St. Mark’s Bookshop Saved!

The beginning of November witnessed a major victory for independent, small businesses in New York City.  St. Mark’s Bookshop, a Lower East Side institution for over thirty years, was threatened with eviction by its landlord, Cooper Union, as it struggled to scrape together monies to meet its monthly rent.  The possibility of the store’s ouster by Cooper Union sparked a massive backlash from community activists, booklovers across the nation, and even celebrity personalities like Salman Rushdie.

On November 3, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who had arbitrated the dispute, announced that a deal between the bookstore and Cooper Union had been brokered which would allow the business to remain open for at least another year, and at a reduced rent. “I congratulate both sides for agreeing to new terms,” Stringer said, “and I also want to salute the small businesses, independent bookstores, artists, and activists that have traditionally made the East Village so special.”

Under the agreed upon terms, Cooper Union will slash the monthly rent charged to St. Mark’s Bookshop by $2,500, from $20,000 per month to $17, 500, and has forgiven the entirety of a $7,500 loan made to the store.  The Huffington Post reports that the shop, in return, has agreed to work with Cooper Union students to devise a business plan that will allow for sustainable growth in the short, medium, and long terms, and has a year to begin turning larger profits or they’re out.

Cooper Union, who is facing a budgetary crisis of its own, was forced to back down on its threats to evict St. Mark’s Bookshop after a massive media campaign was launched to defend the local business.  A petition that was sent to the school demanding the bookstore not be thrown out on the street, was signed by nearly 45,000 people. But ultimately, the store will need more than signatures to survive.  St. Mark’s Bookshop has been experiencing sagging sales for years with increased competition from mega-sellers such as Barnes and Noble’s and the move by many book buyers to purchase items from online distributors like Amazon.com.

In the meantime, the store is hosting a party to celebrate both its recent victory as well as its thirty-fourth year anniversary in the neighborhood. Those interested in swinging through to grab a glass of wine (and buy a book!) can do so on Thursday, December 1 from 5:30-7:30. The bookstore is located at 31 Third Avenue (one block north of St. Mark’s Place).

DSC Issues Important Resolutions in Response to Recent Events

On October 28, the Doctoral Students’ Council released three important resolutions in response to recent events and revelations that impact CUNY students directly.  The first resolution condemns New York Police Department spying on CUNY campuses and the targeting of Muslim student organizations. It expresses, in no uncertain terms, solidarity with the Brooklyn College faculty and the CUNY School of Law faculty in opposing these surveillance activities that were clearly demonstrated to be independent of any criminal investigation. Furthermore, the DSC resolved that it calls “upon CUNY’s central administration to condemn the violation of the NYPD-CUNY Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Response to Incidents and Events Occurring at the City University of New York,” which prohibits the police from spying on CUNY campuses.  Of course, it has never been made fully clear if the spying was going on with or without the approval or awareness of CUNY brass. Thus, the DSC also demanded that if the memorandum was not violated, that CUNY administrators “account publicly for it role in this surveillance.”  The resolution also calls upon the CUNY administration to “demand publicly that the NYPD inform these groups and individuals that they have been the subject of this surveillance and the nature of the evidence gathered,” that police commissioner Ray Kelly account publicly for these actions, and that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council immediately end all spying operations targeting members of the CUNY community.

The second resolution passed that day was issued in response to proposed changes in the CUNY Board of Trustees Bylaws that would significantly reduce the power of student governance to regulate student organizations and extra-curricular activity. The proposed changes are in direct violation of Article Fifteen of those same bylaws which express commitment to “student participation, responsibility, academic freedom and due process,” and were only presented to the student representatives ten days in advance before the BoT Committee on Student Affairs and Special Programs was scheduled to meet. The resolution demands that these proposals be rejected outright, and failing that, that the vote on changes be delayed “in order to allow for adequate university-wide discussion of these changes.” Finally, in an act of defiance against the Board’s power grab, the resolution reaffirms its sovereignty over student activity funds and its authority of student activities and organizations.

Finally, the DSC issued a resolution proclaiming solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Sighting its ability to bring national attention to income inequality, social injustice and corporate influence in politics—the very issues affecting the welfare of CUNY students and the communities of New York City more broadly—the DSC registered its support for the OWS movement and reasserted the rights of students, and all citizens, “to peaceably assemble, demonstrate, and petition businesses, the government, and CUNY for a redress of grievances.” For more on recent DSC action, and the full text of resolutions discussed above, please visit http://www.cunydsc.org/resolutions

Occupy CUNY Graduate Center

On the afternoon of November 17, as New York City was in the midst of a day-long series of actions protesting the unacceptable conditions of our nation’s—and indeed the world’s—organization of power, over one hundred CUNY students gathered in the lobby of the Graduate Center in midtown to join in solidarity, share their stories, and march as a group to a gathering in Union Square. According to eyewitness accounts, the assembly was the most inspired and meaningful moment of collective action at the Graduate Center in recent memory.  Students delivered impassioned, elegant statements of hope, outrage, and solidarity as their colleagues, GC faculty and staff, and NYPD and private security officers looked on in support and approval.

“Masses of Arab youth have turned to face that ugly stereotype of the backward Arab street, and they have spit poetry in its face,” said Rayya El Zein, an Arab-American student at the Graduate Center and a faculty member at the City College of New York. “In the exact same way, in this country, you all, we all have turned and faced that sticking, that stinking accusation of apathy and we have spit in its fucking face. When we say today that ‘we are the 99%’ and that we are occupying our public spaces and our public schools, we are saying that we are individuals who think, who feel, and who know better about our societies. And that we are not too weak, that we are not too afraid, to say: This shit is wrong and it will not continue in our names. When I look at us now, at all of us—here, there, everywhere, I see an international community of engaged, aware, and conscious young people. And that is an incredible thing.”

“I have a different story,” said one woman, who described herself as having been “a member of the one percent. “I used to work for Goldman Sachs. I moved to India for them, and I relocated a lot of jobs there and I saw how racist the organization was, by making the assumption that we could re-colonize India, with our ideology, with our jobs, making [Indians] work hours we would never work….Seeing you all here gives me hope.” Faculty and staff also spoke. “You know the faculty is supporting you in large numbers here at the GC,” said one GC staff member. But I also want you to know that staff are supporting you, too.”
At 2:30, the group left the Graduate Center and marched down Fifth Avenue from 34^th Street to Union Square. As the nearly two hundred students entered the square from the north, it was met hundreds more students from New York University, the New School, and Hunter College marching from the south, joining together in the square center for a student general assembly at 3:00. Soon after, the human microphone resounded with the proclamation that “Now, as students, we march!” And march they did down to Foley Square for an extraordinary evening of music, speeches, and the seizure of the Brooklyn Bridge by some 20,000 protesters demonstrating their dissent from the status quo.

Share on Facebook

Adjunct Healthcare under Attack—PSC Members fight back

The start of the new academic year could mark the beginning of an adjunct healthcare bloodbath if the rising cost of insurance, CUNY’s “meh” attitude, and the city’s blind eye to the welfare of adjuncts aren’t successfully confronted. For the time being, the PSC has been successfully been pushing back against the potential loss of health care for more than 1,700 CUNY adjuncts, but there is still plenty of work ahead

At its heart, the threat to adjunct health care is simple. At the very moment that the CUNY system develops an increasing dependency on adjunct labor, it has scaled back its fiscal commitments to part-time laborers, most glaringly in the case of healthcare coverage.  At current, CUNY only contributes about 20 percent of the total cost of adjunct health care through contributions to the PSC Welfare Fund, a cost which has jumped dramatically in recent years. As the basic health insurance premium has more than doubled in the last eight years—from $3,461 per member in 2003 to an incredible $8,061 in the current year—the amount that CUNY contributes has actually decreased almost $1,000, from $2,583 in 2003 to $1,675 in 2011.

The attempt to force CUNY to take a greater share of responsibility in devising a solution will be an uphill battle, however. While university brass have recently indicated a willingness to work with the union to achieve a structural solution to the problem of rising healthcare costs and the startling increases in the part-time labor pool, its actions have not been as encouraging. In the past decade, PSC reps have asked CUNY to work with them on a compromise solution that will shift some of the fiscal responsibility from the Welfare Fund to the university system and away from the individual laborers whom CUNY has come to rely upon.

CUNY, however, says that in fact it has not underfunded adjunct health insurance but instead has lived up to its obligations as outlined by past agreements with the union. As Pamela Silverblatt, The Vice Chancellor for Labor Affairs argues, “the union has raised the issue of health benefits for adjuncts in prior rounds of collective bargaining, and it has consistently agreed to settle its collective bargaining agreements at the specified funding levels. Despite the fact that the costs have escalated—by the Welfare Fund’s estimates adjunct health insurance will cost about $14 million in the upcoming year—the PSC has over many years and several rounds of bargaining agreed to the specified contributions to the Welfare Fund, and the University has consistently made the mutually agreed-upon payments.”

