John Protevi's Blog

UIUC departments voting no confidence

Please send links and I'll fill them in later. 

1) American Indian Studies

2) Asian-American Studies

3) Philosophy

4) English

5) Latina/Latino Studies

6) History

7)  Comparative and World Literature (download a pdf by clicking the link)

8) Anthropology

9) French & Italian

10) Religion (download a pdf by clicking the link)

11) East Asian Languages and Cultures

12) Geography and Geographic Information Science (download a pdf by clicking the link)

13) Gender and Women's Studies 

14) Sociology (download a pdf by clicking the link)

15) Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership (this is a statement signed by 16 members of the department; it is not presented as an official department vote but I include it here by request of the signatories)

16) African American Studies

Open Letters from scholarly associations on the Salaita case

I will update as needed. Please comment below with links, or email me at [email protected]

1.  Modern Language Association (MLA)

2.  Association of American University Professors (AAUP)

3.  American Historical Association (AHA)

4.  American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)

5.  American Studies Association (ASA)

6.  Cultural Studies Association (CSA)

7.  Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA)

8.  American Anthropological Association (AAA)

9.  Middle Eastern Studies Association of North America (MESA)

10. California Scholars For Academic Freedom (CSAF)

11. American Sociological Association (ASA) (click to download pdf)

UIUC English department votes no confidence in Chancellor and Board

Link. The statment:

On September 2, 2014, the faculty of the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign cast a vote of no confidence in the Board of Trustees, President Robert Easter, and Chancellor Phyllis Wise.

This no confidence vote follows the university administration’s decision to rescind a tenured job offer in American Indian Studies to Professor Steven Salaita. The English department’s vote expresses grave disappointment in the way the administration has overridden the multiple levels of rigorous faculty review that make up any offer of a tenured position at our university. We are deeply troubled by the disregard for academic freedom, freedom of speech, and the principles of shared governance as well as the complete lack of faculty consultation that the administration has demonstrated. In addition, we are concerned about the possibility that the administration’s decision was influenced by political considerations and by the interference of donors and alumni. If this decision is not reversed, we fear that the reputation of the University of Illinois as a site of scholarly excellence and diverse viewpoints will suffer permanent damage. In the face of the administration’s troubling actions, we call for the reinstatement of Professor Salaita and we reaffirm the established protocols for hiring, tenure, and promotion that have allowed us to recruit and retain top faculty.

UIUC cancellations

I'm going to make this a compilation of cancellation letters for talks at UIUC in the Salaita case. Please send notices to me at [email protected] or comment here with links and I'll do updates. 

1. Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University, cancelled a showing of his film scheduled for October. 

2. David Blacker, Professor of Philosophy of Education and Legal Studies, University of Delaware, cancelled a talk scheduled for September 29, kicking off the 2014-15 CAS / MillerComm annual series. 

3. Allen Isaacman, Regents Professor of History, University of Minnesota, cancelled a talk scheduled for October 30, also as part of the 2014-15 CAS / MillerComm annual series. 

4. Kyla Wazana Tompkins, Associate Professor of English and of Gender and Women's Studies, Pomona College, cancelled a talk scheduled for September 18 

5. Eric Schwitzgebel, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside, cancelled a talk scheduled for December in the Department of Philosophy.

6. Jonathan Judaken, Spence L. Wilson Chair in Humanities, Rhodes College, cancelled a talk scheduled for October 10-11 at the Existentialism and Postcolonialism colloquium.

7. Julie Livingston, Professor of History, Rutgers University, cancelled a talk scheduled for September 17 for University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC), naming the Salaita boycott as the reason.

8. Katherine Franke, Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, cancelled a talk scheduled for late September, but will instead participate in an off-campus discussion of the Salaita case. (H/T Brian Leiter for the info.)

9. A PDF poster is here with many more cancellations, including this series of special note to philosophers:

Department of Philosophy Fall Colloquia Series: Jeff McMahan, Oxford; Jonathan Kvanvig, Baylor; David Ebbrey, Northwestern; Rafaella de Rosa, Rutgers - Newark; Eric Schwitzgebel, UC Riverside.

