On April 1, 2024, Faculty for Justice in Palestine submitted the letter below to UChicago President Paul Alivisatos and Provost Katherine Baicker regarding the decision by Hebrew University to suspend Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian.
PREFATORY NOTE:
Dear President Alivisatos and Provost Baicker,
Please see below a letter signed by a hundred colleagues at the University, expressing our support for Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian of Hebrew University and our concern about our own institution’s collaborations with Hebrew University. We are collectively relieved to hear that Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian has been reinstated as of March 28. Nonetheless, her initial suspension, as well as the pressure that she has experienced especially since October 7 (but also before that date), raise serious questions about the continued viability of the University of Chicago’s programs in Jerusalem. It is therefore out of a commitment to the academic freedoms that we hold so dear that we ask you to consider the letter in full, and in particular the demand outlined in its final paragraph: the suspension of the Jerusalem in Middle Eastern Civilizations study abroad program at HUJI until a full assessment of political and academic freedoms on that campus has been undertaken and Hebrew University found in compliance with those institutional principles.
Asher Cohen
President, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
hupres@savion.huji.ac.il
Tamir Sheafer
Rector, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
rector@savion.huji.ac.il
Paul Alivisatos
President, University of Chicago
president@uchicago.edu
Katherine Baicker
Provost, University of Chicago
provost@uchicago.edu
Dear Professors Cohen, Sheafer, Alivisatos, and Baicker,
We write in support of Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian and against the alarming decision to suspend her from Hebrew University on the basis of remarks made during an Israeli television interview. Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian is an internationally respected scholar of genocide, gendered violence and militarization, whose work on Palestinian lives under occupation has contributed to multiple fields of scholarship. The offending statements, including the claim that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza and a call for the abolition of Zionism, are (or should be) protected by the principles of freedom of expression—both academic and political. They are squarely within her area of expertise. That Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian has been studying political violence and the on-the-ground effects of Zionism for over thirty years should lend her remarks all the more weight, deserving of not only protection but serious consideration, and should be treated as such by the institution where she has spent the bulk of her career.
It should not be the task of university administrators to respond to the demands of politicians, but to stand against them in defense of academic inquiry and political expression. If part of the justification for Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension was to “ensure a safe and conducive environment” for students on campus (as has been reported), this promise should extended to all Hebrew University students, including the approximately 14 percent of students who are Palestinian, many of whom come from East Jerusalem, where they were born under Israeli occupation. Since October 7, these students have faced increased military and settler violence, and the suspension of Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian only drives home that they are unsafe on campus as well. The message sent, not only to the professor, but to her colleagues, students, and allies abroad, is a chilling one: stay silent.
It was not the first time such a message has been sent to Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who faced pressure to resign her position after signing a petition for ceasefire last October, and the silencing of Palestinian academics and their allies has become all too commonplace across the world since that time. It is a gentler form of the scholasticide we have witnessed in Gaza over the last five-plus months: the destruction of every university in Gaza echoed in the silencing and removal of Palestinian academics from their positions beyond its walls.
We write from an institution that proclaims freedom of inquiry and expression as first among its values. We therefore make two calls. First, we demand that Hebrew University reverse the decision to suspend Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, and affirm its commitment to the protection of these principles for all members of its community, and not only those who commit to a Zionist ideology. Second, in light of this violation of our own institutional principles, and in particular that of the Kalven Report, we demand that our administration at the University of Chicago re-evaluates our partnership with Hebrew University. This includes suspending the return of the Jerusalem in Middle Eastern Civilizations study abroad program to the Hebrew University campus until a full assessment of political and academic freedoms on that campus has been undertaken and Hebrew University found in compliance with the institutional principles that are the bedrock of the University of Chicago. Such an audit is necessary not only to ensure the appropriateness of our connection, but importantly, the safety and ability of all of our undergraduate students to participate in university-sponsored study abroad programs. Finally, we insist that this assessment should be undertaken not simply by university administrators, but by appropriate legal and area-studies scholars.