The Union, for its part, argues that Silverblatt’s response misrepresents the real issue, when she claims that CUNY has not underfunded adjunct health insurance.

“While CUNY has met its contractual funding obligation to the Welfare Fund, that is not the issue. The real issue is that CUNY, as the employer, has consistently resisted its responsibility to provide adequate, ongoing funding for adjunct health insurance for its eligible adjunct employees. Adjunct health insurance costs will grow to $14 million this year; yet CUNY will provide only $2.8 million of this cost. The union’s position is that we should work together to solve the real problem, and we urge the University to join us in this effort.”

Thus, CUNY adjuncts find themselves once again in the unenviable position of being stuck between two organizations, neither of which seems fully-committed to protecting their interests. It is imperative, therefore, that adjuncts put pressure on the PSC not only to defend the welfare fund, but to also push for meaningful advances in the extension of part-time employee protections and benefits, including permanent and stable health insurance for all adjuncts, significant wage increases, and real job security. What pressure organized adjuncts have placed on the union leadership has paid off.

On September 26, hundreds of adjuncts and other, vocal and supportive members of the PSC hit the pavement out in front of the Board of Trustees headquarters to protest the dismal state of health coverage for part-time labor. The protest was another spirited reminder that adjuncts and their supporters won’t take the deteriorating conditions of their professional, and therefore their personal, lives sitting down.

Those gathered received a small treat for their labors and willingness to come out and stand united behind part-time claims for equal treatment.  Barbara Bowen, president of the PSC, announced to the crowd (and, in fact, made the crowd repeat the announcement in unison) that Chancellor Matthew Goldstein had assured her that the board had requested that Albany provide full and permanent healthcare coverage for all adjuncts in the CUNY system.

While it has taken huge amounts of effort to get the Board to simply make a request of Governor Andrew Cuomo which in all likelihood will be laughed out of Albany, if we look at the numbers, the idea of full and permanent healthcare for part-timers isn’t so nuts. Said one HEO at the protest, “New York City has a budget of $66 billion and the state has a budget of $132 billion. $14 million for adjunct insurance is chump change in the bigger scope of things.” Asked why he was coming out for adjunct rights, he expressed solidarity, as well as a touch of healthy, self-interested pragmatism. “This is an assault on labor, and we feel that if they are coming for the adjuncts in the morning they will come for [the rest of us] at night.”

In Solidarity: LIU Faculty Hit the Streets to Protest Austerity

As CUNY campuses begin to organize for another academic year under the pressures of fiscal crisis, other local faculty unions are embroiled in their own fight against the administrative squeeze on labor.  On September 7, hundreds of faculty and staff at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University (LIU), as well as a healthy showing of PSC representatives, took to the streets to protest a ten-year wage freeze and dwindling benefit packages.

The protests came a day after negotiations between LIU and the faculty union, the Long Island University Faculty Federation—an affiliate of the AFT/NYSUT—broke down after the administration’s latest crappy offer was rejected by union representatives.  Reportedly, the university offered its part- and full-time staff a five-year deal where the wage freeze would remain intact for the first three years, followed by a paltry 2 percent raise in each the final two years.

The strike, which lasted for roughly a week, shut down 95 percent of the college’s classes, effectively bringing university life to a halt.  In the end, administrators returned to the table with a slightly better offer that was accepted by the striking workers. The new plan calls for a freeze in the first year of the new contract, a 1 percent base pay raise in the second, a 1.5 percent increase during the third, and then a 2 percent increase in the final two years of the deal. In addition, faculty members  were promised additional payments in the final four years of the contract, between half a percent and 2 percent if the university tuition revenues increase by more than 3 percent.

The Clarion reports other gains as well.  “The contract has some significant other gains—including the first ever paid office hour for LIU’s adjunct faculty: one paid office hour for those who teach more than nine contact hours per semester.”  On top of this, LIU has promised to make matching contributions to adjunct pensions for the first time ever. The union scored another significant victory by forcing a cap on the number of non-tenure track appointments to the university, which are no longer allowed to exceed more than 15 percent of the total full-time faculty lines.

File Under “Sorry, What?!?”: Anonymous Email Gets Department Chair Fired

An anonymous email sent to Medgar Evers College President William Pollard alleging inappropriate sexual relations between a faculty member and students led to the knee-jerk firing of Zulema Blair, chair of the school’s public administration department.  The unsigned email, sent from a Yahoo! account belonging to “DisgruntledSue” cuts right to the chase, accusing Blair of having sex with students, having a student’s baby, and being a member of the “elite Medgar Staff Slut List…You can’t turn a whore into a housewife,” the email concludes, “but you can definitely turn one into a Dean.”

Apparently Pollard was convinced by this reasoning. Two weeks after the email was sent, Pollard revoked the college’s tenure-track offer to Blair and axed her shortly thereafter. CUNY refused to comment on the situation, and would not answer inquiries as to whether an official investigation had been launched to determine the validity, or lack thereof, of the claims leveled in the anonymous message.

For her part, Blair is irate. “This e-mail is slander. It’s horrific, and I want whoever sent this out to be punished,” Blair told the New York Post. “This is character assassination. This does not speak to any work or any of my accomplishments at Medgar Evers College.” Indeed, New York State Senator Eric Adams recently honored Blair with public recognition of her contributions to academia and society more broadly. “Her academic activities spill out into the community, where she chairs the Black Brooklyn Empowerment Coalition, an organization committed to the political, economic, and social empowerment of Brooklyn residents of African descent,” Adams recently wrote. “Her role within this organization has motivated her to work collaboratively with other area leaders to empower members of the Central Brooklyn community via voter registration drives, political campaigns, education of formerly incarcerated individuals with respect to their voting rights, and more.”

The situation has not been resolved as the GC Advocate goes to press.  Meanwhile, Blair’s attorneys have filed suit to force Yahoo! To disclose the identity of the person registered as “DisgruntledSue,” an action the email provider has thus far refused. It doesn’t take a genius, or even an academic labor activist, to draw some fairly obvious conclusions about what may likely be in play.  According to Blair’s lawyer, the context is clear. “The obvious conclusion according to the papers that were filed is that the e-mail was a motivating factor not to grant her tenure.” Thus, the identity of the sender could offer a critical clue in understanding whether this is really about Blair’s supposed relationships with students, or whether a much pettier and cutthroat motivation may lurking behind the accusations, a motivation that has nothing to do with keeping students safe.

Brooklyn College Faculty Condemn NYPD Spying on CUNY Campuses

By now you’ve likely heard that the New York Police Department has been making a regular habit of spying on—you guessed it!—Muslim students across various CUNY colleges and beyond in recent months.  The story was first broken by veteran police investigative reporter Leonard Levitt at the start of September. According to Levitt, “The New York City Police Department has been spying on hundreds of Muslim mosques, schools, businesses, student groups, non-governmental organizations and individuals [targeting] virtually every level of Muslim life in New York City, according to a trove of pages of Intelligence Division documents.”

Of particular note to the CUNY community, Levitt revealed that “The NYPD has also been monitoring Muslim student associations at seven local colleges: City, Baruch, Hunter, Queens, LaGuardia, St. John’s and Brooklyn. The department calls the two student groups at Brooklyn and Baruch colleges “of concern” and has sent undercover detectives to spy on them, the documents reveal.” On top of that, a “lecturer” at Brooklyn College was identified as a “person of interest,” one of forty-two targeted around the city.

In response, faculty at Brooklyn drafted and passed a resolution condemning the NYPD actions, arguing that the snooping operation violated students and faculty rights and academic freedom more broadly. “The use of undercover police agents and the cultivation of police informers on campus has a chilling effect on the intellectual freedom necessary for a vibrant academic community,” the resolution stated.

The Faculty Council passed the resolution unanimously on September 13 after learning that undercover police officers were attending classes and meetings of campus organizations while pretending to be students. Alex Vitale, a professor of sociology at Brooklyn and author of the resolution told the Associated Press that “That’s what’s so troubling here: this was a giant fishing expedition,” an accusation the NYPD denies. “That seemed to be really beyond the pale of acceptable behavior, especially on a college campus,” Said Vitale. And it also may be against the law.  As it turns out, the spying was part of a CIA-sponsored endeavor to collect domestic intelligence on possible threats to national security, efforts that very well may violate laws that bar the agency from spying in the United States.

