CCR to Brooklyn College: Stand for Free Speech Despite Growing Pressures

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) wrote to Brooklyn College President Karen Gould commending her for her principled stand for academic freedom and free speech in the face of nation-wide repression and a local campaign to shut down a student-organized event on BDS. Read the full letter here. CCR and the National Lawyers Guild also issued this statement, read aloud at the press conference organized by Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine on February 5: CCR and NLG Stand With Student Organizers of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Event.

Brooklyn College in the Context of Repression Nationwide

This Palestine Solidarity Legal Support initiative was formed as a response to the escalating efforts around the country to silence speech critical of Israel. The attempt to shut down the Brooklyn College BDS event is one example among many incidents we are responding to. National Students for Justice in Palestine issued this solidarity statement to put Brooklyn College in a national context.  

Professors Criticize Incoming UCB Chancellor Dirks' Failure to Stand Up for Free Speech

Columbia Professors issued a statement criticizing former Columbia Dean Nicholas Dirks for his failure to defend speech rights during a recent public relations interview timed with his appointment as the new UC Berkeley Chancellor. Read the statement here. 

ACLU: Criticism of Israeli State Cannot Be Constitutionally Restricted, Not Hate Speech

The ACLU of Northern California wrote to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, urging it to close the Title VI investigation against UC Berkeley alleging that pro-palestinian speech creates a hostile climate for Jewish students. The letter warns that such protected speech should not be under government scrutiny, and emphasizes that the notion that criticism of the Israeli state is inherently antisemitic is legally unsupportable. See the full letter here: ACLU 2012.12.10 Letter to DOE McCasland re Case No. 09-12-2259  

Presentation: "Don't Talk About Palestine" Highlights Censorship at UCLA

Watch the video from the event "Don't Talk About Palestine," put on by Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA. The presentation highlighted the ongoing censorship of students and faculty whose activism and or scholarship touches on the question of Palestine. The event was held on October 18, 2012 at the UCLA Law School, and featured Rahim Kurwa of UCLA SJP, Yaman Salahi of the NLG, Estee Chandler of Jewish Voice for Peace, and Professor David Shorter of UCLA.

Center for Constitutional Rights and Civil Rights Orgs to University of California President: Pro-Palestinian Speech Must Be Protected

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and other civil rights groups submitted a letter to University of California (UC) President Mark Yudof, pressing him to consider the chilling effect of efforts to target Arab, Muslim and other students advocating for Palestinian rights on UC campuses.  Read more here. The letter urges the UC President to take affirmative steps to protect pro-Palestinian speech on campus. Students who advocate for Palestinian rights must be respected as equal members of the university community, and their viewpoints recognized as valuable contributions to an issue of great public concern.  The letter also urges the President to renounce efforts to taint all student activism on Palestine as anti-Semitic, and to correct the mischaracterizations of these students' nonviolent and anti-racist advocacy.  CCR and the other signatories will continue to monitor attempts to intimidate Palestinian rights activists on college campuses, and to advocate on their behalf.

Student Groups Send Letter to US Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Rights of Arab and Muslim Students

Dozens of California student groups submit a letter to the US Commission on Civil Rights regarding the risks to Arab and Muslim students' civil rights. Read more here. The comments highlighted the chilling effects of the University of California "Campus Climate reports" that branded advocacy for Palestinian rights as anti-Semitic, and the abuse of Title VI as a tool to suppress Palestinian human rights advocacy on campus.