Palestine Legal filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights demanding an investigation in the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), after the university intentionally barred Palestinian students from a January 2023 informational session on study abroad in Israel.
Read MoreIssues: Censorship, Academic Freedom, False Accusations
The class was jointly organized by San Francisco State University (SFSU) professors Rabab Abdulhadi and Tomomi Kinukawa. It featured a panel of Palestinian, Black, Jewish, and South African activists.
The open classroom event was scheduled to take place on Zoom, the platform that SFSU was using to teach classes during the pandemic. But the tech company threatened to terminate the license for the entire California State University system if the class included Khaled, because of her involvement in two hijackings fifty years ago and her alleged role in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The professors cited their academic freedom and refused to change the content of their lesson. Zoom responded by unilaterally canceling the class session, and SFSU failed to provide the professors with an alternative platform for the class to take place.
The professors attempted to livestream the class through off-campus Facebook and YouTube accounts, but those tech giants also blocked the stream, leaving students with no access to the class.
In December 2020, Abdulhadi and Kinukawa filed a claim against SFSU for violating their rights and initiated a separate internal grievance process at the university in 2021.
In October 2021, the SFSU Faculty Hearing Committee found that the university had violated the professors’ academic freedom and called on the university to issue a public apology, a public letter of support for faculty with regards to academic freedom, and provide a site for rescheduling the event with Leila Khaled on an alternate platform, without interference.
In November, SFSU President Lynn Mahoney vetoed the decision, sparking widespread outcry from faculty around the country and calls for her to resign.
In the aftermath of these events, Palestine Legal received multiple reports of social media users having accounts suspended, placed under review, or partially disabled for sharing the events or even posting about the censorship.
In October 2020, on the one-month anniversary of the censored class, professors from across the country and around the world planned a series of solidarity events featuring a video of Leila Khaled.
Events at the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa and at New York University were blocked by Zoom, while eight events at other universities went ahead as scheduled.
Like SFSU, the University of Hawai‘I and NYU failed to pressure Zoom to respect academic freedom and failed to provide professors an adequate alternative that would allow them to go forward with live events. At both schools, the panels had to be recorded privately and posted online.
Zoom blocked a similar event at the University of California, Merced in April 2021.
Aug. 28, 2020: San Francisco State University professors Rabab Abdulhadi and Tomomi Kinukawa announce that their respective departments, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (AMED) and Women & Gender Studies (WGS) are co-hosting an open classroom webinar entitled “Whose Narratives?: Gender, Justice & Resistance” on September 23, 2020. The event includes Palestinian activist Leila Khaled, an icon of the Palestinian revolutionary movement.
Sept. 14, 2020: The Lawfare Project, a right-wing, pro-Israel legal harassment group, sends Zoom a letter incorrectly claiming that providing video conferencing services for the class will violate federal material support for terrorism provisions by giving a platform to Ms. Khaled, who is alleged to be a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Sept. 17, 2020: Zoom’s Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer Lynn Haaland writes to SFSU representatives suggesting that providing a platform to Ms. Khaled for a classroom event violates material support provisions and threatens the termination of Zoom accounts for the entire California State University (CSU) system should the event take place.
Sept. 18, 2020: SFSU Provost Jennifer Summit reaches out to the course professors, who confirm that Ms. Khaled is not speaking as a representative of the PFLP or receiving an honorarium or payment for her talk.
Sept. 21, 2020: Zoom’s compliance officer writes to CSU that the university has until the end of the day to confirm that Ms. Khaled is not an active member of the PFLP or face consequences for violating Zoom’s terms of service under the false claim that allowing Ms. Khaled to speak to a classroom will violate federal law.
Sept. 21, 2020: CSU’s deputy general counsel responds to Zoom that the university system protects the rights of free speech and academic freedom, that Ms. Khaled is not on any State Department list of prohibited individuals, and that the event does not violate material support provisions.
Sept. 21, 2020: Member of Congress Doug Lamborn writes to Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos urging her to cut federal funding to SFSU for hosting the event.
Sept. 22, 2020: An app affiliated with the Israeli government encourages users to go on a “mission” to pressure CSU leadership to cancel the event.
Sept. 22, 2020: Zoom’s compliance officer informs CSU that the event violates Zoom’s terms of service and that the university must not use Zoom to host the open classroom event. When SFSU does not cancel the event, citing academic freedom, Zoom itself terminates the webinar. SFSU refuses to provide an alternative venue for the course, violating the academic freedom of the professors and students.