Share on Facebook

Glenn Beck’s nightly tour through the terrifying political landscape of his paranoid imagination inevitably includes a detour into the shadowy precincts of liberal thought, unfriendly territory where conspiracies to destroy the United States are incubated in every university classroom, and enemies of the state lie in wait to hijack the American dream.  A rotating cast of left-of center bogeymen haunts the narrative of Beck’s other America, infecting the brains of ordinary citizens with conspiratorial designs that, if not properly defended against, will ultimately bring about the structural collapse of the United States.

Over the past several weeks Beck has made a point of aggressively singling out Frances Fox Piven—professor of political science and sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center—as especially dangerous to American life and liberty.  Beck accuses Piven and her late husband, Richard Cloward, of being the intellectual architects of a revolutionary plot to overthrow the United States government. The so-called “Cloward-Piven strategy,” outlined in a 1966 article published by The Nation, argued that a concentrated welfare enrollment drive could ultimately lead to a guaranteed national income. For Beck, Cloward and Piven are a particularly potent touchstone for kicking off feverish fantasies.  They represent, in Beck’s mythology, “the roots of the tree of radicalism and revolution” that employ “fear and intimidation” to “overwhelm the system.”

What began as mildly amusing attention quickly turned worrisome as threats to Piven’s life began appearing on internet message boards and even in her electronic inbox after Beck’s website, The Blaze,  posted an essay on New Year’s Eve entitled “Frances Fox Piven Rings in the New Year by Calling for Violent Revolution.” “I’m all for violence and change Francis,” one reader wrote, “where do your loved ones live?”  Another chimed in that he had “5000 roundas [sic] ready and I’ll give My life [sic] to take Our freedom [sic] back. Taking Her life [sic] and any who would enslave My children [sic] and grandchildren and call for violence should meet their demise as They wish [sic]. George Washington didn’t use His freedom [sic] of speech to defeat the British, He [sic] shot them.” Still others warned Piven to “be very careful what you ask for honey… As I mentioned in previous posts…ONE SHOT…ONE KILL! …a few well placed marksmen with high powered rifles…then there would not be any violence.” One Beck supporter suggested that “We should blowup Piven’s office and home,” while another signed off by praying that “cancer find[s] you soon.”  According to The Nation, a particularly succinct antagonist summed up his message in the subject line of a personal email: “DIE YOU CUNT.”

Concerns for Piven’s personal safety have since led to increased security precautions and an investigation by the FBI. Despite these unpleasant circumstances, however, Piven has hardly put her life on hold. Since the new year, she has continued writing prodigiously, has appeared regularly on nationally syndicated radio and TV, and is currently teaching a class at the Graduate Center. The Advocate sat down with Piven to discuss the ugly causes and consequences of Beck’s bilious targeting, as well as the recent attack on academic freedom at Brooklyn College, possibilities for a poor and working people’s movement in the midst of the US economic crisis, and the state of American democracy.

I was hoping we could begin with a brief discussion of what’s been going on: where it came from, how it has affected you personally, and what it says about our current moment.

Well, it started almost two years ago.  I didn’t pay any attention to it, however, until last winter.  when some of my students told me about it.  Now, I don’t watch Glenn Beck very often.  But they told me about Beck’s “tree of revolution,” and that Richard and I were at the trunk of this tree that has all these branches going off in different directions.  My first reaction was that it was  it was funny, because it was so fantastical.  Who wouldn’t laugh if they were being given credit for the Students for a Democratic Society [movement], the Open Society Institute, ACORN, the election of Barack Obama, the financial crisis, and probably other stuff which I am forgetting right now.

But as it’s gone on, I have been forced to think about it a little more seriously. I think it is dangerous in and of itself, and also because it’s a symptom of serious problems in American democracy.  It’s dangerous because our political culture includes a tradition of violent extremism, and also because there are always some loose nuts out there who are provoked by this kind of ranting.  But it’s a symptom of a bigger problem, I think.  The bigger problem is that there are a lot of people in the United States who are anxious, discontented, who are nostalgic for “the way things were,” who don’t understand the big changes that have occurred including deindustrialization and the decline of American power, or the increasing diversity of the American population,  or the election of a black president, or changes in sexual and family patterns.  These are very hard developments to decipher, to analyze, to explain.  They’re hard for academics to explain!  It’s also difficult to understand the government policies that are justified as dealing with these problems, or dealing with with the economic recession.

That’s a situation that I think creates a sort-of available space for propaganda.  That’s why Glenn Beck and company are dangerous: because they are propagandists.  They tell a nutty story about what is happening in the United States instead of trying to understand what’s happening, trying to understand who’s responsible.  Instead, they point at me and say, “SHE’S RESPONSIBLE!”  Well, think how ridiculous this is.  They also keep reiterating, “She is 78 years old!”  And I’m responsible?  This is paranoia.

Think about what we understand to be the elemental requirements for democracy.  People are supposed to assess their circumstances, the circumstances of their community, to discuss those circumstances—why they occurred, what government can do about it—and then vote accordingly. But, if these crazy stories are poured into what you might call the public mind or segment of the public’s mind, it blocks the possibility for this kind of democratic discourse.

How do you make sense of the violent threats against you, especially in light of the Gabriel Giffords shooting, and the Beck-inspired assassination plots of Byron Williams? Is Barbara Ehrenreich correct to suggest that the possession or use of guns themselves have come to represent political action to some Americans?  And if so, do you see a concerted effort by the far right to mobilize around this sense of “civic engagement,” for lack of a better way of describing it?

Well, I think that guns have always played a role in American politics culture.  That role perhaps grows and contracts, but there have always been extremist groups that have turned to guns and especially to forms of violence that play a dramatic symbolic role, like lynchings.  So I’m not sure that this is new. It may be surging right now—maybe because of a black president and the economic downturn—but it’s not new.  What is new, I think, is the potential power of propaganda in American life.  And that’s in part because of the media, and the role of big money, and who owns the media.  After all, it’s not Glenn Beck, it’s Rupert Murdoch—let’s face it.  Glenn Beck is an idiot: an overweight, neurotic, character who hit on this way of building an audience and making a lot of money.  But FOX News gave him his platform.

Why do you think Beck has fastened on to you? How did you and your late husband end up at the trunk of the “tree of revolution”?

Why does he fasten on me?  Partly it is accident: one of way or the other, he came into contact with David Horowitz, Fred Siegel Jim Sleeper and other annoying people who made the move from the far left to the far right in the 1970s, because the pay was better on the other side, or whatever.  They, along with Thomas Sowell, have a line which is very familiar that ordinary people themselves never rise up and make trouble on their own, it’s always outside agitators that instigate them.  And they say that Richard and I were the agitators that were responsible for the welfare rights movement and later the effort to get liberalized voter registration.  Thomas Sowell said we were for the responsible for the demand for affirmative action—“black people didn’t want that!”

Still, they could have picked on lots of others, so its accidental that they picked on me.  They could even have picked on one of their own! Just take a look at what ran in Ramparts magazine when David Horowitz was still an editor!  But I think that what’s not accidental is that they’re turning to someone who was an advocate for expanded democratic rights for poor and minority people in the United States, and expanded political rights for poor and minority people in the United States—that’s not accidental.  The Sixties movements drive them crazy. Actually, the Thirties movements also drive them crazy! But the Sixties movements have a kind of special edge to them because they did play a role in the election of Barack Obama, who is easily vilified and demonized because he is African-American.

If it’s true, as you say, that Glenn Beck’s narrative gains traction because of the complexity of American politics, what’s the remedy, what’s the way forward?  In other words, what are the prospects for reinvigorating a working class movement in American politics?

Well, there is the potential. Some of the conditions are right.  We have a president who’s not a champion of such movements, but who would nevertheless be vulnerable to them and forced to be responsive to them.  We have a clear villain in the financial sector, a villain that is not only similar to the economic royalists that Franklin Delano Roosevelt ranted against, but who are patently illegal in many of their actions.  And we have a lot of people who are losing their homes, we have people suffering under mountains of debt, not just credit card but student debt.  A lot of people are unemployed and many more have taken big wage cuts.

But at the same time, I do think there a lot of organizing problems that we have to solve. Here’s what I’ve come to think we should do.  We have to work on the organizing problems—how to bring people together; how to transform what is for many people a kind of humiliation—they’re debtors, or they are unemployed—we have to figure out how to transform this humiliation into indignation; we have to figure out how to identify targets for their indignation and their anger; how to shape local actions that have some muscle that can be brought to bear on the centers of power.  Of course, there are people working on this, but the stuff that’s happened so far has been very small. Still, I see no reason that it can’t be much bigger, that it can’t get much bigger.

Can you talk a bit about the recent events at Brooklyn College: specifically, how you view what happened there, and what ways, if any, you see its connection to Glenn Beck’s targeting of you as part of a larger right-wing attack on the American university?

