[R-G] Fwd: Academic Freedom Under Attack at UCSB!

[Anthony Fenton]

From: Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UC Santa Barbara

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

Dear colleagues,

UCSB has become the latest front in the war against Academic Freedom.

Professor William I. Robinson, a Sociology and Global Studies  
professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been  
attacked by the Anti-Defamation League and two of his former  
students.  In January of this year, he forwarded an email condemning  
the Israeli attacks on Gaza.  The email contained an editorial by a  
Jewish journalist condemning Israel's actions in Gaza as well as  
juxtaposed images of Nazi atrocities with congruent images of Israeli  
atrocities against Palestinians.  The email was an optional read for  
students, intended to spark conversation by relating contemporary  
events to conceptual ideas discussed in class.

One week later, the ADL wrote him a letter charging him with anti- 
Semitism and sundry violations of the Faculty Code of Conduct (none of  
which were coherent claims). Another week passed, and the Academic  
Senate Charges Officer then notified him that two of the students in  
the class to which he circulated the email had filed complaints  
against him.

The complaints are that 1) critique of Israel is evidence of anti- 
Semitism and 2) the Israeli-Palestinian issue should not be discussed  
in a class on Globalization.

This case has already escalated way too far. Throughout the process,  
the Charges Officer violated several elements of the charges  
procedure, shirked his responsibilities, and ultimately acted as a co- 
complainant by fabricating charges that were not raised by the  
students.  The charges have reached the Committee on Committees, which  
is now in the process of convening an ad hoc Charges Committee to  
assess the complaints against Professor Robinson.

Based on patently absurd and malicious claims, the charges should have  
been dismissed out of hand from the beginning.  Further consideration  
of the charges by the Academic Senate serves only to sanction  
politically-motivated attacks on academic freedom. The longer this  
case is pursued, the worse its chilling effect; it will spread fear  
among those who wish to present controversial and critical subjects.  
Even though the original complaint is regarding Israel/Palestine, the  
rights at stake extend beyond this specific topic.  Academic freedom  
is a right that enables scholars to express diverse perspectives over  
contentious topics, free from the intimidation of political repression  
campaigns.  If the case against Professor Robinson continues to go  
forward, it will lead down a slippery slope that may expose academics  
to repression tactics for addressing controversial issues such as stem  
cell research, evolution, feminism, LGBT rights, etc.  It is incumbent  
upon members of the UCSB campus and the broader academy to roundly  
oppose this silencing campaign.

This is an obvious attack on Professor Robinson’s academic freedom,  
one that ominously recalls similar campaigns against other critics of  
Israel across the nation.  This is part of a broader campaign to  
automatically vilify and attack any and all critiques of Israel’s  
policies and practices through unfounded use of the term “anti- 
Semitic.” A critique of the Israeli state, its policies, and the  
leaders responsible is not and should not be considered an affront to  
Jewish people as a collective, the Jewish religion, or Jewish  
heritage. In fact, conflating the state of Israel with the Jewish  
people essentializes the assorted political opinions of a diverse  
religious group by reducing them to the set of policies espoused by  
the prevailing regime.

We need your help!  Please scroll below and follow the instructions to  
1) email the UCSB Chancellor and responsible authorities on campus to  
express your outrage and register your protest, and 2) sign the  
petition.

Please visit our website for more information on the case, including  
continuing updates, at: http://sb4af.wordpress.com.

If you wish to contact the student campaign, please email: cdaf.ucsb at gmail.com 
.

Thank you for your time,
Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UC Santa Barbara

***

Send an Email:
The e-mail should be addressed to UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang and cc’d  
to the following faculty and administrators involved in the case.  
Please copy and paste the addresses.

To: henry.yang at chancellor.ucsb.edu

CC: mgscharl at math.ucsb.edu, gene.lucas at evc.ucsb.edu, moliver at ltsc.ucsb.edu 
, mazer at lifesci.ucsb.edu,joel at geog.ucsb.edu,joel.michaelsen at senate.ucsb.edu 
,sarah at isber.ucsb.edu, butler at chem.ucsb.edu,  
scott at theaterdance.ucsb.edu,  
hcallus at music.ucsb.edu,gaulin at anth.ucsb.edu,spieker at gss.ucsb.edu,stemmer at mrl.ucsb.edu 
, caselle at lifesci.ucsb.edu, goulias at geog.ucsb.edu, amar at lawso.ucsb.edu,Stephanie.smagala at senate.ucsb.edu 
,ettenberg at psych.ucsb.edu,hualee at ece.ucsb.edu, mithun at linguistics.ucsb.edu 
, zok at engineering.ucsb.edu, helen.henry at ucr.edu,cdaf.ucsb at gmail.com

To Whom It May Concern,

I am a dismayed [undergraduate/graduate/alumna/faculty member] at  
[your university] writing you to express support for Sociology and  
Global Studies Professor William I. Robinson.  As you may know,  
Professor Robinson and academic freedom have come under recent attack  
on the UCSB campus.  Toward the end of February 2009, Professor  
Robinson received notice from the Academic Senate’s Charges Committee  
that two of his students had filed charges against him.  The students  
alleged that an email forward he’d circulated to his class,  
criticizing Israel’s then-ongoing siege on Gaza, comprised anti- 
Semitism.  These charges are patently absurd and should be dismissed  
out of hand before further damage is done to the university’s purpose  
and reputation.

I demand the immediate dismissal of all of the charges against  
Professor Robinson as frivolous, unfounded, and malicious.  Any  
further consideration of these baseless attacks is unacceptable.  I  
join other students and faculty in pledging that we will not accept  
any resolution of this matter that is unfavorable to Professor  
Robinson and academic freedom.

I also insist that the attack on Professor Robinson’s academic  
freedom, one that ominously recalls similar campaigns against other  
critical academics across the nation, be publicly condemned.  This  
condemnation is essential to preserve full and fair discussion within  
the most important of the U.S.’s civic institutions.  Any genuine  
consideration of these absurd attacks will have a severe chilling  
effect on the production and dissemination of scholarly research in  
all disciplines.  Further, the attacks must be condemned to protect  
faculty and students from wasting valuable time and energy defending  
themselves against frivolous allegations and political repression.

In fact, a critique of the Israeli state, its policies, and the  
leaders responsible is not and should not be considered an affront to  
Jewish people as a collective, the Jewish religion, or Jewish  
heritage.  Conflating the state of Israel with the Jewish people  
essentializes the assorted political opinions of a diverse religious  
group by reducing them to the set of policies espoused by the  
prevailing regime.  The charge of anti-Semitism is made in bad faith;  
its real purpose is to automatically vilify and stifle any honest  
critiques of the state of Israel’s policies and practices.

[Insert personal message]

Sincerely,

[your name and contact information]