FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO FACULTY STAND WITH UCHICAGO POPULAR UNIVERSITY FOR GAZA, OPPOSE POLICE ACTION ON CAMPUSES NATIONALLY
Faculty say they are prepared to be arrested alongside student protesters opposed to University complicity with Gaza genocide.
Chicago, May 5, 2024 — Seven days into the encampment at the University of Chicago, university administrators have suspended negotiations with student protesters and issued a midnight deadline for the dismantlement of the students’ protest demanding an end to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
University of Chicago Faculty for Justice in Palestine (UChicago FJP), a collective of over 120 University of Chicago faculty and staff, urges administrators to resume negotiations in good faith and to continue to respect freedom of expression on campus, which would be violated by any significant police action within its bounds.
We reiterate our unwavering support of the students’ free expression, their Popular University for Gaza, and their demands that the University sever all connections to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza–financial and otherwise. UChicago faculty are gravely concerned about the possibility of a police raid following the administration’s intransigence. We demand university leaders honor their commitments to free speech and campus safety by not authorizing police action against the Popular University. Faculty will protect the safety of our students if the administration attempts to violently remove them. The students have been productively engaging with negotiations with the University over the last week, while the University has continued to escalate by repeatedly threatening police action.
Whatever happens tonight, UChicago FJP will host a press conference at the site of the encampment at 9:30 am on Monday, May 6, where we will share more on the faculty’s support for the worldwide movement for a free Palestine and on the violent attacks on free speech at UChicago and colleges across the country. Since the beginning of the Popular University for Gaza on April 29, hundreds of UChicago students have created a peaceful, welcoming, and educational space for those protesting the Israeli state’s murder of over 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and critiquing the University of Chicago’s role in making possible this genocide. This impressive student effort has included an organized daily schedule of guest lectures, teach-ins, musical performances, religious ceremonies of multiple faiths—including prayers led by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim community members—and a library named after martyred Palestinian intellectual Refaat Alareer.
These students are the exemplars of UChicago’s famous free speech tradition. They have been guided by an admirable clarity of thought and moral outrage over the University’s involvement in Israel’s genocide that has seen the destruction of every university in Gaza. UChicago’s FJP chapter demands that this university and others be held accountable by fully disclosing the full scope of their involvement in the genocide in Gaza, divesting from all forms of related investment, and helping repair the harm that UChicago has caused. The University currently invests in index funds through Vanguard that invest with weapons manufacturers like Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin, and Boeing, whose weapons are being used by Israel in Gaza right now. According to Amnesty International, the University’s investment portfolio scores a 0 in Responsible Investments.
The crackdown against our students at the Popular University for Gaza and their right to free expression and protest the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians is indefensible. We will continue to speak forcefully in their defense and in defense of the millions in Gaza experiencing genocide, famine, and heartending grief.
WHAT: Press conference to announce UChicago Faculty Justice for Palestine support for student encampments.
WHO: A coalition of 120+ UChicago Faculty Members, along with student body and various pro-Palestine organizations on campus.
WHEN: Monday May 6, 9:30am
WHERE: University of Chicago, Main Quad: 5776 S University Ave, Chicago, IL, 60637
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University of Chicago Faculty for Justice in Palestine is a collective of over 120 University of Chicago faculty, staff, lecturers and post-docs who support the cause of Palestinian liberation. FJP supports and amplifies the work of Students for Justice in Palestine and other student groups struggling for Palestinian liberation at the University of Chicago. FJP supports the call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions and for an end to Israel’s occupation and colonization of Palestine. We insist on the fundamental rights of Palestinians to self-determination and equality, and we pledge to respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands. FJP rejects the conflation of support for Palestinian liberation and antisemitism; we stand against racism in all its manifestations.
Please contact fjpuchicago@gmail.com for more information or for faculty interviews.