Well, first of all, I don’t think it’s quite right to suggest that my situation is linked to what happened at Brooklyn College.  As to that situation, I think that administrators at CUNY—and I include the president of Brooklyn College here—administrators at CUNY are very sensitive on the issues of Israel and Zionism, and that’s partly because of the larger political environment of New York.  It’s also because of the history of CUNY.  There have historically been a lot of Jews at CUNY, there are lots of Jews on faculty. And it’s because Jewish politics—and by that I mean the politics of American Jews—has itself been very distorted, I think, by Israeli policy.  And so, you have a sensitivity that leads to the events at Brooklyn college.. I remember another: the Graduate Center graduation a few years ago in which a trustee—invited to give his blessing to the graduates—used the occasion to launch a kind of tirade against any anti-Zionist sentiment in the institution.

It’s true that David Horowitz, who is one of the gang promoting the idea there is a Cloward and Piven theory of orchrestrated crisis to bring down capitalism, did work with with Campus Watch a few years ago, and a lot of neo-cons are hyped-up on the issue of Israel.  In that sense, maybe there is a connection [between the Brooklyn College and Glenn Beck fiascos].  However, the university is the one institution in the United States that hasn’t been completely swamped by the march to the right in the country.  When the American Sociological Association’s three most recent presidents issued a statement defending me, they got an incendiary response from somebody called “Shadow Merchant.”  Randall Collins, one of the presidents, emailed Shadow Merchant to ask him how he had gotten the statement so quickly. In response Shadow Merchant laid out a big plan—I think Shadow Merchant is a probably some right-wing professor emeritus—but Shadow Merchant said, and I’m paraphrasing of course, “this is the counter-revolution and one of the things we’re going to do is mob every lefty professor.”  And he concluded his tirade by heaping praise on Senator Joseph McCarthy.

So, I think that the Right will target the universities, and that we have a responsibility to stand up to this kind of Right, and we especially have a responsibility to stand up to the propaganda of the Right.  Lunacy is not good for democracy.

Speaking of which, what do you make of the state of our democracy look like at present?

Well, democracy—understood as electoral representative democracy—is in a lot of trouble. Now, some of that comes from the growing role of business in American politics: the concentrated resources that business interests groups bring to bear on campaigns and candidates as lobbyists, as big-money contributors, and the influence they have on the parties, as well.

But some of the trouble also comes from the influence of propaganda in a society that is very difficult to understand for the ordinary citizen.  One has to have explanations for what happens, and the role of government in what happens,  in order to do one’s democratic duty as a citizen and as a voter.  American politics is hard to understand.  The fact that it is so dense, so complicated, so opaque and turgid opens the way for lunatic propaganda.  And sometimes not so lunatic!  The right-wing propaganda campaign that has now been going on for forty years—a campaign that is sometimes referred to as the politics of distraction—to try to wean the American working class away from New Deal policies and the Democratic Party by raising cultural issues that largely have to do with race and sex. This larger campaign is perhaps not  lunatic, but neither is it a contribution to democratic discourse.

Share on Facebook

Wel­come to the Aca­d­e­mic Free­dom at CUNY blog. We’ve been cov­er­ing the recent sit­u­a­tion of polit­i­cal purg­ing at Brook­lyn Col­lege and any related news since Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 28. Most recent updates will appear at the top with a EST stamp.

Day 6

10:00am L Magazine has been covering the scandal at Brooklyn College since its start. Their most recent piece (which includes a call for Gould’s resignation!) can be accessed here, as well as their story on whether the college is held captive by political interests which can be found here.

9:20am Huffington Post ran a story on Kristofer Petersen-Overton’s reappointment at Brooklyn College.  It can be accessed here.

9:00am The let­ters con­tinue to flood the admin­is­tra­tive inboxes at Brook­lyn Col­lege, and the GC Advo­cate in sup­port of aca­d­e­mic free­dom at CUNY. The qual­ity and focus of all the let­ters, from stu­dents, alumni, aca­d­e­mics and con­cerned cit­i­zens has been truly stun­ning, inspi­ra­tional, pow­er­ful, and as evi­denced by Brook­lyn College’s deci­sion to reverse its ear­lier actions, effective.

A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the events that pre­ceded tonight’s vic­tory. We’ll be run­ning all of the ones we have received that have not yet been made avail­able as a pub­lic record and tes­ta­ment to the orga­nized efforts on the part of those who stand up in the face of polit­i­cal bul­ly­ing to defend the bedrock of aca­d­e­mic free­dom upon which higher edu­ca­tion in the United States is built.

A note of appreciation on Brooklyn College’s decision to reverse their earlier action to fire Kristofer Petersen-Overton from Robert Vitalis, Professor of Political Sceince at the University of Pennsylvania:

Dear President Gould:

I am writing to applaud your decision to allow the political science department to employ Kristofer Petersen-Overton to teach his contracted MA course on Middle East politics. As someone who has taught this subject since 1987, most recently at Penn since 1999 where I also directed the university’s US Education Department-funded (Title VI) Middle East Center until 2006, I have followed this case about as closely as I have followed unfolding events in Egypt. The connection is not so distant and indirect as one might think. In both places there are important norms and values on the line.

It appears that your administration ultimately recognized, as was clear to me and I assume to my colleagues in the political science department at Brooklyn College, that Petersen-Overton’s syllabus reflected disciplinary conventions in all respects. It is in fact impossible to tell his course design apart from those taught in virtually all research universities. A key difference is that my colleagues across the country don’t typically have our syllabi investigated by politicians with an axe to grind, nor are our administrations likely to bend to such blatant efforts at disrupting the education of advanced students in political science or any other discipline.

With deep appreciation,

Robert Vitalis

Share on Facebook

At 6:00pm this evening, Brooklyn College will officially announce that it has decided to reverse its earlier decision to fire Kristofer Petersen-Overton from his class on Middle East Politics and rehire him immediately and unconditionally.

The Advocate thanks everyone who contributed their voices to the defense of academic freedom at CUNY this past week.  Your hard work and energies helped defeat political pressures that sought to compromise the institional integrity of Brooklyn College and the City University of New York. 

Updates to follow as they become available!

Share on Facebook

Wel­come to the Aca­d­e­mic Free­dom at CUNY blog. We’ve been cov­er­ing the recent sit­u­a­tion of polit­i­cal purg­ing at Brook­lyn Col­lege and any related news since Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 28. Most recent updates will appear at the top with a EST stamp.

Day 4

11:30pm     The letters continue to flood the administrative inboxes at Brooklyn College, and the GC Advocate in support of academic freedom at CUNY.  The quality and focus of all the letters, from students, alumni, academics and concerned citizens has been truly stunning, inspirational, powerful, and as evidenced by Brooklyn College’s decision to reverse its earlier actions, effective. 

A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the events that preceded tonight’s victory.  We’ll be running all of the ones we have received that have not yet been made available as a public record and testament to the organized efforts on the part of those who stand up in the face of political bullying to defend the bedrock of academic freedom upon which higher education in the United States is built.

From Leila Fawaz, Issam M. Fares Professor of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies and Founding Director, Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University:

Dear President Gould and Dean Tramontano,

I am writing to you as a faculty who has great regard for your university, and as a friend and colleague in Middle East studies of Selma Botman, former administrator at CUNY.

I was distressed to hear about the way Kristofer Peterson-Overton was treated, following the charge of New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind. I hope that you will reinstate Kristofer Petersen-Overton.  A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have noted that this brand of discrimination has no place at Brook­lyn Col­lege. The foundations of the principles of academic freedom are essential to our educational system, and good leadership is to insure that they be respected. I  hope to hear about your efforts in sup­port of Kristofer Petersen-Overton and the rights of all fac­ulty in the CUNY system.

Sincerely,

Leila Fawaz

11:15pm     For those that didn’t catch it earlier, Salon has coverage of today’s events, including the official statement from Brooklyn College on their surprise decision to reverse their earlier action of firing Kristofer Petersen-Overton. You can access it here.

11:00pm     Dov Hikind, the State Assemblyman who initially pressured Brooklyn College to fire Kristofer Petersen-Overton issued a response to the reversal of that decision this evening.  It can be accessed here.  Predictably, Hikind continues to base his public position on the twin pillars of innuendo and an utter disregard for facts. 

10:45pm     The letters continue to flood the administrative inboxes at Brooklyn College, and the GC Advocate, in support of academic freedom at CUNY.  The quality and focus of all the letters, from students, alumni, academics and concerned citizens has been truly stunning, inspirational, powerful, and as evidenced by Brooklyn College’s decision to reverse its earlier actions, effective. 