Sept. 22, 2020: Right-wing pro-Israel legal harassment group the Lawfare Project claims victory for canceling the open classroom event.
Sept. 23, 2020: Event organizers attempt to host the event on Facebook and YouTube. Facebook removes the event page and threatens to suspend the accounts of groups that promote the event. YouTube removes multiple streams of the classroom webinar minutes after it starts.
Oct. 2020: Universities and academic groups plan a National Day of Action Against the Criminalization and Censorship of Campus Speech in response to Zoom’s cancelation of the SFSU event. The Day of Action encourages faculty to host Palestine webinars on their university Zoom accounts featuring a recorded video from Palestinian activist Leila Khaled on October 23rd.
Oct. 8, 2020: After the Lawfare Project urges the federal government to investigate the SFSU event, a representative from the Department of Education responds that she forwarded the concerns to the Department of the Treasury and the State Department.
Oct. 19, 2020: Right-wing pro-Israel organization StandWithUs sends Zoom a letter urging the company to cancel at Oct. 23 lecture at the University of Hawai’i - Manoa. The request does not mention any of the other scheduled Day of Action events.
Oct. 21, 2020: Zoom unilaterally cancels the scheduled event at the University of Hawai'i two days before the webinar is set to take place.
Oct. 22, 2020: Palestine Legal and a coalition of civil rights groups send legal letters against Zoom’s censorship and violation of academic freedom to Zoom, the University of Hawai’i, NYU and the University of Massachusetts.
Oct. 23, 2020: Most of the National Day of Action Against the Criminalization and Censorship of Campus events take place successfully, but Zoom censors three university talks - at the University of Hawai’i, NYU, and the University of Leeds in England. NYU refuses to provide an alternative platform despite requests from the hosting faculty. Facebook also deletes an event at the University of Western Ontario within hours of it being posted, and organizers have their accounts immediately disabled.
Dec. 21, 2020: SFSU professors Rabab Abdulhadi and Tomomi Kinukawa file a government claim against the California State University system for violating their rights to free speech and academic freedom.
Apr. 9, 2021: AMED Studies announces an April 23 event titled “Whose Narratives? What Free Speech for Palestine?” co-organized virtually at SFSU and the University of California, Merced featuring Leila Khaled and Black, Jewish and South African activists from the censored 2020 event.
Apr. 13, 2021: Zoom issues a company policy statement claiming to support academic freedom in providing virtual classroom services. Separately, Facebook shuts down the page of AMED Studies.
Apr. 14, 2021: The Lawfare Project, a right-wing, pro-Israel legal harassment group, sends a letter to Zoom and the chancellor of UC Merced urging them to cancel the event.
Apr. 21, 2021: Member of Congress Doug Lamborn sends a letter to the chancellor of UC Merced implicitly threatening the university’s funding if it allows the event to take place.
Apr. 22, 2021: Zoom cancels the UC Merced event scheduled for the next day, and hastily organizes an event on antisemitism to take place at the same time, describing it as “counter programming.”
June 21, 2021: The Electronic Frontier Foundation files a Freedom of Information Act request for records from the State Department to find out whether the federal government directed technology platforms to censor Leila Khaled’s speech.
Sept. 29, 2021: Dr. Abdulhadi and the AMED Studies program testify before a faculty panel in the first of two grievance hearings against SFSU for violating academic freedom by permitting the censorship of Dr. Abdulhadi and Dr. Kinukawa’s classes.
Oct. 14, 2021: A faculty panel at SFSU agrees that SFSU violated Dr. Abdulhadi’s academic freedom. The panel recommends that SFSU apologize to Dr. Abdulhadi and provide an alternative venue to reschedule the censored event.
Nov. 5, 2021: SFSU president Lynn Mahoney overturns the faculty panel’s decision and refuses to apologize for violating Dr. Abdulhadi’s academic freedom.
Jan. 20, 2022: The Electronic Frontier Foundation sues the State Department over its failure to respond to their request for files related to the censorship of Leila Khaled under the Freedom of Information Act.
Apr. 12, 2022: A second faculty panel at SFSU holds a grievance hearing over SFSU’s violation of Dr. Kinukawa’s academic freedom.
