[Peace-discuss] Academic Freedom Under Attack at UCSB

[Robert Naiman]

fwd:
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From: Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UC Santa Barbara.

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

Dear colleagues,

UCSB has become the latest front in the war against Academic Freedom.

Professor William I. Robinson, a Sociology and Global Studies
professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been
attacked by the Anti-Defamation League and two of his former
students.  In January of this year, he forwarded an email condemning
the Israeli attacks on Gaza.  The email contained an editorial by a
Jewish journalist condemning Israel's actions in Gaza as well as
juxtaposed images of Nazi atrocities with congruent images of Israeli
atrocities against Palestinians.  The email was an optional read for
students, intended to spark conversation by relating contemporary
events to conceptual ideas discussed in class.

One week later, the ADL wrote him a letter charging him with anti-
Semitism and sundry violations of the Faculty Code of Conduct (none of
which were coherent claims).  Another week passed, and the Academic
Senate Charges Officer then notified him that two of the students in
the class to which he circulated the email had filed complaints
against him.

The complaints are that 1) critique of Israel is evidence of anti-
Semitism and 2) the Israeli-Palestinian issue should not be discussed
in a class on Globalization.

This case has already escalated way too far. Throughout the process,
the Charges Officer violated several elements of the charges
procedure, shirked his responsibilities, and ultimately acted as a co-
complainant by fabricating charges that were not raised by the
students.  The charges have reached the Committee on Committees, which
is now in the process of convening an ad hoc Charges Committee to
assess the complaints against Professor Robinson.

Based on patently absurd and malicious claims, the charges should have
been dismissed out of hand from the beginning.  Further consideration
of the charges by the Academic Senate serves only to sanction
politically-motivated attacks on academic freedom. The longer this
case is pursued, the worse its chilling effect; it will spread fear
among those who wish to present controversial and critical subjects.
Even though the original complaint is regarding Israel/Palestine, the
rights at stake extend beyond this specific topic.  Academic freedom
is a right that enables scholars to express diverse perspectives over
contentious topics, free from the intimidation of political repression
campaigns.  If the case against Professor Robinson continues to go
forward, it will lead down a slippery slope that may expose academics
to repression tactics for addressing controversial issues such as stem
cell research, evolution, feminism, LGBT rights, etc.  It is incumbent
upon members of the UCSB campus and the broader academy to roundly
oppose this silencing campaign.

This is an obvious attack on Professor Robinson’s academic freedom,
one that ominously recalls similar campaigns against other critics of
Israel across the nation.  This is part of a broader campaign to
automatically vilify and attack any and all critiques of Israel’s
policies and practices through unfounded use of the term “anti-
Semitic.” A critique of the Israeli state, its policies, and the
leaders responsible is not and should not be considered an affront to
Jewish people as a collective, the Jewish religion, or Jewish
heritage. In fact, conflating the state of Israel with the Jewish
people essentializes the assorted political opinions of a diverse
religious group by reducing them to the set of policies espoused by
the prevailing regime.

We need your help!  Please scroll below and follow the instructions to
1) email the UCSB Chancellor and responsible authorities on campus to
express your outrage and register your protest, and 2) sign the
petition [http://www.petitiononline.com/cdafsb/petition.html].

Please visit our website for more information on the case, including
continuing updates, at: http://sb4af.wordpress.com.

If you wish to contact the student campaign, please email:cdaf.ucsb at gmail.com
.

Thank you for your time,
Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UC Santa Barbara

***

Send an Email:
The e-mail should be addressed to UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang and cc’d
to the following faculty and administrators involved in the case.
Please copy and paste the addresses.

To: henry.yang at chancellor.ucsb.edu

CC: mgscharl at math.ucsb.edu, gene.lucas at evc.ucsb.edu,moliver at ltsc.ucsb.edu
, mazer at lifesci.ucsb.edu, joel at geog.ucsb.edu,joel.michaelsen at senate.ucsb.edu
,sarah at isber.ucsb.edu,butler at chem.ucsb.edu,
scott at theaterdance.ucsb.edu,
hcallus at music.ucsb.edu,gaulin at anth.ucsb.edu,
spieker at gss.ucsb.edu,stemmer at mrl.ucsb.edu
,caselle at lifesci.ucsb.edu, goulias at geog.ucsb.edu,
amar at lawso.ucsb.edu,Stephanie.smagala at senate.ucsb.edu
,ettenberg at psych.ucsb.edu,hualee at ece.ucsb.edu, mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu
,zok at engineering.ucsb.edu, helen.henry at ucr.edu, cdaf.ucsb at gmail.com

To Whom It May Concern,

I am a dismayed [undergraduate/graduate/alumna/faculty member] at
[your university] writing you to express support for Sociology and
Global Studies Professor William I. Robinson.  As you may know,
Professor Robinson and academic freedom have come under recent attack
on the UCSB campus.  Toward the end of February 2009, Professor
Robinson received notice from the Academic Senate’s Charges Committee
that two of his students had filed charges against him.  The students
alleged that an email forward he’d circulated to his class,
criticizing Israel’s then-ongoing siege on Gaza, comprised anti-
Semitism.  These charges are patently absurd and should be dismissed
out of hand before further damage is done to the university’s purpose
and reputation.

I demand the immediate dismissal of all of the charges against
Professor Robinson as frivolous, unfounded, and malicious.  Any
further consideration of these baseless attacks is unacceptable.  I
join other students and faculty in pledging that we will not accept
any resolution of this matter that is unfavorable to Professor
Robinson and academic freedom.

I also insist that the attack on Professor Robinson’s academic
freedom, one that ominously recalls similar campaigns against other
critical academics across the nation, be publicly condemned.  This
condemnation is essential to preserve full and fair discussion within
the most important of the U.S.’s civic institutions.  Any genuine
consideration of these absurd attacks will have a severe chilling
effect on the production and dissemination of scholarly research in
all disciplines.  Further, the attacks must be condemned to protect
faculty and students from wasting valuable time and energy defending
themselves against frivolous allegations and political repression.

In fact, a critique of the Israeli state, its policies, and the
leaders responsible is not and should not be considered an affront to
Jewish people as a collective, the Jewish religion, or Jewish
heritage.  Conflating the state of Israel with the Jewish people
essentializes the assorted political opinions of a diverse religious
group by reducing them to the set of policies espoused by the
prevailing regime.  The charge of anti-Semitism is made in bad faith;
its real purpose is to automatically vilify and stifle any honest
critiques of the state of Israel’s policies and practices.

[Insert personal message]

Sincerely,

[your name and contact information]