A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the events that preceded tonight’s victory.  We’ll be running all of the ones we have received that have not yet been made available as a public record and testament to the organized efforts on the part of those who stand up in the face of political bullying to defend the bedrock of academic freedom upon which higher education in the United States is built.

From Jill Lepore, David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and staff writer for the New Yorker:

Dear President Gould and Dean Tramontano,

Sincerely,

Jill Lepore

10:30pm    The letters continue to flood the administrative inboxes at Brooklyn College, and the GC Advocate in support of academic freedom at CUNY.  The quality and focus of all the letters, from students, alumni, academics and concerned citizens has been truly stunning, inspirational, powerful, and as evidenced by Brooklyn College’s decision to reverse its earlier actions, effective. 

A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the events that preceded tonight’s victory.  We’ll be running all of the ones we have received that have not yet been made available as a public record and testament to the organized efforts on the part of those who stand up in the face of political bullying to defend the bedrock of academic freedom upon which higher education in the United States is built.

From Thomas Dumm, William H. Hastie ’25 Professor of Political Ethics in the department of Political Science at Amherst College:

Dear President Gould:

It has come to my attention that an adjunct professor of political science at CUNY has been fired under what can only be called suspicious circumstances. The cover reason for the firing is that he is not qualified to teach a graduate seminar, given that he is not yet a Ph.D. But the department of political science had hired the man, and surely was aware of his qualifications. Even were there ongoing concerns, to fire him a week before his seminar was to begin is simply unfair.

The suspicion arises, given the contact of a politician protesting the course in question, of a direct political interference in a matter that ought to protected by the clear tenets of academic freedom. It is disturbing to see such a development occur at one of our great public universities. Especially given the current political climate in the United States, it seems craven to buckle to political pressure such as this. Please, I ask you to reconsider this decision.

Sincerely yours, 

Thomas Dumm 

5:15pm    BREAKING:  Early reports indicate that Brooklyn College has decided to reverse its initial decision to fire Kristofer Petersen-Overton and reinstate him to his Middle East Politics class immediately and unconditionally.  The college will make an announcement at 6:00pm EST.  More to come as the story develops!!!

2:45pm    A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Jackson Lears, Board of Governors Professor of History at Rutgers University:

Dear President Gould,

I am writing to express my deep concern about Brooklyn College’s decision to fire Kristofer Petersen-Overton, in response to pressure from a New York State Assemblyman.  This was clearly a departmental matter. Allowing politicians to shape what goes on in the classroom poses a direct threat to faculty governance and academic freedom.  I urge you to reconsider your decision.

Sincerely,

Jackson Lears

1:05pm    BREAKING: The Department of Political Science at Brooklyn College voted unanimously today to recommend that Kristofer Petersen-Overton be hired to teach Politics of the Middle East (Political Science 7713) during the spring semester of 2011.  The Political Science Appointments Committee then voted unanimously to officially hire Mr. Petersen-Overton.  As in all cases, the department will continue to provide excellent instruction to our students and full support to our entire teaching staff.

12:45pm    Kristofer Petersen-Overton’s appearance this morning on Democracy Now! can be heard online here.  Jump to 9:38 for the start of the segment.

10:45am    A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Joan Wallach Scott, Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I write to express my dismay at your decision to fire Kristofer Peterson-Overton from his teaching position at Brooklyn College.  When I served on the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee of the American Association of University Professors, we had a distressing number of cases of outside pressure from what can only be called lobbyists for the current Israeli regime, who demanded the firing of instructors they deemed unsuitable.  Their reasons were often cloaked in arguments similar to Dov Hikind’s–that they were not “objective”; that they were not qualified; that they were anti-Semitic (the confusion of anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel is widespread among these political activists).  These were all faculty who had been vetted already for their qualifications and found suitable.  I assume that Mr. Peterson-Overton was not hired blindly, without consideration for his abilities to teach the material he was teaching.  And I am sure that it was his views and not his credentials that Mr. Hikind didn’t like. 

The academy has traditionally been a place where critical views are protected by academic freedom.  In the humanities and social sciences “objectivity” is not a relevant standard.  It is interpretation that is presented, debated, and discussed in classes and in published scholarship.  Academic freedom means the protection of critical views, the right of a qualified teacher to teach what he deems appropriate educational material.  The preemptive firing of Mr. Peterson-Overton is a capitulation to outsiders who use political pressure and threats of bad publicity to deny academic freedom to university teachers with whose views they disagree.  There is a long history of such intervention in the academy, always to the detriment of the values we ought to be upholding and to the practices that have long distinguished higher education in America.  In the name of academic freedom and of the survival of universities as centers of unfettered learning, I urge you to reverse your decision and put Mr. Peterson-Overton back in the classroom where he belongs.

Sincerely,

Joan W. Scott

8:00am    A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From John L. Esposito, University Professor and Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano:

As an academic raised in New York with family and friends who have attended CUNY and a former colleague, Selma Botman, who was an administrator at your greta university, I wa ssurprised and saddened to learn of othe university’s decision to prevent Kristofer Peterson-Overton from teaching his course and the charge of New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind. Academic freedom is the foundation of our educational system and critical to the integrity of what we do. I very much hope that you will reconsider the university’s decision.

John L. Esposito

12:25am    A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Laura Tanenbaum, Assistant Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano:

I am writing to express my deep concern over the firing of Professor Kristofer Peterson-Overton following complaints by a member of New York’s State Assembly. As a faculty member at LaGuardia Community College and a proud member of the CUNY community, I find this threat to academic freedom particularly troubling. In order to preserve an environment of free intellectual inquiry, it is essential that hiring decisions be made by scholars and teachers, not by the whims of politicians.

Given that graduate students without PhDs have frequently taught masters courses at CUNY, and given the timing of your decision, the claim that Professor Peterson-Overton was let go due to a lack of qualifications lacks credibility. In addition, this case sense a chilling message to the many adjunct faculty who depend on semester by semester appointments to make their living. It is essential that these faculty members, no less than those with full-time appointments and tenure, be able to use their professional judgment while pursuing scholarship and designing courses, without concern for the interference of politicians more concerned with misleading soundbites than meaningful discussion and debate.

I urge to reconsider this decision and reinstate Professor Peterson-Overton. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Laura Tanenbaum

12:05am     Good morning!  Wel­come to Day 4 of the Advo­cate’s Aca­d­e­mic Free­dom at CUNY Blog. You can view Sunday’’s updates here.

Share on Facebook

The Advo­cate has drafted a let­ter that can be sent to the chair of the English depart­ment at Brook­lyn Col­lege in defense of Kristofer Petersen-Overton. Please take a moment and email Pro­fes­sor Ellen Tremper, demand­ing that she sup­port Petersen-Overton and aca­d­e­mic free­dom at CUNY this com­ing week as Brook­lyn College’s var­i­ous depart­ments hold emer­gency meet­ings to decide how to proceed. Specifically, it is imper­a­tive that Petersen-Overton be hired to teach the course as orig­i­nally agreed. She can be con­tacted via email at etremper@brooklyn.cuny.edu. ***

Dear Pro­fes­sor Tremper,

I am writ­ing to encour­age you to demon­strate lead­er­ship this com­ing week when the var­i­ous depart­ments of Brook­lyn Col­lege meet to dis­cuss the vio­la­tion of aca­d­e­mic free­dom being per­pe­trated by the admin­is­tra­tion in the case of Kristofer Petersen-Overton.

As you know, Mr. Petersen-Overton was dis­missed by Provost William Tra­mon­tano at the urg­ing of State Assem­bly­man Dov Hikind. As a num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have noted, this brand of neo-McCarthyism has no place at Brook­lyn Col­lege and must not be tolerated.

I ask that you lead your depart­ment in stand­ing up to this polit­i­cal bul­ly­ing and help ensure that the integrity of the col­lege — built in no small mea­sure upon the foun­da­tions of the prin­ci­ple of aca­d­e­mic free­dom — remains intact. Specifically, it is imper­a­tive that Mr. Petersen-Overton be rein­stated to teach the course on Mid­dle East Pol­i­tics as orig­i­nally agreed.

I’ll be keep­ing informed of the events as they unfold at Brook­lyn Col­lege, and look for­ward to hear­ing about your efforts in sup­port of Kristofer Petersen-Overton and the rights of all fac­ulty in the CUNY system.

Yours,

Share on Facebook

Wel­come to the Aca­d­e­mic Free­dom at CUNY blog. We’ve been cov­er­ing the recent sit­u­a­tion of polit­i­cal purg­ing at Brook­lyn Col­lege and related news since Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 28. Most recent updates will appear at the top with a EST stamp.

We are now officially into Day4. View Monday’s updates here.