Palestine Legal Letter to NYU Re: Zoom Censorship of October 23rd Event (Oct. 26, 2020)
Rep. Doug Lamborn Statement on Dept. of Education Investigating SFSU Over Event (Nov. 6, 2020)
Drs. Rabab Abdulhadi, Tomomi Kinukawa, et. al: We Will Not Be Silenced!: In solidarity with Palestinian sumoud and intellectual integrity
Palestine Legal:
ACLU: Time and Again, Social Media Giants Get Content Moderation Wrong
American Association of University Professors:
Electronic Frontier Foundation:
International Campaign to Defend Professor Rabab Abdulhadi:
Jewish Voice for Peace:
Middle East Studies Association: MESA Statement on Academic Freedom and Corporate Control of Digital Platforms
National Students for Justice in Palestine:
Palestinian Feminist Collective: Permission to narrate Palestinian feminisms
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel:
Zoom: On Academic Freedom for our Higher Education Users
972 Magazine: From Palestine to China, Zoom has no business censoring dissent (Oct. 26, 2020)
Academe Blog: Zoom, YouTube, and Facebook Censor Event at SF State (Sept. 23, 2020)
Artforum: NYU Professors Accuse Zoom of Censoring Political Speech (Oct. 27, 2020)
Buzzfeed News: Zoom Deleted Events Discussing Zoom “Censorship” (Oct. 24, 2020)
The Electronic Intifada:
Inside Higher Ed:
The Intercept:
Middle East Eye:
Mondoweiss:
The New York Times: What Zoom Does to Campus Conflicts Over Israel and Free Speech (Jan. 22, 2021)
NPR: 'Welcome To The Party, Zoom': Video App's Rules Lead To Accusations Of Censorship (Nov. 23, 2020)
The Palestine Chronicle: ‘Whose Narratives?’: On the Suppression of Palestinian Speech (Sept. 28, 2020)
Slate: Is Zoom More Like the Phone or Facebook? (Dec. 18, 2020)
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: Google, Apple and Social Media are Helping Israel Commit Politicide (Dec. 6, 2020)
Read more about censorship and backlash efforts against Palestine advocates:
We’re challenging GW's selective and discriminatory cancelation of trauma support services for Palestinian students after Israel’s violent repression of Palestinian protests in Jerusalem and another devastating war on Gaza in spring 2021.
Read MorePalestine Legal represented Bard College students Ben and Akiva, who were investigated after they protested a panel featuring a professor with a history of making bigoted remarks against Palestinians. Both students were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Read MoreDespite repeated efforts to exclude Palestinian voices from campus conversations, students at Butler University in Indiana have persevered in asserting their right to organize for Palestine, including a successful campaign in October 2020 against student government resolutions that aimed to silence them and the reinstatement of an April 2021 event with Angela Davis that was canceled following complaints about her support for Palestinian rights.
Read MoreCity University of New York School of Law (CUNY Law) student Nerdeen Kiswani is a well-known activist for Palestinian freedom. As a vocal and visibly Muslim advocate for Palestinian liberation, Nerdeen is regularly targeted by Zionist groups who have smear campaigns and false accusations of antisemitism to vilify her. Since Nerdeen started CUNY Law in Fall 2019, anti-Palestinian students and groups, like StopAntisemitism and BDSReport, have targeted Nerdeen, often by using cyberbullying tactics.
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Fordham student Ahmad Awad. (CREDIT: Martin Nunez-Bonilla)
Hoping to organize events on Palestinian history and raise awareness on the issue of Palestinian rights at their university, a group of Fordham students applied in November 2015 to start a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) club on campus.
After a drawn out review process that took over a year, Fordham administrators took the unprecedented step of vetoing the student government’s decision to recognize the club. The university claimed that the group would create "polarization" on campus and "run contrary to the mission and values" embraced at Fordham.
Between 2017 and 2021, Fordham students Ahmad Awad, Sofia Dadap, Sapphira Lurie, Julie Norris and Veer Shetty sued their university over its ban on SJP. The students were represented by Palestine Legal, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and cooperating counsel Alan Levine.
MEMBERS OF FORDHAM SJP TABLING AT A FALL ACTIVITY FAIR following a court ruling in their favor in 2019 (CREDIT: FORDHAM SJP)
The case was brought as a special proceeding under Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules. Students sought a judgment compelling Fordham to officially recognize SJP and provide it the same rights enjoyed by all other clubs at Fordham. Without club status, the students could hold events, obtain funding, flyer or invite guest speakers.
The lawsuit argued that Fordham, a private university, violated Article 78 by failing to follow its own rules and policies that bar it from restricting students’ expressive activities based on the positions being advocated. New York courts have ruled that even private universities may not arbitrarily and capriciously violate their own rules.