10. Jennifer Lackey, Professor of Philosophy, Northwestern cancelled a talk.

11. Darren Sherkat, Professor of Sociology, Southern Illinois University cancelled a talk.

12. Mark van Roojen, Professor of Philosophy, University of Nebraska cancelled a talk.

13. Alice Pawley, Professor of Engineering, Purdue University cancelled a talk.

14. Julie Greene, Professor of History, University of Maryland, cancelled a talk scheduled for Spring 2015. 

In addition to these talks,

1. The Education Justice Project cancelled their 2014 conference, scheduled for October 9-12.

2. The Existentialism and Postcolonialism colloquium is cancelled. 

UIUC philosophy department votes no confidence in Chancellor Wise and Board of Trustees

The statement: 

Whereas the recent words and actions of Chancellor Phyllis Wise, President Robert Easter, and the Board of Trustees in connection with the revocation of an offer of employment to Dr. Steven Salaita betray a culpable disregard not only for academic freedom and free speech generally but also for the principles of shared governance and established protocols for hiring, tenure, and promotion, the faculty of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign declares its lack of confidence in the leadership of the current Chancellor, President, and Board of Trustees.

Boycott UIUC pledge for scientists and engineers

The pledge:

We, the undersigned scientists and engineers, will not visit the University of Illinois at  Urbana-Champaign campus until the Steven Salaita case is equitably resolved. 

You may sign the pledge by entering a comment below, giving your name, discipline, and institutional affiliation, which is understood to be for identification purposes only and does not imply that you act on behalf of your institution. Comments are moderated and may take a few hours to appear. Please spread the word among your friends and ask them to sign as well. If you tweet the URL you may wish to use the following hashtags: #boycottUIUC and #Salaita.

The following is an open letter from Alan Sokal of the NYU Department of Physics. 

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My friend Paul Boghossian (NYU Philosophy) has drawn my attention to a shocking case involving academic freedom at the University of Illinois, which has drawn a protest from over 3000 American and international scholars.

Professor Steven Salaita resigned his tenured position at Virginia Tech on the basis of a tenured offer from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in October 2013. (link) While the offer was awaiting routine approval by the Board of Trustees, UIUC Chancellor Phyllis Wise summarily revoked the offer on August 1, 2014, apparently on the basis of some of Professor Salaita's Twitter comments concerning Israeli actions in Gaza; some commentators (not all) consider the tweets to be intemperate. 

More disturbingly yet, the Chancellor attempted to justify her position by saying that

What we cannot and will not tolerate at the University of Illinois are personal and disrespectful words or actions that demean and abuse either viewpoints themselves or those who express them. (link)

Putting aside the bizarre notion that an idea can feel "demeaned" or "abused", the Chancellor's position implies that the University of Illinois will not tolerate biologists or physicists who are "disrespectful" (in her sole judgment) of creationists or even of creationism.

Moreover, and perhaps more disturbingly, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees officially endorsed the Chancellor's decision and reasoning, using the same specious "civility" standard (link).

For two excellent legal analyses, see the article by Brian Leiter (University of Chicago, Law) in Huffington Post (link) and this article by Michael C. Dorf (Cornell University, Law)   (link).

In response to the Chancellor's and Trustees' intransigence, over 3000 scholars worldwide (link) have publicly declared that they will boycott the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign until this decision is reversed.

If you wish to join them, you may sign this pledge by commenting to that effect below, giving your name, discipline, and instutional affiliation. 

        -- Alan Sokal

P.S. After an FOIA demand, Inside Higher Education published a story on August 25, 2014 revealing that Chancellor Wise had, prior to her August 1 decision, received e-mails on the issue not only from students, parents and donors, but also from the fund-raising arm of UIUC. (link)

For some comments prompted by the Salaita case but also touching on the larger issue of how administrations are nowadays riding roughshod over faculty prerogatives, see this piece by Lennard Davis of the University of Illinois at Chicago (link).

