Civil rights orgs stand up to protect Cal. State Professor attacked for criticizing Israel on university server

Is there a First Amendment right to advocate for Palestinian rights on a state university server?  Yes!  In its latest attack on free speech at California campuses, the Amcha Initiative again attempts to silence opposing political views by distorting the law.  Amcha claims that Cal. State Northridge professor David Klein is required to get permission from university trustees before promoting the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israeli institutions on a university server.  But the law Amcha cites merely requires permission from trustees to use the Cal. State University name to imply an official endorsement of a boycott.  As the Cal. State administration itself determined in an investigation into the matter, no reasonable person would interpret Prof. Klein's "Boycott Israel" website as implying that the university officially endorses the views expressed.  Professor Klein's website is political expression on a matter of grave public importance.  He does not need permission. Universities must ensure that debate on Palestine/Israel remains unfettered and academic freedom is protected. For more details on the legal issues, please read the letter from the National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles Chapter to the trustees of California State University.

New Guide Addresses Legal Issues Commonly Faced by Palestine Solidarity Activists

Monday, September 9, 2013 As the academic year starts up at colleges across the country, Palestine Solidarity Legal Support (PSLS) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) are pleased to announce the publication of a Know Your Rights booklet for Palestinian rights activists-  Legal and Tactical Guide: Palestinian Human Rights Advocacy in the U.S. The Guide is intended to help activists, both on and off campus, identify potential legal issues and how they might be approached, and to provide basic information about individual rights in a given situation.  It includes sections on First Amendment rights and common ways that free speech rights are infringed, issues specific to campus activism, potential criminal charges arising from rights activism, and legal issues around boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns.

Legal and Tactical Guide- Palestinian Human Rights Advocacy in the U.S

FRONT PAGE KYR

PSLS, in partnership with CCR and in collaboration with the National Lawyers Guild and other organizations, has been responding to the increasing legal attacks and intimidation campaigns against Palestine solidarity activists around the US with direct representation and advocacy on behalf of activists, advocacy work on key policy issues, and legal education efforts.  The Guide comes at the end of PSLS’s first year of work identifying and beginning to tackle the ways that Palestine solidarity activists are being repressed.   “We’re excited that this resource will be available for Palestinian rights activists who will find many of these issues familiar, but may not know what they can do about them,” said Dima Khalidi, CCR Cooperating Counsel and PSLS Director.  “Our hope is that it will encourage people to identify in advance how and when legal problems may arise in their advocacy work, and to seek our help in fighting back against attempts to stifle their speech on this critical issue.”

"This is a fantastic resource, one that every Palestinian and Palestine solidarity activist in the U.S. should read and store in her book bag, briefcase, and glove compartment,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, National Coordinating Committee member of the United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN, www.uspcn.org) and one of the activists raided by the FBI and subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in September of 2010 for his Palestine support work (www.stopfbi.net).  “We have history and morality on our side; and now, with this document, we will also be equipped to fight back legally against the repression we face."

"As student organizers, we face so much legal bullying that relies on a lack of knowledge about our rights. This guide is exactly what we need - with it and the support of PSLS, we will be better prepared against baseless threats and intimidation, and we can focus our efforts instead on our organizing for Palestinian human rights," said Taliah Mirmalek, a student at UC Berkeley and a member of Students for Justice in Palestine.

While the Guide is meant to be used independently by activists, PSLS encourages individuals and groups to reach out to report incidents of repression, to get legal and advocacy help when facing backlash, and to request workshops or other more tailored discussions about how to protect and advance their rights.

Contact PSLS if you:

• Face attempts to shut down, smear or hamper your activism

• Think your First Amendment rights to organize and protest have been violated

• Need legal advice about BDS or other campaigns

• Experience verbal or physical intimidation or assault

• Experience different treatment than other individuals or groups by university or government officials

• Have questions about your rights to engage in activism

• Need resources or trainings for your group

 Website: palestinelegalsupport.org

Email: info@palestinelegalsupport.org

Phone: (312) 212-0448

Access the Guide here:  Legal and Tactical Guide- Palestinian Human Rights Advocacy in the U.S

Palesinian Human Rights Advocacy - last page

In Landmark Victory for Student Free Speech, Department of Education Dismisses Complaints

Decisions on three California campuses defeat attempts to silence campus activism around Palestine. August 28, 2013, Berkeley, CA – Civil rights organizations this week welcomed news that the Department of Education's (DOE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has closed three investigations against three University of California schools, at Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Irvine, which falsely alleged that Palestinian rights activism created an anti-Semitic climate. The complaints underlying the investigation claimed that student protests and academic programing in support of Palestinian rights and critical of Israel "created a hostile environment for Jewish students."

Read more here.

CCR, NLG, ADC Criticize FAU for Treatment of Students Disciplined for Protesting IDF Soldier Event

CCR, NLG South Florida, and ADC sent a letter to Florida Atlantic University (FAU) expressing concern with the disciplinary actions the administration took against five students who protested a lecture by an IDF soldier on their campus.  To avoid a stain on their academic records and to be able to continue their education and activism without the distraction of a protracted legal battle, the students signed agreements putting them on probation, prohibiting some of them from holding leadership positions in official student organizations, and mandating that they attend a “Campus of Difference” training program developed by none other than the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL has falsely accused some of the same students of anti-Semitism and has been at the forefront of efforts to silence advocates for Palestinian rights because it disagrees with them.  FAU’s actions appear to be in response to a concerted campaign by outside organizations to malign students engaged in Palestinian rights advocacy on campus, and to pressure the University to act against them.  CCR and other organizations will continue to monitor FAU’s treatment of these students. To read the full letter, click HERE.

To read the students’ statement, click HERE.

SF City Counselor warns against branding criticism of Israel as "hate speech"

San Francisco City Counselor John Avalos wrote a letter to the SF Municipal Transportation Authority, warning against the "dangerous precedent of branding political speech that may be unpopular to some as 'hate speech' in an effort to silence it."  Last week the San Francisco Supervisor disagreed with his colleagues who characterized an ad placed on SF buses as "hate speech."  The ad featured a quote from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu that draws similarities between apartheid in South Africa and Israel's system of rule in the occupied Palestinian territory. The ad was placed by the organization American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).   Supervisor Avalos clearly distinguished AMP’s core political speech from hate speech, and encouraged SF Municipal Transportation Authority to leave open public buses as a forum for all speech.  Read the full letter.

Free Speech, Anti-Semitism & Campus Climate: forum at UC Santa Cruz

ucsc debate

University of California Committee on Academic Freedom Rejects Efforts to Suppress Palestinian Advocacy

The Chair of the University of California's Committee on Academic Freedom  (UCAF) wrote to the University of California's Academic Senate urging the University to reject concerted efforts to pressure the University to enact restrictions on the free speech rights of campus organizations and individuals advocating for the interests of Palestinians.   Read the full letter hear. The letter notes that "the majority of UCAF (there was one dissenting vote) urges that the [Academic] Senate take a strong position rejecting any efforts (whether originating outside the University or inside it) that would limit free expression by supporters of either the Israeli people or the Palestinian people. Vigorous debate is a core function of the great university, and must be unfettered.  On controversial issues like Middle Eastern politics, many people have strongly held views which are deeply offensive and upsetting to some. Be that as it may, no one has a right to a campus free from expression they find offensive or even insulting. What people on our campuses do have, on the other hand, is the right to present counter-arguments and analyses of their own. "

In the system of shared governance at the University of California, UCAF and the Academic Senate play important roles to determine policy.