In August 2019, the Court annulled Fordham’s decision to deny SJP club status, finding it arbitrary and capricious, as nothing in Fordham’s rules permitted it to “reject an application of a student club because it criticized the policies of only one nation.”
After the court ordered Fordham to recognize the club, Fordham SJP operated on campus without incident for two semesters, while Fordham appealed the ruling in January 2020.
In December 2020, the appellate division reversed the decision, allowing Fordham to ban SJP once again.
In May 2021, the New York Court of Appeals declined to hear the students' appeal of this decision, ending their five-year struggle for recognition on campus.
Nov. 19, 2015: Fordham students submit application to form an SJP club as per Fordham's rules.
Nov. 17, 2016: Fordham’s student government votes to approve SJP as a club at Fordham.
Dec. 22, 2016: Fordham dean overrules the student government’s decision and denies club status to SJP in an unprecedented decision.
Jan. 17, 2017: Palestine Legal and CCR send letter to Fordham expressing concern over SJP denial.
Apr. 26, 2017: Students sue Fordham, seeking an order compelling approval of club status for SJP.
June 5, 2017: Fordham files motion to dismiss case.
July 7, 2017: Students file brief opposing Fordham's motion to dismiss.
July 17, 2017: Fordham files its reply brief.
Nov. 2, 2017: Students file order to show cause why preliminary injunction should not be issued and expedited discovery granted against Fordham.
Dec. 15, 2017: Fordham files its brief opposing Students’ preliminary injunction and request for expedited discovery.
Dec. 22, 2017: Students file reply brief.
Jan. 3, 2018: Court hears oral arguments on Students’ preliminary injunction and Fordham’s motion to dismiss.
Feb. 8, 2019: Students file motion to add a new petitioner to the case.
Mar. 4, 2019: Fordham files a motion opposing adding a new petitioner to the case.
Mar. 11, 2019: Students file reply brief.
May 8, 2019: Court hears oral arguments on adding new petitioner to the case.
Aug. 5, 2019: Court allows new petitioner and annuls Dean Eldredge's decision, mandating that Fordham recognize SJP as an official club.
Jan. 27, 2020: Fordham appeals court ruling.
Jul. 24, 2020: Students file reply brief.
Nov. 24, 2020: Appellate court hears oral arguments on Fordham’s appeal.
Dec. 22, 2020: Appellate court reverses the August 2019 decision of lower court.
Jan. 21, 2021: Students appeal reversal to New York State Court of Appeals.
Feb. 1, 2021: Fordham files its opposition to the motion to appeal.
May 4, 2021: The New York Court of Appeals deny the students' motion to appeal, ending the four-year old legal case.
NY’s Highest Court Refuses Case on Fordham Censorship of Students for Justice in Palestine, Palestine Legal (June 10, 2021)
This university claims to be pro-justice. So why is it banning Palestine activism? Alex Kane, 972 Magazine, (February 25, 2021)
Students say they'll keep fighting for Palestinian club, after court sides with Fordham, Hannan Adely, The Record (December 23, 2020)
Students for Justice in Palestine Face Fordham in Court Once Again, Joe Kottke and Vicky Carmenate, The Fordham Observer (November 29, 2020)
A landmark win for Palestine student activism, Radhika Sainath, 972 Magazine (August 16, 2019)
Fordham’s Students for Justice in Palestine Did More Than Win Club Status, Gunar Olsen, The Nation (August 13, 2019)
University must unban Palestine group rules court, Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada Podcast (August 9, 2019)
'Port in a Storm': Rare Win for Pro-Palestine Advocates as Court Rules in Favor of Students, Eoin Higgins, Common Dreams (August 6, 2019)
Students of SJP Await Court Decision, Ruby Gara, The Fordham Observer (January 24, 2018)
Law and Disorder Radio: January 15, 2018, with co-counsel Maria LaHood
Students Await Judgment in Suit Over Fordham University Banning of Pro-Palestine Club, Dina Sayedahmed, The Intercept (January 7, 2018)
Fordham Students Sue over Free Speech Rights to Establish Students for Justice in Palestine Group, Democracy Now! (January 3, 2018)
NJ students head to court in battle over Fordham University Palestinian club, Hannan Adely, The Record (January 3, 2018)
Pro-Palestinian Group Banned on Political Grounds, Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed (January 18, 2017)
Fordham flunks a free speech test, Ahmad Awad, New York Daily News (January 23, 2017)
Catholic clergy and professors letter
Fordham faculty letter
Friends of Sabeel North America letter
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) letter and second letter
Jewish Voice for Peace letter
Middle East Studies Association letter
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights statement
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel open letter
2020 briefs
View a full list of legal documents at the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case page.