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**Please note that institutional affiliations of the signatories are for identification purposes only and do not imply that the signatories are speaking on behalf of the institution.**

Email sent to Professor Donald Chambers, Chair, University Senates committee of UI system

Sunday 24 August

Dear Professor Chambers

I was extremely disappointed to see you sign the Board’s letter, despite your position as Chair of the University Senates Conference. I felt shocked that you would allow a unilateral imposition of a “civility” standard that is dangerously vague and apparently to be placed under the judgment of university administrators.

I have spent many hours in the Faculty Senate of my home institution, and I am introducing a resolution at our first meeting this fall semester that will specifically mention this failure of judgment and betrayal of both academic freedom and faculty governance.

I urge you to reconsider your affirmation of this disastrous statement and to lead the Faculty Senates of the great institutions of the entire University of Illinois system in affirming not only Professor Salaita’s offer but also condemning and revoking this dangerous and unwarranted “civility” standard.

Respectfully yours,

John Protevi
Louisiana State University

My institutional affiliation is given solely for identification purposes and does not imply that I speak for the institution.

Email sent to UI Board and UIUC Chancellor Wise accompanying boycott pledge by 425 philosophers

Sunday 24 August, 2014

Board of Trustees
University of Illinois

Dr Phyllis Wise
Chancellor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dear Members of the Board
Dear Chancellor Wise

On Thursday 21 August I sent you a copy of our pledge containing signatures of 250 philosophers who will not visit UIUC until the Salaita case is equitably resolved. Tonight our numbers have grown to 425, as you can see on the attached letter. We join thousands of other academics in many disciplines in making this stand; we will not waver and are committed to this for as long as necessary. Our signers come from big and small institutions; they are established figures and brave early career folks; they come from the US, Canada, the UK, France, Austria, and a number of other countries.

We ask that you reverse your ill-considered decision of Friday 22 August, and instead affirm Professor Salaita’s offer, which was given and accepted in good faith. Vital principles of academic freedom and faculty governance are at stake and as a result the case is being very widely discussed all across the academic world.

Academic freedom has immeasurably enriched American society by offering room for vigorous and spirited debate. By making the decisions you did, you have damaged a great tradition in American civic life and grievously harmed the reputation of the university, which until now had been among the greatest in the country.

It is not too late to undo the harm you have done. By reversing course and doing the right thing here in the Salaita case, your role in affirming this great tradition will be long remember and celebrated.

Respectfully yours, on behalf of the signatories

John Protevi
Louisiana State University

As with all the other signatories, my affiliation is here given for identification purposes only and does not imply I speak as a representative of my institution.

Suport Salaita fundraising: donate an amount equal to list price of David Blacker's book!

David Blacker was one of the first scholars to cancel a talk at UIUC in support of the #boycottUIUC action. I've just bought his book, The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame (Zero Books, 2013). (Publisher link here; Amazon link here). I donated an amount equal to the price to the Support Salaita fund, and want to ask everyone to do the same.

The Support Salaita site has this preamble: 

Help support Steven Salaita’s case against the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign for its unethical and unconstitutional firing of him only 3 weeks before his scheduled classes were to begin, for speaking out against war and violence on Twitter.

Salaita now has no job nor does his wife who quit her job in Virginia to support the family’s move, no personal home to live in, and no health insurance for their family, including their two year-old son.

But even beyond the immediate tie-in with the Salaita case, I'm very eager to read Blacker's work. It's was quite widely reviewed: Salon, Inside Higher Ed, Times Higher Ed, Radical Philosophy, S.China Morning Post, Counterfire and others. Here are some audio interviews as well: Extraenvironmentalist, Majority Report, Alpha2Omega, C-Realm 1/2, Diet Soap 1/2

Other titles by Blacker: Democratic Education Stretched Thin; Dying to Teach; Educator Ethics Series. 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: here is the Amazon page for Salaita's books. Why not buy some of them and donate an amount equal to the price to the Support Salaita fund as well?

Another scholar cancels an appearance at Illinois to protest their violation of academic freedom in the Salaita -- and Kilgore -- cases

By permission of Allen Isaacman, University of Minnesota. Issacman had been invited to speak on October 30, as part of the 2014-15 CAS / MillerComm annual series (see the previous post for David Blacker's cancelation of another event in the series). Our respect and our thanks go to Professor Isaacman for his principled stand here. 

