SUNY Binghamton Wrongly Says Professors Can’t Condemn Israel’s Killing of Palestinian Children
/
A public university in upstate New York violated the constitutional rights of one of its faculty by removing a professor’s bulletin board poster criticizing the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinian children.
The university subsequently made a new rule limiting faculty from posting social or political content to their bulletin boards, also in contravention of the federal and NY State constitutions.
Palestine Legal wrote the State University of New York-Binghamton (SUNY-Binghamton) on April 13th that the university’s actions violate the First Amendment.
“SUNY Binghamton must revise its bulletin board policy to comply with the First Amendment, acknowledge the right of faculty to advocate for Palestinian rights, and apologize,” said senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath. “Palestine cannot be an exception.”
‘Everything was accurate and measured...’
In December 2018, Professor of Biology Matthew A. Parker hung a poster he designed depicting two Palestinian boys who were shot and killed by Israeli army snipers that year. The poster featured a quote from the Israeli army’s official Twitter account stating, “Everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed.”
Parker placed the poster on the bulletin board outside his office, where it remained without incident for nearly three years. But in October 2021, Parker noticed that his printout was taken down and asked for details.
SUNY’s office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) ultimately informed Parker that the university removed his poster as part of a “settlement” after two students filed discrimination complaints claiming the poster supporting the human rights of Palestinian children made them they feel “targeted because they were Jewish.”
Parker later learned that though DEI found his poster did not constitute a bias incident, a DEI Affirmative Action office still directed his department chair to create a policy regulating professors’ bulletin boards. The new policy instructs professors to “not let anyone post anything that could be considered offensive.”
“My poster called attention to something that many people don't want to think about—that the Israeli military has intentionally killed Palestinian children,” said Matthew A. Parker. “If SUNY professors can’t condemn the killing of children, what can we speak out against?”
SUNY’s actions are not supported by the First Amendment
In its letter to SUNY, Palestine Legal wrote:
SUNY’s justification for censoring Parker’s poster evinces unconstitutional content and viewpoint-based discrimination. The decision must be reversed, and professors must be allowed to post content supporting Palestinian rights outside their offices.
Universities’ scrutiny and censorship of speech critical of Israel harms all campus community members, especially those who are interested in exploring the critical issue of Israel and Palestine. It threatens to shut down robust debate on one of the most urgent foreign policy, moral and political questions of our time. The First Amendment and well-established values of higher education that envision the university as the “marketplace of ideas” do not permit this type of viewpoint discrimination.
Palestine Legal issued five steps for SUNY Binghamton to remedy its harm to Parker:
Affirm SUNY professors’ right to advocate for Palestinian rights;
Affirm Parker’s right to repost his Gaza poster;
Apologize, in writing;
Revise the policy to comply with the First Amendment; and
Train DEI staff on the difference between speech criticizing Israel government policies and antisemitism (discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as a people).
The University’s general counsel acknowledged receiving the letter on April 22nd and said it was “looking into the matter.”
Learn More
Palestine Legal has pushed back against censorship at other New York state schools. In 2018, City College of New York canceled a book event critical of Israel’s human rights abuses because administrators deemed it “controversial” and “political.” The event was reinstated after Palestine Legal wrote the university.
In 2021, universities continued to demonstrate a Palestine Exception to free speech regarding staff and faculty solidarity with Palestine.