In June 2020, Ahmad Daraldik made history as the first Palestinian elected as president of the Florida State University (FSU) student senate. Over the following year, a disturbing environment of anti-Palestinian racism at FSU denied Ahmad equal access to campus life on the basis of his national origin. In April 2021, Ahmad filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that the anti-Palestinian hostile environment at FSU violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Read MoreA right-wing lawyer is going to court to force UCLA to turn over a list of activists who presented at the 2018 National Students for Justice in Palestine conference. David Abrams is trying to harass these students and help those who falsely equate opposition to Israeli policies with support for terrorism.
Read MoreIn April 2019, an anonymous group of pro-Israel students sued the University of Massachusetts Amherst in an attempt to prevent a panel featuring Marc Lamont Hill, Linda Sarsour, Roger Waters, Dave Zirin, and moderator Vijay Prashad from taking place on campus.
Read MoreIssues: Academic Freedom, Free Speech, Boycott Divestment and Sanctions
An action alert from Jewish Voice for Peace.
University of Michigan professor John Cheney-Lippold and graduate student Lucy Peterson were investigated after declining to write recommendation letters for study abroad programs in Israel because they support the academic boycott for Palestinian rights.
In October 2018, University of Michigan tenured professor John Cheney-Lippold was sanctioned by the school with loss of his earned sabbatical for two years and no merit increase for the academic year after he told a student he would be unable to write her a recommendation letter for a study abroad program in Israel because he supports the academic boycott for Palestinian rights. The University also warned “further conduct of this nature is subject to additional discipline.”
Lucy Peterson, a doctoral student in Political Science, similarly declined to write a recommendation for a student wishing to study abroad at an Israeli academic institution. In early October, she was questioned by the administration. Three weeks later – after an intense campaign of support on behalf of Cheney-Lippold and Peterson – the administration informed Peterson that there was no contractual obligation to write letters and she would not be punished.
Professor Cheney-Lippold said about his decision to boycott, “I wouldn’t cross a union picket line and I can’t cross this one. I support the Palestinian boycott call because I am appalled at Israel’s continuing violation of Palestinian rights, and our government’s support for those violations. If a student had wanted to do a study abroad at an institution in Apartheid South Africa, I would have declined to write a letter for her as well.”
Lucy Peterson wrote about her decision: “Regardless of whether or not the University changes its relationship to Israel/Palestine, at the very least, individuals who hold positions within the university must nevertheless be free to engage in critical discourse and disagreement about the university’s purpose.”
The backlash against the professor and graduate student came after right-wing anti-Palestinian groups launched a campaign to pressure the university itno punishing them. After Cheney-Lippold declined the letter in an email to a student, Club Z, a Zionist organization, posted the email on Facebook. Islamophobe ideologue Pamela Geller and right-wing groups including the Zionist Organization of America called for the professor to be dismissed. The story spread across conservative sites such as Fox News, Breitbart and the Daily Caller and was soon picked up by other sites such as CBS and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Soon after, Cheney-Lippold received over 500 emails, including messages calling for him to be killed.
“It’s not uncommon for professors to decline to write recommendations for ethical, political or academic reasons,” said Radhika Sainath, Senior Staff Attorney with Palestine Legal, who initially advised Cheney-Lippold and Peterson.“A professor is not obligated to write a recommendation letter for organizations complicit in unlawful or unethical activity – whether it’s the NRA, President Trump or Israel institutions complicit in violations of Palestinian rights.”
September 5, 2018 Professor Cheney-Lippold informs student that for political and ethical reasons he could not write her a recommendation for a study abroad program in Israel due to his support for the boycott for Palestinian rights. Cheney-Lippold offers to write letters for other programs.
September 16, 2018 Club Z, a Zionist organization, posts the email on Facebook. The story spreads on right-wing media, and Cheney-Lippold receives death threats.
October 1, 2018 Graduate student Lucy Peterson declines to write a letter of recommendation for a study abroad program in Israel.