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Dear Professor Pitard,

I was honored to have been invited by the Center for Advanced Study to present a CAS/MillerComm lecture this fall.  I was, however, deeply troubled by the decision not to reappoint James Kilgore this Spring. The University of Illinois' recent decision to disregard  its prior commitment to appoint Professor Salaita, confirms my fear  of the administration's blatant disregard for academic freedom.

Silencing faculty or punishing them for their political, moral or ethical  views is indefensible. Unless and until the administration of  University of Illinois rescinds this decision, I will not participate in the CAS/MillerComm lecture series and I join with my distinguished colleague Professor Robin Kelly in refusing to set foot on your campus.

I do hope that  the University administration  will reverse its decision before it does irreparable harm to  your great institution. I also hope that we  will meet face-to-face in the near future. 

Sincerely,

Allen Isaacman

Regents Professor of History, University of Minnesota

Extraordinary Professor, University of Western Cape

A scholar declines an invitation to Illinois, refusing to cooperate in their violation of academic freedom in the Salaita affair

With permission from David Blacker, University of Delaware. Blacker had been invited to speak September 29, kicking off the 2014-15 CAS / MillerComm annual series. Canceling a scheduled event is not an easy step for anyone to take, and in this case, it is especially difficult in that the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Education Policy are co-sponsors and Professor Blacker got his doctoral degree from Illinois. So we owe our thanks to him for this action and for this letter. 

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August 20, 2014

Professor Leon DeCosta Dash, Director
Ms. Masumi lriye, Deputy Director
Center for Advanced Study
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dear Professor Dash and Ms. lriye,

I regret to inform you that I must cancel my CAS/MillerComm lecture at the University of Illinois scheduled for September 29. I was very much looking forward to returning to Champaign -Urbana and engaging with colleagues, students and members of the community.  And I am deeply sorry to the individuals throughout U. of I. who were helping to make the event possible, including the co-sponsoring units and departments . I am honored by and appreciative of those efforts.

I have decided I must honor the growing worldwide pledge of academics not to appear at U. of I. unless the Salaita matter is acceptably resolved. I refer of course to the University's recent punishment of Professor Salaita for engaging in political speech in a public forum. I neither endorse nor reject any of Sa Iaita's remarks and their substance is not relevant to my decision to cancel. Neither do I base my decision on a n assessment of the affair 's constitutional-legal aspects, which are uncertain. My decision is not about Israel/Palestine and it is not about legal nuance.

My concern has to do with the academic freedom needed by scholars in order to do our job properly. Academic freedom does not exist when it is withheld from scholars with unpopular or even "offensive" views. As an educator and citizen, I agree strongly with Justice Brandeis that "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education,the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence (1927)." Instead of choosing education and more speech as the remedy for disagreeable speech,the U. of I. has apparently chosen "enforced silence." It thus violates what a university must stand for -- whatever else it stands for -- and therefore I join those who will not participate in the violation. In my judgment, this is a core and non-negotiable issue of academic freedom.

My hope is that the U. of I. will relent and restore its good name.  I would be delighted to reschedule my talk if and when this happens.

Sincerely,

David J. Blacker
Director, Legal Studies Program
Professor, School of Education

P.S.  In no way do I speak for the University of Delaware or any of its subunits.  These are my views alone.

Summing up my take on the Salaita affair so far

A reporter called me today and asked for a statement. [Update: link to the story.] I thought I would take the chance to gather my thoughts on the Salaita affair to date. As to the statement of goals, I think I'm just restating what's been said in many of the letters of complaint and the no-visit pledges. Text follows:

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Please note that in this matter — and in all matters in which I speak on matters of public concern — I speak solely as an individual scholar. My affiliation details are for identification purposes only and should not be taken to imply that I am speaking in any capacity as an institutional representative.