Sincerely,
Na’ama Rokem, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Comparative Literature
Michele Friedner, Professor, Comparative Human Development
Genevieve Lakier, Professor of Law and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar, Law
Yali Amit, Professor, Statistics
Daniel Morgan, Professor, Cinema and Media Studies
Lisa Wedeen, Mary R. Morton Distinguished Service Professor, Political Science
Bruce Lincoln, Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History of Religions, Divinity School
Hussein Agrama, Associate Professor, Anthropology
Alireza Doostdar, Associate Professor, Divinity School
Kamala Russell, Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Callie Maidhof, Assistant Senior Instructional Professor and Associate Director, Global Studies
Darryl Li, Associate Professor, Anthropology
Julie Orlemanski, Associate Professor, English
Miguel Martinez, Professor of Spanish, Romance Languages and Literatures
Marissa Fenley, Harper Schmidt Fellow, TAPS
Norma Field, Robert S. Ingersoll Distinguished Service Professor Emerita, East Asian Languages & Cultures
Michael Dietler, Professor, Anthropology
Uday Jain, Postdoctoral Social Sciences Teaching Fellow, Committee on Social Thought
Jessica Darrow, Associate Instructional Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work
François G. Richard, Associate Professor, Anthropology and Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity
Isaac Hand, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts
Audre Smikle, Communications Assistant, Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity
E. Anne Beal, Senior Lecturer, Social Sciences Collegiate Division
Agnes Mondragon, Teaching Fellow
Clifton Ragsdale, Professor, Neurobiology
John Proios, Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Caterina Fugazzola, Assistant Senior Instructional Professor, Global Studies
Noha Forster, Senior Associate Instructional Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Anindita Chatterjee, Assistant Instructional Professor, Global Studies
Tracye Matthews, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture
Itamar Francez, Associate Professor, Linguistics
Tina Post, Assistant Professor, English
Molly Cunningham, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Harper Schmidt Society of Fellows
Denis Hirschfeldt, Professor and Former Visiting Professor at Hebrew University, Mathematics
Joy Wang, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Society of Fellows
Adrienne Brown, Associate Professor, English and Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity
Molly Long, Research Team Coordinator, Data Science Institute
Matthew Kruer, Assistant Professor, History and Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity
Olivia Bustion, Teaching Fellow, Divinity School and Center for the Study for Gender and Sexuality
Karlyn J. Gorski, Assistant Instructional Professor, Harris School of Public Policy
Allyson Nadia Field, Associate Professor, Cinema and Media Studies
Ghenwa Hayek, Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Sharvari Sastry, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Theater and Performance Studies
Sarah McDaniel, Teaching Fellow in the Humanities, English and Gender and Sexuality
Hoda El Shakry, Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature
K.J. Hickerson, Assistant Instructional Professor, Department of History and the College
Jacqueline Gaines, Student Affairs Administrator, Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity
Elham Mireshghi, Assistant Instructional Professor, College and the Divinity School
Esme Segall, Fundamentals
Hilary Strang, Associate Senior Instructional Professor, Humanities
Eman Abdelhadi, Assistant Professor, Comparative Human Development
Tamara Golan, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History
Emily Cracolici, Assistant Director, Career Readiness Initiatives
Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, Associate Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures
Salomé Skvirsky, Associate Professor, Cinema and Media Studies
Jenna Williams, Roman Family Center for Decision Research
Ron Gneezy, Regenstein Library
Gabriel Winant, Assistant Professor, History
Saadia Mirza, Anthropology
Faith Hills, Professor, History
Laura Ring, Southern Asian Studies Librarian, Regenstein
Paola Iovene, Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures
Sarah Pierce Taylor, Assistant Professor, Divinity School
Colleen M. Grogan, Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work
Christian K. Wedemeyer, Associate Professor of the History of Religions, Divinity School
Armando Maggi, Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures
Colin Lavery, Student Mentor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities
Matthew Harris, Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Divinity School
Anton Ford, Associate Professor, Philosophy
Mario Santana, Associate Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures
Connor Strobel, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Society of Fellows
Tristan Schweiger, Assistant Instructional Professor, MA Program in the Humanities
Rebeca Velasquez, Humanities Teaching Fellow, English Literature
Neil Brenner, Lucy Flower Professor of Urban Sociology, Sociology and CEGU
Florian Klinger, Associate Professor
Leland Jasperse, Humanities Teaching Fellow, English
Anand Venkatkrishnan, Assistant Professor, Divinity School
Kimberly Kay Hoang, Professor, Sociology
Leah Feldman, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature
William Sites, Associate Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work
Ella Wilhelm, Teaching Fellow, Germanic Studies and the College
Gabriel Ellis, Harper-Schmidt Fellow, Humanities
Damon Jones, Associate Professor, Harris School
John P. McCormick, Professor, Political Science
Angie Heo, Associate Professor, Divinity School
Eve L. Ewing, Associate Professor, Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity
Irema Halilovic, Operations Manager, University of Chicago Divinity School
Margaret Ross, Harper Schmidt Fellow, Creative Writing
Mariam Nawas, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Yousef Casewit, Associate Professor, Divinity School
Maliha Chishti, Assistant Instructional Professor, Divinity School and Harris School of Public Policy
Stephen Haswell Todd, Associate Instructional Professor, Humanities Collegiate Division
Danielle Roper, Assistant Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures
Abhishek Bhattacharyya, Teaching Fellow, Anthropology and the College
Annie Williams, Program Manager, Humanities
Christopher Skrable, Assistant Dean of the College and Executive Director, Chicago Studies & Experiential Learning
Ben Laurence, Instructional Professor, Human Rights
Chad Broughton, Instructional Professor, Public Policy
Richard Strier, Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, English