October 3, 2018 Elizabeth Cole, interim dean of College of Literature, Science and the Arts, sends Cheney-Lippold a letter sanctioning him with loss of his earned sabbatical for two years, no merit increase for the academic year, and warning “further conduct of this nature is subject to additional discipline.”
October 4, 2018 Rosario Ceballo, Associate Dean of Social Sciences, calls Lucy Peterson into a meeting with her and the chair of Peterson’s department.
October 9, 2018 The university president and provost issue a public statement stating: “Withholding letters of recommendation based on personal views does not meet our university’s expectations for supporting the academic aspirations of our students. Conduct that violates this expectation and harms students will not be tolerated and will be addressed with serious consequences.” Associate Dean Ceballo meets with Lucy Peterson and questions her about her actions.
October 29, 2018 The university informed Peterson it would not be punishing her for refusing to write a letter of recommendation.
Sanction Letter to John Cheney-Lippold
American Association of University Professors
American Political Science Association
City University of New York Professor Corey Robin
Columbia Law Professor Katherine Franke
Educators in support of John Cheney-Lippold
Middle East Studies Association
NYU American Association of University Professors
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (1)
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (2)
University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole
University of Michigan Senate Advisory Committee of University Affairs
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Young Democratic Socialists of America
American Muslims for Palestine
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (1)
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (2)
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
UM faculty senate says recommendations should be choice of faculty, Martin Slagter, MLive.com (October 23, 2018)
Professor Was Improperly Punished for Israel Boycott Actions, Says Academic Group Cited in Punishment, Zaid Jilani, The Intercept (October 18, 2018)
Listen: Michigan professor punished for supporting boycott, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Electronic Intifada (October 16, 2018)
Op-Ed: Why I declined to write a letter of recommendation, Lucy Peterson, The Michigan Daily (October 16, 2018)
A professor withheld a recommendation letter for a student heading to Israel. Here’s why I’m fine with it., David Palumbo-Liu, Washington Post (October 13, 2018)
Op-Ed: This university will not silence us, UM Alumni, The Michigan Daily (October 11, 2018)
University of Michigan punishes professor for boycotting Israel, Ali Harb, Middle East Eye (October 11, 2018)
Michigan U punishes prof. for denying recommendation to Israel-bound student, Michael Bachner, Times of Israel (October 10, 2018)
UM disciplines prof over Israel letter controversy, Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News (October 9, 2018)
Michigan professor stands firm despite Israel lobby attacks, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Electronic Intifada (September 27, 2018)
The ethics of study abroad in Israel, David Lloyd, Mondoweiss (September 20, 2018)
Lawyer: UM prof in Israel letter flap gets death threats, Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News (September 19, 2018)
In October 2018, just ahead of the annual National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) conference, UCLA sent NSJP a letter claiming that a bear logo used by the group violated the school’s trademark. The university’s threat was sent to NSJP amid a barrage of efforts by pro-Israel actors to shut down the conference at UCLA.
Read MoreStudents Supporting Israel at Columbia University has filed several harassing complaints against professors and students for speech critical of Israeli policies. All complaints have been dismissed.
Read MoreIn March 2016, the Louis D. Brandeis Center, an Israel advocacy organization, sued the American Studies Association over its 2013 resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
Read MoreIn April 2018, the City College of New York cancelled a Students for Justice in Palestine-organized book event for fear it would generate negative publicity.
Read MoreSan Francisco State University is at the heart of a multipronged legal effort by Israel advocacy organizations seeking to silence students and faculty who stand for Palestinian rights.
Read MoreIn September 2011, far-right Israel advocacy group StandWithUs initiated a lawsuit against Olympia Food Co-op board members after the board voted to boycott Israeli goods.
Read MoreIn November 2017, a New York City book store was compelled to hide copies of a children’s alphabet book, P is for Palestine, behind the cash register, and ultimately release a statement denouncing boycotts for Palestinian rights after local Israel supporters and a prominent local synagogue complained about the book.
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Carmen Gosey. Photo: Leah Voskuil.
In spring 2017, a diverse coalition of student organizations at the University of Wisconsin – Madison launched a campus-wide campaign to pass a student government resolution urging the university to divest from companies complicit in environmental and human rights abuses including fossil fuels, private prisons, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Israeli abuses of Palestinian rights.
In the wake of the resolution’s passage, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law demanded that the university rescind the resolution and punish several students, including student government chairperson Carmen Gosey – who backed the resolution – and adopt a discredited definition of antisemitism that classifies virtually all Palestinian rights advocacy as inherently antisemitic.
