[Peace] Justice for Professor Capeheart-sign the petition!

[martin smith]

please forward widely...

Please sign the petition at the weblink below and circulate her appeal:

http://www.petitiononline.com/j4lc/petition.html



JUSTICE FOR PROFESSOR LORETTA CAPEHEART!



A TEST CASE FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND WORKERS' RIGHTS



Dear Friend,



I am in the midst of a battle for free speech at the university where  

I teach, Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU). Unfortunately, part  

of this battle has resulted in my being targeted with serious  

reprisals.  Some examples follow.



At a meeting called by Illinois State Senate Latino Caucus on my  

campus I was invited to speak and was attacked by the university  

Provost when I disagreed with his assessment of the university's  

"success" in hiring Latino faculty (of which I am one of a very few).  

I was threatened (along with three students) with arrest while handing  

out anti-recruitment fliers in front of an army recruiter even though  

the campus is well aware of my work with Gold Star Families for Peace  

after losing a nephew in the Iraq war. When I attempted to defend the  

rights of students to protest the CIA, a campus Vice President openly  

stated that I was being investigated for "stalking" a student.  This  

is a serious criminal offense with particularly harsh connotations  

when aimed at a professor by a student.  The statement by this  

university official was later proved to be false. Requests for  

retraction of the statement and apology have been repeatedly rejected.



A colleague, Dana Cloud, Associate Professor of Communication Studies  

at the University of Texas, who has an established record of defending  

academic freedom and free speech, has written the attached petition.   

We would like to circulate the petition as widely as possible and  

especially to those in the academic and activist/labor communities  

with strong commitments to free speech.



Please sign the petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/j4lc/petition.html 

and circulate this appeal widely.



In struggle,



Loretta Capeheart, Ph.D.



Associate Professor



Northeastern Illinois University



L.Capeheart at gmail.com <mailto:L.Capeheart%40gmail.com> 



BACKGROUND TO THE CASE:



Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) Justice Studies professor  

Loretta Capeheart has been targeted by her administration for her  

outspokenness for workers' rights, against the Iraq war, and for  

increased representation of minority scholars at NEIU. In 2007 she was  

elected to chair her department by a 2/3 majority of her colleagues,  

yet the University refused to appoint her to that post and even went  

so far as to put the department into receivership and install a  

representative of the administration as chair. Capeheart was also  

denied merited awards during this time.



What were Capeheart's "crimes"? An activist in her union (University  

Professionals of Illinois-AFT/IFT), Capeheart was a leader in the 2004  

faculty strike. In 2006, she testified in the state legislature on the  

need to recruit greater numbers of Latino/a faculty, contradicting and  

infuriating Provost Lawrence Frank, who was in attendance. In February  

2007, she defended students in the anti-war movement who were arrested  

during a protest of a CIA recruitment event on campus. This  

controversy led NEIU President Sharon Hahs to propose a campus events  

policy (subsequently withdrawn) imposing draconian and  

unconstitutional restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly on the  

campus.



When Capeheart spoke up at a faculty council meeting to question the  

treatment of the students, NEIU Vice President Melvin Terrell lashed  

out at her, stating that Capeheart was a "person of interest" to the  

police and that a student had filed charges of stalking against  

Capeheart. These defamatory statements were absolutely unfounded. But  

the threat against Capeheart-that if she continued to speak out, she  

and her career would be targets for retribution-remains very real.  

"Stalking is a criminal offense," she said. "I lived in continual fear  

that someone would come to arrest me in my class and that I would lose  

my job. The message was that if I continued to speak they would come  

after me." To date, Terrell has not retracted his accusations.



Capeheart is suing Terrell for defamation, alongside Hahs and Provost  

Lawrence Frank for violation of her constitutional right to free  

speech and retaliation against her. She seeks an injunction against  

further violations, her rightful appointment as chair, and from  

Terrell, monetary damages for harms resulting from his defamation of  

her. Incredibly, the administrators' response argues that Capeheart,  

as a state employee, may not sue the University or its officials,  

contravene their positions, question their conduct, or speak as a  

faculty member on matters of public concern. Their motion to dismiss  

the case states that "clothed in her authority as a faculty member,"  

Capeheart criticized University policy, "even going so far as to  

disagree with the stated positions of the Provost." "It is very middle  

ages," Capehart said, "like the lord vs. the serf." The case is  

pending hearing in Federal Court.



We cannot allow NEIU administrators to get away with these attacks on  

academic freedom and workers' rights. Their actions should be chilling  

to all workers, activists, and scholars. Her case is a perfect example  

of the stakes of the ongoing struggle for academic freedom-for labor,  

for inclusion and equality of minorities, and for the right to protest  

against war and injustice. We stand with her.



SIGN THE PETITION at http://www.petitiononline.com/j4lc/petition.html



WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, support Northestearn Illinois University  

professor Loretta Capeheart in her suit against NEIU's president, vice- 

president, and provost for violation of her free speech rights and  

retaliation against her for exercising these rights in defense of  

labor, minorities, and academic freedom.



After playing a leading role in her union (University Professionals of  

Illinois-AFT) during a strike, defending students arrested for protest  

of a CIA recruitment event, and contradicting her provost on the  

matter of recruitment and retention of Latino/a faculty, Professor  

Capeheart was



--denied appointment to her duly elected post as department  

chair,



--denied merited awards, and



--defamed in a faculty council meeting by NEIU's vice  

president, who maliciously charged her without basis with stalking  

a student.



We are outraged at these serious and malicious attempts to silence one  

of our fellow academics, unionists, and anti-war activists. We cannot  

allow NEIU administrators to get away with these attacks on academic  

freedom and workers' rights. Their actions should be chilling to all  

workers, activists, and scholars. Her case is a perfect example of the  

stakes of the ongoing struggle for academic freedom-for labor, for  

inclusion and equality of minorities, and for the right to protest war  

and injustice on our campuses.



Capeheart seeks an injunction against further violations, for her  

rightful appointment as chair, and for monetary damages for defamation.



We stand with her.



Barbara Chasin, Montclair State University

Martin Espada, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Dana Cloud, University of Texas, Austin

Bill Keach , Brown University

David McNally, York University

Peter Rachleff, Macalester College

David Roediger, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Michael Schwartz, SUNY Stony Brook

Howard Zinn, Boston University

and many others



(Institutions listed for identification purposes only)

  




      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/attachments/20090221/98db15e1/attachment.htm