Karma R. Chávez

                  In August, the UT System adopted a policy preventing UT institutions from issuing opinions on contemporary social and political issues. This new policy extends the System’s adoption of the University of Chicago Statement on Free Speech, which argues that it is not an institution’s role to “shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.” Disagreements abound about the appropriateness of the Chicago principles, and the same can be said for mandates on so-called “content neutrality.” 

Nevertheless, both are now UT policy, so understandably, I was among those aghast when the registered student group, UT Longhorns for Israel, posted on its Instagram a statement of support it received from President Jay Hartzell describing the “terror attack on October 7” as “an unspeakable tragedy that has unleashed a disturbing wave of antisemitism and hate across the world.” Although Hartzell presumably attempts to maintain content neutrality when he states that the state and UT have attempted to make campus welcoming “for Jewish, for Muslim, for all students,” the ruse of neutrality is revealed in several ways. 

First, the statement is set against what appears to be an Israeli flag. Second, in mentioning only Jews and Muslims, Hartzell avoids naming Palestinians. He positions Israel’s military aggression against Gaza (and now Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen) as a religious conflict between Muslims and Jews, despite that Palestinians are Muslim, Christian and Druze. This positioning is clearly not content neutral. Finally, no Muslim or Palestinian student group received any supportive message from the president despite that more than 42,000 Palestinians—a conservative estimate —have been killed as a consequence of Israeli military actions, the refusal to let aid into Gaza and the resulting widespread famine and rampant disease. 

What accounts for the disparity in treatment of UT students by President Hartzell? Some might suggest that the expression of sympathy to a particular group does not violate the UT System’s new policy because Hartzell names the importance of making campus safe to all students. However, the message wasn’t sent to all students. It was sent to one particular group, which in its name is aligned with the politics of Israel. Furthermore, the President doesn’t acknowledge the horrific and disproportionate suffering of Palestinians. In fact, in his public statements to date, Hartzell has given no more than passing mention to the word “Palestinian,” let alone acknowledged Israel’s 76-year occupation of Palestine (a fact, not a political position), nor the documented physical or verbal attacks on Palestinians on or near campus since October 7, 2023.

Experts have long identified a “Palestinian exception” to free speech. The exception refers to even liberal or left-leaning people’s inability to affirm Palestinians the same right to expression and even humanity as other groups. President Hartzell’s letter clearly reflects this exception. Not only has he refused to acknowledge Palestinian suffering, but as of this writing, the Palestinian Solidarity Committee has been under an “interim suspension” as a registered student organization for more than six months. This ensures that the leading group for the Palestinian cause on campus is prevented from exercising its constitutional right to free expression and assembly. Even for those who may hold no point of view on this particular issue, this situation is a reflection of the potential limitations on everyone’s First Amendment rights on our campus, and remedying it should be a priority for us all. 

On April 25, 2024, UT Austin’s Office of the Dean of Students ordered the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) to cease all activity based on allegations that they had violated the University’s institutional rules. More than six months have passed since then and yet Student Conduct and Academic Integrity has still failed to complete its conduct process of the student group leaving them in an indefinite state of “interim suspension.”  

Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine recognizes this tactical administrative delay as a clear violation of the University’s claimed support of free speech and a form of censorship, occuring amidst the University’s sustained silencing and repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campus. This history of both overt and covert repression includes the sudden refusal to allow human rights lawyer Noura Erakat to speak in-person on campus in January 2024; the militarization of our campus in response to pro-Palestinian student protest in April 2024; the severe disciplining of pro-Palestinian student protestors over the summer–even after criminal tresspassing charges against them had been dropped; and the indefinite “postponement” of Professor Maha Nassar’s lecture this fall to name but a few examples. 