Palestine Legal wrote the University demanding that the administration take action to protect students’ First Amendment right to advocate for Palestinian rights, and to protect students of color from a pattern of harassment and discrimination.
Several students of color involved in the divestment campaign, including Gosey, who is Black, and members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), faced a pattern of racist, sexist, homophobic and Islamophobic harassment and discrimination from on- and off-campus groups, including online messages such as:
Palestine Legal wrote the University Chancellor. The letter called on the university to take necessary steps to ensure that these students are afforded educational opportunities free of harassment and discrimination, including meeting with and providing support to the targeted students and rejecting Brandeis Center’s demand to adopt the discredited and overbroad definition of antisemitism. The university failed to take any steps to address the situation.
Gosey and SJP were singled out in the Brandeis Center letter, which chastised them for condemning white supremacy and Zionism, calling their statements “unacceptable.” The Brandeis Center urged university officials to specifically reprimand Gosey for saying “Fuck White Supremacy” at a student government meeting.
See Palestine Legal’s letter to UW-Madison Chancellor Blank here.
Paul Hadweh, student instructor of the suspended course.
In September 2016, UC Berkeley suspended a course, titled, “Palestine: a Settler Colonial Analysis,” a week after it began, after Israel advocacy organizations and an Israeli government minister complained that the class was antisemitic. Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks' office justified the suspension by erroneously stating the facilitator failed to follow procedures, and by citing concerns that the course “espoused a single political viewpoint and appeared to offer a forum for political organizing.”
After an outcry, the university reinstated the course. But UC Berkeley never accounted for the blatant violations of academic freedom and free speech.
Berkeley’s suspension of an academic course on Palestine stands in sharp contrast to the university’s defense of free speech for white supremacist visitors like Milo Yiannopolous and Ben Shapiro. The contrast provides a stark illustration of the “Palestine exception” to free speech.
Paul Hadweh, a Palestinian-American and UC Berkeley senior majoring in Peace and Conflict Studies, spent eight months preparing to facilitate the student-led course, which set out to examine Palestinian history through the framework of settler colonialism. Hadweh designed the course in close consultation with his faculty sponsor, and followed all procedural requirements. The course was approved by Hadweh’s sponsor, the Ethnic Studies Department, and the faculty body charged with overseeing academic curriculum. The class met for the first time on September 6, 2016, and twenty-six students enrolled.
The syllabus included material from both Palestinian and Israeli scholars like Edward Said, Saree Makdisi, Eyal Weizman, and Ilan Pappe. The course description emphasized, “we will explore the possibilities of a decolonized Palestine, one in which justice is realized for all its peoples and equality is not only espoused, but practiced.”
The enrolled students included a diverse group, self-described as “Christians, Muslims, and Jews; we are white, Black, Latin@, Asian, North American indigenous, Middle Eastern, and more; we study Peace and Conflict Studies, Ethnic Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, Media Studies, Economics and Engineering.”
The accusation that the course would only tolerate a single viewpoint was false, as explained by the enrolled students: “We the students collaboratively designed and established community agreements to ensure that we would engage with course content and each other in a mature and respectful manner. Any and all participants were welcome to attend the course, irrespective of background or preconceived perspectives on the subject matter.”
Executive Dean of the College of Letters and Science Carla Hesse suspended the course on September 13, 2016, three weeks after the semester started and one week after the course began. Hesse made the decision without consulting the course facilitator, the faculty advisor, or the department. To support its decision, the university cited concerns that the course was one-sided, that it was a vehicle for political mobilization, and that Hadweh failed to follow proper procedures.
The university publicly announced its decision less than 30 minutes after informing the faculty advisor and department chair that the course was suspended. Administrators made no contact with Hadweh to discuss their concerns about the course or give him an opportunity to respond before publicly alleging that he failed to follow proper procedures and that his course was inappropriate for the university setting.
Nor did the university reach out to Hadweh to discuss how he may protect himself and stay focused on his studies while facing scrutiny in the international media.
Hadweh learned his course was in jeopardy when a friend alerted him on the morning of the suspension that he was in the Israeli media. This was only several hours before the university suspended it. That same day he began to receive a barrage of harassment emails and contacts from reporters.
As Palestine Legal pointed out in multiple legal letters, the university’s reasoning for the suspension (that the course was politically one-sided) violated First Amendment protections and the university’s academic freedom policies. The procedural justification that “the facilitator for the course in question did not comply with policies and procedures” was also erroneous. No policies or procedures were cited to support this claim, and the university later conceded it was an error.
