Join Students for Justice in Palestine for a conversation with Professors Steven Salaita and Katherine Franke, moderated by Professor Corey Robin, about Academic Freedom in the context of conversations about Palestine/Israel and the constant push by Zionists to silence academic discourse relating to the Palestinian struggle and criticisms of Israel.
Co-sponsored by:
Brooklyn College Political Science Department
Brooklyn College Sociology Department
Brooklyn College Secondary Education Department
Brooklyn College Philosophy Department
Brooklyn College Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Department
The Shirley Chisholm Project
Brooklyn For Peace
Jewish Voice for Peace NY-Chapter
International Socialist Organization (ISO)
*“Co-sponsorship does not imply agreement with, or support of, views expressed at a student-hosted event.”
Thursday, November 20, 2014
6PM to 8:30PM
Doors open at 5:30pm!
Event will start promptly at 6pm.
BC Student Center - 6th Floor - GOLD ROOM
Refreshments will be served!
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!! ALL MUST RSVP BELOW - http://SJP1120.eventbrite.com/
Event Description:
On 1 August, Professor Steven Salaita was fired from a tenured position at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign less than a month before he was scheduled to teach his first class there. He had resigned from his tenured position at Virginia Tech, rented out his home in Blacksburg, Virginia for the year, and was finalizing the purchase of a condo in Illinois. A Palestinian-American who writes regularly for The Electronic Intifada, Salon, and other popular media outlets, Salaita is also a respected professor of literature and Indigenous Studies, the author of numerous academic books and essays, and by all accounts, a beloved teacher.
Like all candidates for tenured positions, Salaita had gone through a rigorous hiring process by faculty before being offered the job at UIUC in October 2013.
But beginning on 21 July, the UIUC Chancellor, Phyllis Wise, began receiving a steady stream of emails from wealthy donors to the University protesting the hiring of Steven Salaita. They were opposed to Salaita because of his ardent positions on Palestine and Zionism--ostensibly because of his unrepentant and forceful denunciation of Israel’s 51-day assault on Gaza as communicated via Twitter--and threatened to withhold their largesse if Salaita joined the faculty.
Baher Azmy, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights who has represented Salaita since he was fired, told Alternet that the lawsuit they are now putting together will rest on two claims: one, that the University officials deprived Salaita of his First Amendment rights to to speak on a matter of public concern; and two, that the University unlawfully terminated a contract, which had the guarantees of lifetime tenure.
About the Speakers:
Steven Salaita is an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech. He is the author of six books and writes frequently about Arab Americans, Palestine, Indigenous Peoples, and decolonization. His current book project is entitled Images of Arabs and Muslims in the Age of Obama.
Katherine Franke is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where she directs the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. She was awarded a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, and is among the nation's leading scholars in the area of feminism, sexuality and race. In addition to her scholarly writing on sexual harassment, gender equality, sexual rights, and racial history, Franke is also on the Executive Committee for Columbia's Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and the Center for Palestine Studies and teaches at a medium security women's prison in Manhattan.
About the Moderator:
Corey Robin is a professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of Fear: The History of a Political Idea and The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin. His articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Social Research, the London Review of Books, Harper’s, The New York Times and The Nation.
Co-sponsored by:
Brooklyn College Political Science Department
Brooklyn College Sociology Department
Brooklyn College Secondary Education Department
Brooklyn College Philosophy Department
Brooklyn College Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Department
The Shirley Chisholm Project
Brooklyn For Peace
Jewish Voice for Peace NY-Chapter
International Socialist Organization (ISO)
*“Co-sponsorship does not imply agreement with, or support of, views expressed at a student-hosted event.”
Thursday, November 20, 2014
6PM to 8:30PM
Doors open at 5:30pm!
Event will start promptly at 6pm.
BC Student Center - 6th Floor - GOLD ROOM
Refreshments will be served!
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!! ALL MUST RSVP BELOW - http://SJP1120.eventbrite.com/
Event Description:
On 1 August, Professor Steven Salaita was fired from a tenured position at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign less than a month before he was scheduled to teach his first class there. He had resigned from his tenured position at Virginia Tech, rented out his home in Blacksburg, Virginia for the year, and was finalizing the purchase of a condo in Illinois. A Palestinian-American who writes regularly for The Electronic Intifada, Salon, and other popular media outlets, Salaita is also a respected professor of literature and Indigenous Studies, the author of numerous academic books and essays, and by all accounts, a beloved teacher.
Like all candidates for tenured positions, Salaita had gone through a rigorous hiring process by faculty before being offered the job at UIUC in October 2013.
But beginning on 21 July, the UIUC Chancellor, Phyllis Wise, began receiving a steady stream of emails from wealthy donors to the University protesting the hiring of Steven Salaita. They were opposed to Salaita because of his ardent positions on Palestine and Zionism--ostensibly because of his unrepentant and forceful denunciation of Israel’s 51-day assault on Gaza as communicated via Twitter--and threatened to withhold their largesse if Salaita joined the faculty.
Baher Azmy, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights who has represented Salaita since he was fired, told Alternet that the lawsuit they are now putting together will rest on two claims: one, that the University officials deprived Salaita of his First Amendment rights to to speak on a matter of public concern; and two, that the University unlawfully terminated a contract, which had the guarantees of lifetime tenure.
About the Speakers:
Steven Salaita is an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech. He is the author of six books and writes frequently about Arab Americans, Palestine, Indigenous Peoples, and decolonization. His current book project is entitled Images of Arabs and Muslims in the Age of Obama.
Katherine Franke is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where she directs the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. She was awarded a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, and is among the nation's leading scholars in the area of feminism, sexuality and race. In addition to her scholarly writing on sexual harassment, gender equality, sexual rights, and racial history, Franke is also on the Executive Committee for Columbia's Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and the Center for Palestine Studies and teaches at a medium security women's prison in Manhattan.
About the Moderator:
Corey Robin is a professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of Fear: The History of a Political Idea and The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin. His articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Social Research, the London Review of Books, Harper’s, The New York Times and The Nation.
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