I do however claim the traditional rights of academic freedom as they are codified by the AAUP: http://www.aaup.org/issues/academic-freedom. In particular I reject Cary Nelson’s misjudgments in this matter and would like it noted that his position has been repudiated by the national office of the AAUP: http://www.aaup.org/media-release/statement-case-steven-salaita. 

See also statements by the Illinois chapter of the AAUP:http://academeblog.org/2014/08/06/illinois-aaup-committee-a-statement-on-steven-salaita-and-uiuc/ and by the CFA of UIUC:http://cfaillinois.org/2014/08/07/cfa-statement-on-steven-salaita-and-u-of-illinois/

See also this statement by noted law school professors:https://www.dropbox.com/s/gxfbptf2t0d17vw/Faculty%20Letter%20to%20U%20of%20I.pdf

This is however not simply a matter of the individual academic freedom of Professor Salaita, though that would be enough to justify our actions. It is also a matter of supporting our colleagues at Illinois in the exercise of their rights to faculty governance and in particular their rights as to faculty hiring without arbitrary or worse, motivated, administrative interference well outside normal procedures, as in this case. 

As for the technicalities proferred by Nelson and others as to Salaita's exact contractual status, how could Board approval be anything other than pro forma if Salaita’s classes were scheduled to begin before the Board next meets? 

See also this quote from a university spokesperson on July 22, referring to Salaita as already an “employee” of the university: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2014-07-22/updated-soon-be-ui-profs-mideast-posts-drawing-ire.html

“Faculty have a wide range of scholarly and political views, and we recognize the freedom-of-speech rights of all of our employees,” Kaler said in response to the tweets. 

As to our goals then: we respectfully but firmly demand that Professor Salaita’s contract be honored according to standard academic custom in which Board of Trustees approval is pro forma. We thus urge Chancellor Wise not only to forward Salaita’s contract to the Board for approval but to do everything in her power to ensure it is approved. 

A brief statement on academic freedom

Over at Corey Robin's blog, in a discussion of the Salaita case, I posted my letter. In response someone questioned the results of academic freedom: "Do you believe that the academy today encompasses the “widest possible range of views” on the Israel-Palestine conflict? Do you believe it encompasses a wide range of view in general?" I wrote an earlier version of the following, which now represents edits thanks to FB discussion:

The purpose of academic freedom is to provide a protected sphere of opinion so that society as a whole can benefit. It has nothing to do with the range of opinion within academia; it protects the process of producing opinion, whatever the results of that process. Whatever the range of opinion in academia regarding the role of Israel in the Gaza war, even one percent disapproval would still provide to society a greater range of opinion than did the US Senate with its 100-0 approval vote. This exaggeration illustrates the way academic freedom exists to provide a counterbalance to the conformist pressure exerted by concentrations of political and economic power.

The next step to support academic freedom in the Salaita case

What say you, philosophers? Corey Robin proposes we write to Illinois to say we won't visit their campus until Salaita is reinstated. If you're willing to co-sign the following please email me at [email protected], PM me on FB, or comment below.

"Dear Chancellor Wise: we the undersigned will not visit the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus until Professor Salaita is reinstated to the position offered him by the faculty and which he had accepted in good faith."

Signatories

Open Letter on the Illinois / Salaita / academic freedom issue

Chancellor Phyllis Wise
University of Illinois
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Dear Chancellor Wise:

I write with alarm and dismay at the decision to not forward Professor Salaita’s name to the Board of Trustees. This is a direct blow to the principles of academic freedom. The American university has provided great benefits to our society and to the world at large precisely by supporting the right of academics to speak openly, frankly, and vehemently, even when — especially when — it is received with opposition by others. This protected sphere provides the widest possible range of views on the most difficult social and political issues of the day. I know that you know this, and I ask you sincerely and respectfully to enter your name in the list of our greatest protectors of academic freedom, such as John Dewey, rather than in the list of those who hurt their legacy by allowing the passions of the day to cloud their judgment and betray those principles.

With respect,

John Protevi
Phyllis M Taylor Professor of French Studies
Professor of Philosophy
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge LA 70803

(Affiliation provided for identification purposes only; this letter represents only my personal views.)