Day 3

11:45pm    Distinguished faculty and public intellectuals aren’t the only voices expressing their concern over recent events at Brooklyn College.  The administrative offices at the school have also been flooded with letters and emails from brave graduate and undergraduate students protesting the violation of academic freedom within their university. 

From the always eloquent Mike Lubing, graduate of the law school at the University of Wisconsin and currently a student in the Comparative Literature program at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Teaching Fellow at Hunter College and a member of boh the Graduate Council of the Doctoral Student Council and the Comparative Literature Executive Committee:

Dear Provost Tramontano,

Michael Lubing

11:10pm    The Advocate is looking for Twitter-savvy volunteers who plan to be on the campus of Brooklyn College any or every day this week, and might be interested in being on-the-ground reporters for the Advocate.  Interested social-networkers are encouraged to email us at CUNYAdvocate@gmail.com for more details.   

11:00pm    For all the tweeting songbirds out there, a new hash tag has been created to collect together relevant tweets in the twitterverse, beginning tomorrow.  Please search #CUNYcrisis for the latest updates on Twitter.  The Advocate has encouraged Democracy Now! to employ this hashtag as it reports on the situation at Brooklyn College, and we will be doing the same. 

10:45pm    A Facebook page has been created to aggregate and publicize information related to this week’s rally in defense of academic freedom outside the Brooklyn College Provost’s office.  It can be accessed and joined here.

10:00pm    A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Christopher Stone, Associate Professor of Arabic and Head of the Arabic Division in the Department of Classical and Oriental Studies at Hunter College, CUNY:

8:00pm   The Advo­cate has drafted the fifth in a series of let­ters that can be directed to the var­i­ous chair­per­sons of aca­d­e­mic depart­ments at Brook­lyn Col­lege. Please take a moment to send along this note, or one of your own craft­ing, to Ellen Tremper, chair of English. Her email is included in the link above.

6:30pm    A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at Harvard University:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramantano:
 
I write to protest your decision to fire Kristofer Petersen-Overton, who had previously been appointed to teach a course on Middle East politics at Brooklyn College, and to urge you to reinstate him immediately.  I have read a number of published accounts about the case and it is clear to me that your decision violated the core principle of academic freedom that is essential to a healthy scholarly community.  It is therefore not surprising that this case is attracting growing attention and causing a public outcry among concerned scholars.
 
There is no question that Mr. Petersen-Overton was qualified to teach the course for which he was hired, and the proposed syllabus for the course consists of a substantial number of standard works in the subject area.  It is also clear that he had committed no offense or infraction that would justify your decision to rescind his hiring, and there was no sign that he was about to act in a manner that would bring any discredit on Brooklyn College.  There is also no evidence that he intended to indoctrinate his students, or to impose his own political views upon them.
 
The sole reason he was terminated, in fact, is because a politician with no academic standing didn’t like some of Mr. Petersen-Overton’s views on the subject of Israel.  Those views, it is worth emphasizing, are hardly outside the mainstream within the academic community. Nor would they be regarded as beyond-the-pale in Israel itself.  In short, nothing in Mr. Petersen-Overton’s background or behavior justified his termination.
 
The principle of academic freedom is not an ideal that we invoke only to defend views with which we agree.  On the contrary, it is there to protect those who say things that may be controversial or outside today’s reigning orthodoxy.  Because none of us can know which ideas and arguments will one day be vindicated, it is essential that we encourage faculty and students to express ideas openly and freely, to debate them vigorously, and to make up their own minds.  That principle makes imaginative scholarship possible, and protects us from even well-intentioned attempts to impose a particular view on students or faculty.  That freedom of inquiry and expression is one of the great strengths of the American system of higher education, and one of the main reasons why it has outperformed countries where governments routinely dictate how scholars should think, write, and teach.
 
Having served as Associate Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago (1996-99) and as Academic Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard (2002-2006), I have some experience with the pressures that university administrators can face.  Nonetheless, it is our responsibility as academic leaders to defend our institutions against such pressure, and to insure that faculty and students can think, write, teach and learn in an atmosphere that it insulated from political pressure.   By bowing to such pressure in this case, you have undermined that principle and tarnished the reputation and standing of Brooklyn College. 
 
I therefore urge you to reconsider your decision.  As you reflect on it, you may wish to ponder an analogous case from a few years ago.  Back in 2007, external pressure similar to that which you experienced led the president of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota to rescind a speaking invitation to Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu.  There was an immediate public outcry, and the same president wisely chose to rethink his initial decision and reissue the invitation.  This decision was widely praised at the time, as you can read from this account of the case (http://www.startribune.com/local/11606811.html).  

By reinstating Mr. Petersen-Overton, you have the opportunity to reaffirm your commitment to the principle of academic freedom and to earn similar kudos.
 
Sincerely,

5:45pm   Democracy Now!  will be running a segment on tomorrow’s show about the situation at Brooklyn College.  Details will follow as soon as they become available!

5:15pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Ashley Dawson, Associate Professor of English at The Graduate Center, CUNY:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I’m writing to express my concern about the decision taken by Brooklyn College to fire an adjunct professor who is a PhD student at the CUNY Graduate Center.  From what I’ve heard about the case, the instructor in question has been fired — less than a week before the semester has begun — for his political views rather than for any evidence of misconduct in the classroom.

As the editor of a book on academic freedom, an activist with the AAUP, and a frequent writer on the history of threats to independent thinking both within the U.S. academy and elsewhere, I know that there’s a very slippery slope once you begin firing professors for their purported beliefs rather than for concrete behavior in the classroom.  Particularly in today’s polarized intellectual climate, in which a Distinguished Professor at the Grad Center has been the subject of death threats after being targeted by a Fox Channel commentator, I believe we must stand firm behind the core principles of academic freedom.

While I’m sure that you’re aware of these issues as well, I do not think that your decision to fire the instructor in question bodes well for Brooklyn College or for CUNY as a whole.  I would urge you to reconsider this decision.

Best,

Ashley

4:50pm Students at the Graduate Center and Brooklyn College and faculty from across the university have announced plans for a rally and protest in defense of academic freedom in front of the Provost’s offices at Brooklyn College, Thursday afternoon at 12:00pm. Organizers are asking readers to share the following announcement widely within the BC and CUNY student communities:

Stop Attacks on Academic Freedom! Reinstate Kristofer Petersen-Overton!

Just a week before the start of spring semester classes, Kristofer Petersen-Overton was fired from his position as an adjunct lecturer of political science at Brooklyn College. A scholar highly regarded by many distinguished faculty at CUNY, Petersen-Overton was scheduled to teach a Middle East Politics course. His firing by Provost William Tramontano came hours after college President Karen Lee Gould was contacted by a New York State assemblyman who complained about the instructor’s academic writings on Israel and the Palestinians. It is clear that Petersen-Overton’s dismissal was the product of political pressure.

The college’s actions are a clear violation of academic freedom, including the university’s own official policy. We demand that Petersen-Overton be fully reinstated in his position, and that his course on Middle East Politics be allowed to proceed as originally designed. The university must respect the academic freedom of all its employees and students. This is especially crucial with contingent faculty like Petersen-Overton, who receive none of the protections of tenure despite the fact that they teach the majority of courses at the City University of New York.

Stopping attacks on academic freedom is crucial to the rights of all of us who work and study at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York!

Rally details
When: Thursday, February 3, 12:00pm-2pm
Where: Brooklyn College
Outside Boylan Hall in the campus Quad, near Bedford Ave.
Trains: Q Local to the Avenue H station, at Avenue H & East 16th Street. Walk 4 blocks east to the Ocean Avenue entrance. #2 (7th Avenue Local) or #5 (Lexington Avenue Express) to the Flatbush Avenue/Nostrand Avenue station.

Event endorsed by: CUNY Adjunct Project, CUNY Contingents Unite, CUNY Mobilization Network, Brooklyn College Student Union, Doctoral Students’ Council, Brooklyn College Palestine Club, and others TBA.

4:45pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Stanley N. Katz, Director of the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Lecturer with the rank of Professor there, one of the leading legal historians in the United States and former head of the ACLS:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramantano,

I am writing to add my voice to those of the other scholars who have written to you in concern over the treatment of Kristofer Petersen-Overton in connection with his apparent dismissal from his part-time adjunct teaching position in your political science department.  I do not know either Petersen-Overton or his work, but I am persuaded by the testimony of colleagues who are familiar with both that he was a perfectly plausible choice to teach a low level graduate course on Middle Eastern politics, which is a research interest of mine – I collaborated on a book recently that examined the peace movements in Palestine and Israel.  The College has made the case that the decision to rescind his appointment was on the basis of insufficient professional qualification, since he is himself just a graduate student.  In principle, that might be a good reason, but members of your own faculty testify that it is not a policy that has been followed in the College, in which other graduate students are offering master’s level courses.  If that is the case, it makes me wonder whether the reasons for overturning the judgment of the department were not political rather than educational, and I would then regard the decision as a serious infringement of academic freedom.  Brooklyn College has a great history as a landmark public institution, and I would urge you to protect its long-standing reputation by reconsidering the Petersen-Overton decision.