Student Conduct and Academic Integrity’s slow-moving investigation of the PSC stands in stark contrast with its rushed investigation and disciplining of many students arrested in last spring’s protests. What accounts for the glacial pace of the investigation of the PSC? In the absence of clear communication from the Office of the Dean of Students, we can only interpret the length of this conduct process as an attempt to prevent the PSC’s activity for as long a duration of time as possible. In particular, we are concerned that this administrative delay masks a purposeful attempt to prevent pro-Palestinian students from expressing their political beliefs and opinions during the national week of action marking a year of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and in the midst of rapidly escalating Israeli military aggression across the Middle East. In order to protect students’ rights to speech, expression, and assembly, Student Conduct and Academic Integrity must move quickly to a resolution in the PSC’s conduct process. More to the point, they must lift the PSC’s suspension and reinstate it as a registered student organization. 

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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Austin, TX – May 3, 2024

Twice in the past week, officers in riot gear have stormed our campus, arresting students and dragging them– at times barely conscious– from the South Lawn. UT faculty, staff, and students have called upon the administration to de-escalate and call off police forces, but our efforts have been ignored. As concerned faculty, we condemn this excessive use of force. 

On Wednesday, April 24th, mounted state troopers besieged students and community members who were exercising their rights to free expression and assembly. UT Administration invited this police presence. After an hours-long melee, reportedly 57 people were arrested for misdemeanor trespassing. All charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Five days later, UT Administration again escalated constitutionally-afforded gatherings into violence, resulting in another 79 arrests. The repeated deployment of multiple police forces has threatened public safety, disrupted campus activities, and created a dangerous learning and working environment for our communities.

In response to the Administration’s role in targeting and actively harming our students, 625 faculty members (constituting about 20% of teaching faculty) have signed a letter of no confidence in UT President Hartzell. Similar letters circulated by students have gathered over 3,000 signatures. President Hartzell has failed the communities he was appointed to serve.

Despite many opportunities to de-escalate, UT Administration’s posture has only intensified. On April 30th, University officials indicated that they would continue to deploy DPS riot troops in response to campus protests. President Hartzell and the UT Board of Trustees will bear responsibility for the injuries–or worse–that occur during any police action on our campus. This is not leadership. This is reckless endangerment. 

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Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine are revolted at President Hartzell’s decision to once again order a military-style invasion of the UT campus. This decision is especially egregious given the unprecedented brutality our students experienced less than a week ago. As of the time of this writing, we have already witnessed the arrests of at least twenty protestors, including one so dehydrated they had to be taken to the hospital.

FSJP extends its unwavering support to the Palestine Solidarity Committee, which did not have any role in organizing today’s attempt to create a campus encampment. We also support the broader student movement for Palestinian liberation. We will not be silenced, we will not cave in the face of this malevolent intimidation.

We continue to support PSC’s demands:

1. UT must divest from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
2. President Jay Hartzell must resign.
3. UT must drop all sanctions against students arrested for peacefully protesting.
4. UT must reinstate PSC as a registered student organization.

As always, all eyes on Gaza. Free free Palestine.

For Immediate Release

Contact: austinacademicsfjp@gmail.com

Faculty to Hold Silent Vigil to Mourn Palestinian Scholars Killed in Scholasticide

Austin, TX – April 26, 2024

On Monday, April 29th, the final day of classes, at noon on the south steps of the Tower, faculty wearing graduation caps and gowns will gather for a silent vigil to mourn Palestinian scholars whom Israel has killed and Palestinian educational institutions that Israel has destroyed. Oxford Professor Karma Nabulsi coined the term “scholasticide” in 2009 when Israel damaged fourteen of Gaza’s fifteen institutions of higher education. But the term, combining the Latin prefix schola (school) and suffix cide (killing), also refers to Israel’s attacks on Palestinian educational life stretching back to the first Nakba of 1948.

“Universities in the United States have become ground zero for the Palestine solidarity movement,” said Karma Chávez, professor of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at UT. “But universities in Gaza have literally been bombed to the ground. As US scholars, we have an obligation to draw attention to how Israel is intentionally annihilating schools and universities and killing our colleagues.”  

Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 230 teachers, 94 professors, and 4,000 students, many of them medical and dental faculty and students caught in Israel’s targeted attacks on medical infrastructure. Because of Israel’s unceasing attacks, more than 90,000 Palestinian university students have been unable to continue their studies this year in Gaza.

“This cannot continue,” said Lauren Gutterman, associate professor of American Studies at UT. “We have an obligation to address the impacts of this genocide on the human right to education.”

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For Immediate Release

Contact: austinacademicsfjp@gmail.com

Racist Attack near UT Austin’s West Campus, UT Administrators Remain Silent

Austin, TX – February 7, 2024

On Sunday night, February 4th, a young man was stabbed in a vile act of hatred just west of the University of Texas at Austin’s campus. According to reports, the assailant attacked a group of Muslim American men following a pro-Palestine rally downtown. As academic workers in Austin, Texas, we are horrified and angered to learn of this attack. We are also unsurprised. In a safety alert about the attack UT Austin claimed that it “appears to be an isolated incident.” This is misleading: in fact, it is part of a clear pattern stretching back months. On October 12th, three men disrupted a teach-in on Palestine on UT Austin’s campus calling students “terrorists” and threatening to kill “f—ing Arabs.” Since then, students and community members have been warning about rising incidents of anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim hatred and violence on campus and in the city. 

Unfortunately the administration at the University of Texas at Austin has done little to counter this animus and has even fostered a climate of hostility against Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students and their allies. President Jay Hartzell has still not publicly addressed the harassment students experienced on October 12th, despite widespread calls for him to do so. Since then, students affiliated with the Palestine Solidarity Committee have described experiencing other acts of discrimination and harassment. These events have occurred in the context of growing anti-Palestinian hatred across the country. In October, a six-year-old Palestinian boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was killed in Illinois, and in November three Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont. This violence follows doxxing, harassment, and attacks on pro-Palestinian college students across the country. 

Rather than supporting vulnerable members of our community and speaking out publicly against the hatred Palestinian and allied college and university students are experiencing UT Austin’s leaders have tried to silence them. On November 22nd, the Dean of Social Work at UT Austin relieved two graduate teaching assistants from their teaching duties after they sent a message to the class acknowledging the mental health needs of Palestinian students in a course on mental health. When students drafted a letter in support of the TAs to the Dean of Social Work and delivered the letter to him in a peaceful demonstration on campus on December 8th, the University doubled-down on its repression and initiated disciplinary and criminal investigations of four students involved. 

Most recently, on January 25th, UT Austin’s Athenaeum moved Palestinian Professor Noura Erakat’s planned talk against racism and genocide from campus to Zoom, citing security concerns. Yet, on January 26th, UT Austin’s Salem Center hosted public intellectual and former Israeli military member Yaron Brook on campus ignoring opposition from students and community members who warned that his anti-Palestinian vitriol would inflame hatred against Palestinians including those on UT’s campus. Indeed, Brooks fostered discrimination against Palestinian people by arguing that Israel is morally right to see all Palestinians as enemies. He voiced racist stereotypes about Palestinians, calling them “barbaric” and “murderers.” He claimed that Palestinians had created an “anti-life society” that “relishes death” and “teaches its children hatred.” Shockingly, he argued that Israel has done “too much” to prevent the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The Salem Center has now removed the recording of Brook’s talk from their website. 

As academic workers at UT Austin we call on the leaders of the University to publicly address Sunday night’s attack and to do everything in their power to prevent similar acts of violence, including providing supportive resources to Palestinian and allied students. We also call on our leaders to immediately cease all disciplinary procedures against those who have demonstrated support for Palestinians. College and university campuses have long been spaces in which students, faculty, staff, and community members can voice politically controversial opinions and exercise their free speech rights. Protecting those who are experiencing political repression and racial and religious hatred at this moment is vital not only to the democratic mission of higher education, but to the safety and wellbeing of our campus communities.

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