Executive Committee of SU AAUP calls for greater academic freedom from administration amid Israel-Hamas war

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Note: This statement expresses the views of the Executive Committee of the SU AAUP chapter only and was not voted on by membership.

Last week the Executive Committee of the Syracuse University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors at Syracuse University circulated a national AAUP statement defending academic freedom entitled “Academic Freedom in Times of War.”

We are writing now to object to recent statements by Provost Ritter at the University Senate on Oct. 25 and recent email communications to faculty on Oct. 25th and Oct. 26 that call into question SU faculty’s right to academic freedom. Responding to comments on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Provost’s email read:

“Bear in mind that, while you have every right to share your opinion on these events, doing so in the classroom (when it is not the topic of the class) or via University channels like listservs creates an unfair power dynamic that can make some students feel unwelcome, unsafe or unsupported.”

From an AAUP perspective, there are at least three serious Academic Freedom transgressions here. First, constraining faculty to keep to some fixed “topic of the class” – the boundaries of which are not clear in many courses – especially as world events demand collective discussion. Second, the apparent new and alarming policy to restrict use of University listservs for crafting and distributing statements on world events (even as the administration issues their own statements on University channels). Third, the Provost’s selective application of an “unfair power dynamic” to only certain topics and political viewpoints.

We are particularly troubled by attempts to silence faculty in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies for merely issuing their own legitimate and disciplinarily-grounded statement on the current war. Moreover, the use of department and other University listservs to construct and issue statements on matters of global, national and local significance has been a longstanding pedagogical tool exercised by faculty and students alike on this campus. These online channels, like our classrooms, must remain open spaces for the free exchange of ideas. If not, we risk dispensing with the very essence of the University.

As faculty members who teach, research and engage in the pursuit of free and open inquiry, we will not be silenced on our department listservs or in our classrooms or other spaces when it comes to the “protection of free and open inquiry, including expression of controversial ideas that some may consider wrong or offensive” (AAUP Statement). Likewise, we recognize our students’ rights to engage in debates on controversial issues and to disagree with faculty without fear of censure or retribution. We also affirm our longstanding commitment as faculty members to work with care and respect with our students while also exercising our right to academic freedom. The two actions are not mutually exclusive.

We caution university leadership in using all-university email communications to implicate — even obliquely — specific departments and individuals for speech and statements they made within their rights of academic freedom. The email communications Provost Ritter sent on Oct. 25 and 26 have a chilling effect on academic freedom and create another version of the “unfair power dynamic” that she called out in her statement.

Moreover, we want to affirm the AAUP statement’s call for college and university leadership to “resist demands from politicians, trustees, donors, students and their parents, alumni, or other parties to punish faculty members for exercising that freedom” (AAUP Statement). We are very concerned that there are ongoing efforts (e.g. petitions) to sanction faculty in WGS for simply speaking out on this specific issue. We call on our faculty colleagues and institutional leaders to join us in defending this important principle of academic freedom on this campus even in the face of many pressures to waver, issue caveats or riders or roll it back.

SU AAUP Executive Committee,
Matt Huber – President
Joanna Spitzner – Vice President
Diane Grimes – Treasurer
Matthew Mulvaney – Secretary
Ivy Kleinbart – Non-TT Faculty Representative
Eileen Schell – Member at Large
Crystal Bartolovich – Past President