

Stephen Cheng, CUNY Student

Stephanie Sorquira, CUNY Student

Khouloud Mallak, CUNY Graduate Worker

Tanya Agathocleous, CUNY Faculty

Marianne Madoré, CUNY Grad Student & Faculty

Andrew Shapiro, CUNY Grad Student

Ellen Dichner, CUNY Faculty

Stuart Chen-Hayes, CUNY Faculty

Roxanne Shirazi, CUNY Librarian

Angela Eustace, CUNY Staff

Fathima Zahra Hassan, CUNY Student

Ron Hayduk, CUNY Alumni

anne bowers

Joy Leonard, CUNY Grad Student

Edward Kihn, CUNY Faculty

Oliver Sage, CUNY Grad Student

Cindi Katz, CUNY Faculty

Dana Grabelsky, CUNY Grad Student

tenn joe lim, CUNY Grad Student

Gaurav Jashnani, CUNY Grad Student

Karen Steele, CUNY Staff (retired)

George Fragopoulos, CUNY Faculty

Anna Zeemont, CUNY Grad Student

Noah Shuster, CUNY Faculty

Stephen Hosmer, CUNY Faculty (retired)

Diana Hamilton, CUNY Faculty

David Arnow, CUNY Faculty

Jennifer Queenan, CUNY Grad Student

​​Sami Disu, CUNY Faculty

Samina Shahidi, CUNY Staff

Patricia Alessandrini

Yasmine Awais, CUNY Grad Student

Valerie Peter Chong, CUNY Staff

Olivia Sonell, CUNY Grad Student

dianne ramdeholl, CUNY Faculty

Cassandra Gallett

Olivia Wood, CUNY Grad Student

Shanti Rose, CUNY Alumni & Public Educator

Kathleen Yezierska-Hulley, NYU Faculty

john vernon, Binghamton University Faculty Emeritus

B. Kassandra Perez, CUNY Student

Gerald Hassett

Karen Hui, CUNY Grad Student

merjan abuzahrieh  

Stephanie Rugoff Locker, CUNY Alumni

Jonathan Buchsbaum, CUNY Faculty

Walter Ditman, CUNY Alumni

Jonothan Logan, Cancer research scientist & CUNY supporter

Samira Farwaneh

Alexander Elinson, CUNY Faculty