Yours sincerely,

Stanley N. Katz

4:15pm An excellent story ran today at Mondoweiss by Brooklyn College undergrad Zoe Zenowich on the controversy surrounding Kristofer Petersen-Overton’s firing from the school.  Of particular note, Zenowich writes that

The administration’s and Hikind’s narrative contradict both each other, Petersen-Overton’s own account, other faculty members, and that of Janet Elise Johnson, an Associate Professor in the Political Science department and a member of the Appointments Committee. Johnston says she was not present during the meetings on Petersen-Overton’s position, but claims that “the argument that it’s about qualifications doesn’t stand up to the evidence; we have other adjunct professors who teach for the Masters Program, but don’t have PhDs … he was not officially appointed by he had been asked to teach. He is qualified.” While Johnston cannot comment on the accusations that political motives propelled the decision to dismiss Petersen-Overton from his position, she maintains that “in reality CUNY and Brooklyn College are under funded, and under resourced, and have been so for decades,” which further explains the frequent appointments of doctoral students from CUNY programs.

4:01pm The Doctoral Students’ Council at the Graduate Center, CUNY, has issued the following statement to its department representatives in support of Kristofer:

We are writing to inform you and the student body of the Graduate Center about the unfortunate and unacceptable situation that Kristofer Petersen-Overton, a fellow doctoral student in Political Science, now faces.  We ask that you forward this email to fellow students and colleagues throughout the New York metropolitan area and beyond that you know will share our grave concern for this attack on intellectual and academic freedom, the political autonomy of  colleges and universities, and the rights of adjunct faculty.  Included below is an official statement issued by the President of the Profession Staff Congress for CUNY and links to news coverage of the this event.  For those of you willing to join the fight to protect academic freedom and reappoint Kristofer Petersen-Overton, we have also attached advocacy materials to facilitate contacting the CUNY Chancellor, the President of Brooklyn College, and the Provost of Brooklyn College.

3:30pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I have been following the case of Kristofer Petersen-Overton, who was hired to teach a course on Middle East politics at Brooklyn College, and was then fired before he set foot in the classroom. It is clear to me and virtually everyone else I know who has followed this case that he was dismissed because he has written critically about Israel and his proposed syllabus contained readings that were also critical of Israel. That led some of Israel’s powerful supporters to contact you and pressure you to rescind his appointment, which you did. Of course, this is not the first case of this sort, although it has attracted more attention than most of the previous cases.

Your decision to fire Mr. Petersen-Overton (who I have never met) is deeply disturbing because it violates academia’s most important norm: the right to speak freely on any topic and not be punished for making unpopular or controversial arguments. I have been in the academic world for 35 years and everyone I have encountered at colleges and universities across our country cherishes the idea that we do not penalize students or scholars because of their political views, even if we intensely dislike what some others have to say. As you surely know, there is no way academia can work well if we do not tolerate rival views. Indeed, anyone committed to building a great department has to be willing to hire people who think about the world in fundamentally different ways. After all, we make progress by disagreeing with each other and improving our own work by listening to the ideas of those we disagree with.  Moreover, we try to expose students to a wide variety of views, and then let them figure out for themselves whether a particular scholar’s arguments are right or wrong. Our commitment to academic freedom is what makes American colleges and universities great, and we should all be intensely committed to protecting that indispensable norm. And for sure, academic administrators like you should be especially vigilant about protecting scholars from political pressure.

The sad truth is that you have done serious damage to the core principle of academic freedom by firing Mr. Petersen-Overton because of his political views. You have also damaged Brooklyn College’s reputation and sent exactly the wrong message to the wider world. You should have stood up to the political pressure and not caved in. I am confident that your names and your school’s name will be featured in future articles and books about threats to academic freedom, and you will be described as administrators who failed to protect a young scholar who was being singled out because he held controversial views.

Sincerely yours,

John J. Mearsheimer

3:00pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From John McCormick, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

As a proud CUNY alum (Queens College AB 1988, Graduate Center 1989), and committed member of the American academic community, I write to protest stridently Brooklyn College’s actions in the Petersen-Overton case, and to urge you to reverse your decision by reinstating Mr. Petersen-Overton immediately.

This case cuts to the heart of intellectual freedom in the American academy and dramatically diminishes CUNY in the eyes of its peers at other institutions of higher education.

Thank You for your time and consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

John McCormick

2:30pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Bonnie S. Anderson, Professor Emerita of History at Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center:

Dear Pres. Gould and Provost Tramontano,

Pres. Gould, I met you at Ethyle Wolfe’s Memorial and I wrote you and Dean Wilson complimenting you on supporting the Bayoumi reading for college freshmen.  As much as I applauded that decision, I deplore the college’s recent truckling to extreme political interests over the case of Kristofer Petersen-Overton.  In the process, you have thrown out the most elemental principle of academic freedom.  A host of distinguished academics have already asserted that Petersen-Overton is an excellent scholar.  I join them in urging you to undo the disastrous decision to rescind his appointment, which has already brought the college too much negative publicity.

As a member of the Brooklyn College faculty for over thirty years (and a Broeklundian Professor for the last four of them), I know that last-minute decisions can be changed, particularly concerning adjuncts.  You can redeem the college’s honor by reversing this mistaken act.

Sincerely,

Bonnie S. Anderson

2:19pm Barbara Bowen, President of the Professional Staff Congress, which represents faculty and staff at CUNY, spoke out against Kristofer’s firing this morning on WBAI’s Beyond the Pale. Transcripts and audio of the interview are available on the site.

1:00pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Sandi Cooper, Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, CUNY and The Graduate Center, and Chair of the University Faculty Senate–CUNY:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramonanto

I have been apprised of a possible serious violation of academic freedom at Brooklyn College with the termination of the graduate student, Kristoffer Petersen-Overton prior to the start of the semester, based on student allegations to a political figure who is reported to have requested his dismissal.

If this summary is accurate, I remind you that the Board of Trustees policy regarding student complaints against faculty, which covers adjuncts, exists to provide fair, due process. I cite

Board of Trustees Policy 5.20:

The University respects the academic freedom of the faculty and will not interfere with it as it relates to the content or style of teaching activities. Indeed, academic freedom is and should be of paramount importance.

This policy was developed in 2007 following an unfortunate problem at Columbia University also involving vague allusions of anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli ideas on the part of a professor by a student, not even registered there. The CUNY Board made slight modifications in its implementation last year, based on experience at a few colleges.

To my knowledge, perhaps incomplete, it has NOT been applied to issues of academic freedom.

The policy clearly states that academic freedom covering the right of an instructor to design a syllabus is not debatable. Were the young man found guilty of coming to class drunk, or making nasty remarks to a student or excessive absences from class, then the student complaint policy is appropriate. It is NOT for an unproven expectation of a class which may or may not be “unbalanced” in the views of an enrolled student, particularly when the semester has not begun.

If the College is now claiming that he is not qualified to teach the course, then it is incumbent on the College to prove that others with his level of qualifications have also either not been hired or have been dismissed. Otherwise, a decision by the administration overruling a departmental decision is a very dangerous, undesirable precedent. Even if this graduate student is the first on his level to be appointed to teach the class, it is very possible that other considerations make him entirely qualified. CUNY administrators and at the Graduate Center repeatedly comment that many of the newer, younger people are far more up to date in the field than some of those, like me, who have been around over half a century.

On a personal note, as one who was a student at CCNY in the early 1950s when the McCarthyite investigators pulled faculty from our classrooms based on allegations of Communist affiliations, I am extremely anxious to prevent any kind of re-run of those sad and destructive times. Students need to hear all sides of an issue, as you well know and not only the side that a political group deems appropriate.

I hope that justice can be done to this young man and that this action does not undermine a promising career in a field that is crucial to modern education and politics.

With good wishes,

Sandi

11:15am A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of ANthropology and Middle Easter, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia University:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tranontano,

I have just read an article in the New York Times [1/28/11] about the firing of an adjunct instructor at Brooklyn College for his political views.  I am in Kampala, Uganda, directing the Institute of Social Research 8 months of the year, an experience that brings home to me on a daily basis the critical importance of academic freedom in the pursuit of academic excellence.  I write to register my grave concern over this development and urge you to reconsider your action.