Palestine Legal demanded immediate reinstatement and an apology to the students. The suspension also caused an outcry among academic freedom advocates, faculty associations, the Berkeley Academic Senate, alumni, and students who also demanded the reinstatement of the course.
The suspension followed heavy pressure from Israel advocacy organizations and the Israeli government. Israeli news media claimed the course offered “practical tips for how to drive Jews out of Israel.” Israel Channel Ten also reported that Israeli Minister Erdan and the Association of University Heads had been trying covertly to prevent the course from taking place. Headlines in the American pro-Israel press claimed, “UC Berkeley Offers Class in Erasing Jews From Israel,” and “New Course At Berkeley University: How To Get Rid Of Israel.” The director of UC Berkeley Hillel wrote, "This course seems to be a matter of political indoctrination in the classroom and is a violation of the newly adopted principles by the U.C. regents on intolerance."
The Israel advocacy group AMCHA Initiative, along with 42 other Israel advocacy organizations, issued a public letter and commenced a letter-writing campaign to Chancellor Dirks about Hadweh’s class on September 13, claiming that it violated Regent’s Policy by allowing a classroom to be used for “political indoctrination” and “as an instrument for the advance of partisan interest.” AMCHA’s media statement called the course, a “classic example of antisemitic anti-Zionism.” The group Students Supporting Israel likened UC Berkeley to a “Hamas terror academy.”
Internal communications released to Palestine Legal through a public records request show UC Berkeley officials scrambling to respond to a high volume of email messages from pro-Israel alumni and donors claiming the course was antisemitic.
Following the sudden suspension, Hadweh was thrust into an international media storm amidst efforts to reinstate the course, and defend his name from false accusations. The controversy was covered in Israeli, Arab, European, national, and local media outlets. Hadweh was depicted falsely throughout the coverage as a student who violated university policies and attempted to indoctrinate his peers with antisemitic thinking. The university made no statements in his defense.
On September 19, Dean Hesse announced that she was reinstating the course. The enrolled students met on Tuesday September 20, but Mr. Hadweh was unable to engage his students in the planned discussion of the course material because of questions about the university’s suspension of the course and its reinstatement. They fell two weeks behind on the course syllabus as a result of the suspension.
On Tuesday September 20, the Academic Senate released a statement condemning the university’s suspension of the course as a major infringement of academic freedom policies, and demanding that the university retract and apologize for false statements accusing Hadweh of failing to follow university procedures. The university issued no known response.
Palestine Legal wrote again on October 18th, 2016, because the university had taken no action after the reinstatement to remedy the harms to Hadweh or to remedy injuries to the free speech environment. The letter reiterated: “The absence of a valid justification for suspending the course, combined with the absence of similar scrutiny applied to any other [student-led “DeCal”] course, and the ample evidence of an international pressure campaign on the university to restrict Palestinian perspectives, all point to the conclusion that the university suspended the course in response to controversy over the perceived political viewpoints in the syllabus. This is a violation of the University’s obligation to uphold academic freedom and free speech under the California and U.S. Constitutions.” The university did not reply.
In November, Dean Carla Hesse who was directly responsible for the course suspension wrote to Hadweh to “offer our apology for the public misstatement made regarding your DeCal course” citing “confusion.” Hesse wrote, “We regret stating that you had not followed the appropriate procedures, when in fact you had.” She did not apologize for, or acknowledge, the violations of free speech and academic freedom, or the personal consequences on Hadweh. The university took no known further action on the case.
For the weeks that followed the reinstatement, Mr. Hadweh was forced to devote himself full time to defending his reputation and responding to high interest from international and local media outlets. He fell irreparably behind in an intensive Hebrew language course, which he eventually had to drop. Hadweh lost sleep, had trouble concentrating, and was consumed with the anxiety of potential consequences to his future and his family.
In December 2016, following the suspension, the Israeli government denied Hadweh a permit to cross from the West Bank to Jerusalem for Christmas. The church applied on Hadweh's behalf, as it has in previous years successfully. This was the first time his permit was denied.
Hadweh, explained, “The university threw me under the bus, and publicly blamed me, without ever even contacting me. It seems that because I’m Palestinian studying Palestine, I’m guilty until proven innocent. To defend the course, we had to mobilize an international outcry of scholars and students to stand up for academic freedom. This never should have happened.”
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