We are a growing coalition of multi-faith faculty and instructors from colleges and universities across the state of Texas writing to express our opposition to Governor Greg Abbott’s March 27, 2024, Executive Order GA 44 “addressing acts of antisemitism in institutions of higher education.” Under the false pretext of combating antisemitism, this Order seeks to curtail freedom of speech and political protest on behalf of Palestinians. It is part of a widespread effort to silence Palestinians and their allies, and it sets a dangerous precedent at Texas colleges and universities by conveying that only speech that conforms with the governor’s viewpoint is welcome on our campuses. The recent deployment of multiple police forces and state troopers against pro-Palestinian students at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at Dallas, among other campuses, has made brutally apparent a widespread effort to repress political speech with which the Governor disagrees and to terrorize those who practice it.
The Governor’s Order forces institutions of higher education to revise their free speech policies and follow the state in adopting a corrupted definition of antisemitism, one that uses legitimate critique of antisemitic speech and action to hide an insidious anti-Palestinian agenda. Antisemitism, conventionally understood as “prejudice, hostility, or discrimination towards Jewish people on religious, cultural, or ethnic grounds” (Oxford English Dictionary) has nothing to do with criticizing or condemning the state of Israel for violating international law or committing war crimes. Jewish Voice for Peace defines antisemitism as “discrimination, targeting, violence, and dehumanizing stereotypes directed at Jews because they are Jewish” and makes a clear distinction between anti-semitism and anti-Zionism, which critiques “the creation of a nation-state with exclusive rights for Jews above others on the land.” By contrast, the definition of antisemitism required by the Executive Order conflates the two in order to undermine the validity of all political and scholarly critique of the settler colonial state of Israel. In fact, we have already seen how unfounded accusations of antisemitism have been weaponized against faculty in Texas who have been critical of Israel’s actions and supportive of Palestinian freedom.
Governor Abbott’s Order also requires institutions of higher education to institute punishments, including expulsion, for those who violate these new policies. It calls out, by name, two student groups leading Palestine solidarity organizing on campuses across the state, implying that their members are inherently antisemitic and should be disciplined. Members of these student groups have already been subject to political repression by university leaders across the state. They have also been the targets of racially motivated harassment and violence, which Abbott’s Order ignores entirely. Furthermore, although Governor Abbott’s Order purports to protect Jewish students from harm, it will likely be used to penalize Jewish students who are critical of Zionism or the Israeli state, as institutions of higher education have already done.
Executive Order GA 44 is part of a dangerous pattern of overreach on the part of Texas lawmakers into education at all levels in this state. This Order follows Senate Bill 17 banning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs at public colleges and universities and Senate Bill 18 giving governing boards and administrators more power to remove faculty. As educators, we encourage our students to think critically about current political issues and to engage actively with local and international events as citizens and community members. By imposing a corrupted definition of antisemitism on institutions of higher education in Texas, exacerbating punishments for students critical of Israel who have already faced police brutality and arrest, and singling out pro-Palestinian students groups for institutional discipline, this Order poses a serious threat to faculty and students’ rights to freedom of expression and assembly. By silencing and intimidating students, staff, and faculty, this Order undermines the very goals of higher education.
We demand this repressive Executive Order be rescinded immediately. We urge all faculty and staff to join us in committing to Palestinian liberation on campus and beyond.
Sincerely,
Texas Faculty for Justice in Palestine, with representatives at the following institutions:
A&M College Station
A&M San Antonio
Palo Alto College
Rice University
San Antonio College
Southwestern University
Texas Christian University
Texas State University
Texas Tech University
Trinity University
University of Houston
University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Dallas
University of Texas at El Paso
University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley
University of Texas at San Antonio
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Accompanying Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: texasfacultyforpalestine@gmail.com
Statewide Network of Texas Faculty Denounce Gov. Abbott’s Executive Order on Antisemitism
Austin, TX – May 14, 2024
Texas Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) has released a public statement, offering strong criticism of Governor Greg Abbott’s Executive Order GA 44 relating to antisemitism on campuses. The network, made of diverse faculty from 18 of Texas’s colleges and universities, demands the immediate rescinding of the order, which curtails freedom of speech and political protest on behalf of Palestinians, under the guise of protecting Jewish students.
“The definition of antisemitism the governor insists upon will not make Jews safer on college campuses,” said Judith Norman a Jewish faculty member at Trinity University. “This EO is only about protecting Israel and puts Jews like me who are critics of the Israeli state at risk of being penalized for our viewpoints.”
Texas FJP identifies the Executive Order as the latest overreach into education on the part of Texas lawmakers who clearly want to undermine faculty, staff, and students’ freedom of speech and assembly, academic freedom, and right to belong on college campuses.
“We have to think of this Executive Order as a targeted political attack on minority voices that is related to the chilling effect caused by SB 17 and SB 18,” said Ana Carolina Díaz Beltrán, a Latina faculty member at UT-Rio Grande Valley. “What we’re experiencing is Segregation 2.0. They’re not banning us overtly, but they are doing all they can to make our universities more hostile to us to get us to leave.”
Members of Texas FJP will join their allies from around the state at the hearing for the Texas Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education on May 14th on free speech and SB 17. Several will offer views reflected in the statement in public testimony at the hearing. “We’ve never gotten the sense that lawmakers listen to us,” commented Jairo Fúnez, a Latino faculty member at Texas Tech University. “But we refuse to be silent.”
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Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine at UT Austin 