Yours sincerely,

Mahmood Mamdani

12:05am A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Liza Featherstone, Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, and long- time contributor to the Nation:

To: Karen Gould, President of Brooklyn College
Sally Bermanzohn, Chair of Political Science Department

What kind of institution is Brooklyn College? As a longtime citizen of Brooklyn I’ve always held it in the highest regard. Brooklyn College attracts many of the best scholars in New York, which is to say, some of the best in the world. It also draws some of the sharpest, hardest-working students anywhere. It has been a beacon of excellence in a crumbling public education system. But in recent days it seems as if your administration is enacting one of the sorrier episodes of “The O’Reilly Factor.”

I’m sure you know the script even if you haven’t seen the show. A professor voices an opinion – usually a view that some of us find horrifying, and that others of us think perfectly reasonable. But that is not the point.

The point is the following scenario: the right-wing yahoos — who in any case hate education and intellectuals — get excited. They blog. They call. They fax. They even threaten violence sometimes. They won’t be placated till the professor loses his job. And in the end, the universities, more often than not, find a reason to fire the offending professor.

Isn’t that pathetic? And here you are, venerated Brooklyn College, enacting the same tired pattern.
I’m referring, of course, to your decision not to reappoint Kristofer Petersen-Overton. Such a decision, made so obviously in response to political pressure, clearly violates the principles of academic freedom. Without that principle a great university quickly becomes a certification mill, whose scholarship is worth little.

Just look at who’s setting your academic policy. Not scholars, not administrators, but politicians. And not just any politicians, but Dov Hikind, a wingnut whose own opinions – though he’s surely entitled to them – would be reviled by civilized folk all over the world. Just to note a couple of his extraordinary views: he’s an apologist for racial hate crimes and thinks gay marriage will lead to incest.

What kind of university allows such a person to make personnel decisions? What kind of college takes its cues from uninformed brutes when deciding who will teach our children? I hope you’ll ask yourself these questions, and realize that the answers matter. The reputation of a great institution is on the line.

Liza Featherstone

12:01am Welcome to Day 3 of the Academic Freedom at CUNY blog!  Entries from Day 2 can be accessed here.

Share on Facebook

Wel­come to the Aca­d­e­mic Free­dom at CUNY blog. We’ve been cov­er­ing the recent sit­u­a­tion of polit­i­cal purg­ing at Brook­lyn Col­lege and any related news since Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 28. Most recent updates will appear at the top with a EST stamp.

We are now officially in Day 3 of the blog.  View Sunday’s updates here.

Day 2

12:00am   The Advo­cate has drafted the fourth in a series of let­ters that can be directed to the var­i­ous chair­per­sons of aca­d­e­mic depart­ments at Brook­lyn Col­lege. Please take a moment to send along this note, or one of your own craft­ing, to David Troyansky, chair of history. His email is included in the link above.

11:45pm   Manhattan Neighborhood Network ran an extended interview with Kristofer Petersen-Overton on the situation at Brooklyn College.  As soon as details for online viewing become available, they’ll be posted here at the blog.     

11:00pm   The Advo­cate has drafted the third in a series of let­ters that can be directed to the var­i­ous chair­per­sons of aca­d­e­mic depart­ments at Brook­lyn Col­lege. Please take a moment to send along this note, or one of your own craft­ing, to Kenneth Gould, chair of sociology. His email is included in the link above.

10:15pm   A number of prominent academics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent letters to Brooklyn College President Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tramontano expressing their displeasure with the recent turn of events.

From Michael Friedman at the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History, and a CUNY alum.  The incident referred to at the beginning of the note was an attack by pro-Israeli extremists on Bard President (and conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra) Leon Bottstein for defending Bard students’ right to form an ISM (International Solidarity Movement) chapter on campus.

Dear Colleagues:

Leon Bottstein’s defense of academic freedom is to be applauded and supported. While Dr. Bottstein’s detractor(s) in this case may well be at the extreme end of a continuum, their attacks on him, in fact, fall within the framework of a vindictive backlash that has become all-too common in academia in recent years, mounted by powerful interests that hope to straight-jacket acceptable academic discourse, inquiry and debate.

A mere 120 miles south of Bard College, at Brooklyn College, adjunct professor and doctoral student Kristofer Petersen-Overton was fired from his teaching position, ostensibly because his academic level (doctoral candidate) was insufficient to teach the masters-level course in Middle Eastern politics for which he had been hired.

However, this didn’t appear to be of concern to the Brooklyn College administration until days before the class was due to begin. Nor did the fact that the use of doctoral students to teach graduate courses is widespread at Brooklyn College and other City University of New York (CUNY) schools (I was one such “ABD” student).

At least not until one student who registered for the course complained to a political science faculty member about the “pro-Palestinian bias” of Petersen-Overton’s reading list, and then posted her concerns on a blog. A few days later, Democratic state assemblyman from Brooklyn, Dov Hikind, wrote to both the CUNY Chancellor and Brooklyn College provost to express his concern about the “slanted nature” of Petersen-Overton’s academic research. Citing Petersen-Overton’s unpublished analysis of the place of martyrdom in Palestinian identity, Hikind called Peterson-Overton a “pro-suicide bomber.” Hours later, Provost William A. Tramontano dismissed the adjunct faculty member.

In a statement deploring the firing, Professional Staff Congress (the CUNY faculty union) president Barbara Bowen affirmed, “Outside political interference in academic decisions about faculty appointments undermines the integrity of higher education. Ultimately, it is the students and society at large who suffer when university administrators inappropriately bend to the will of politicians… Academic freedom is a bedrock principle of higher education. Without the freedom to pursue lines of inquiry wherever they may lead, faculty cannot truly contribute to the vibrant exploration of ideas that makes college a place of learning.”

As Petersen-Overton noted in a commentary in the CUNY Graduate Center Advocate,”there are a num­ber of issues at stake here that clearly res­onate far beyond my own case and affect all stu­dent pro­fes­sors. An attack on aca­d­e­mic free­dom and depart­men­tal inde­pen­dence is trou­bling enough, espe­cially con­sid­er­ing the clumsy way I was denied due process by the admin­is­tra­tion in this instance. But the prac­ti­cal con­se­quences of the college’s deci­sion under­score the pre­car­i­ous posi­tion that adjuncts hold at CUNY. In the blink of an eye, I have been denied tuition remis­sion, access to sub­si­dized health care for my fam­ily and finan­cial com­pen­sa­tion for the spring semes­ter in a time of seri­ous eco­nomic uncer­tainty. If the college’s deci­sion stands, it should send a chill through­out the entire adjunct community.”

I had the privilege of teaching in the Citizen Science program at Bard in January. I am also a CUNY adjunct assistant professor. While I may well be jeopardizing my opportunity to teach at Bard again by writing these lines, I feel it is incumbent on me to reach out to my Bard colleagues on behalf of my CUNY colleague, and urge you to communicate with Brooklyn College Provost William A. Tramontano, should you be moved to do so:

Office of the Provost
Brooklyn College
2900 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11210

Sincerely,

Michael Friedman

9:00pm  A number of prominent academics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent letters to Brooklyn College President Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tramontano expressing their displeasure with the recent turn of events.

From Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History at Yeshiva University, and America’s foremost authority on McCarthyism:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I am shocked and distressed at your decision to rescind the appointment of Kristofer Petersen-Overton. It is an action that clearly violates academic freedom, a subject about which I am deeply concerned. I am active in the American Association of University Professors, where I serve on its Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure and have just helped to write its special report on “Politically Controversial Personnel Decisions,” (a copy of which I will be glad to send you as soon as it is publicly released).

I am also a historian who has written extensively about academic freedom, including a study of the academic community during the McCarthy years (No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities) that discusses the dismissal of several Brooklyn College faculty members during that grim period. Unfortunately, the dismissal of Mr. Petersen-Overton (for the rescinding of an appointment is, at least with regard to academic freedom, the equivalent of a dismissal ) reminds me all too painfully of what happened during the 1950s.

Whatever the “official” justification may be, it is obvious that untoward political pressures have resulted in your ill-advised action. As is well known, adjuncts without Ph.D.’s have long been teaching graduate courses in the Political Science Department. CUNY would ground to a halt if it had to dispense with the services of these presumably underqualified instructors.

Above all, the rescinding of Mr. Petersen-Overton’s appointment sends a chilling message to the entire academic community. If outside political forces can expel an instructor from the classroom even before the term begins simply because some people do not like the looks of his syllabus, then it likely that other instructors at Brooklyn College and elsewhere will be tempted to censor themselves and avoid teaching anything controversial. This is what happened during the McCarthy period. We cannot afford a replay.

I should note, as well, that Mr. Petersen-Overton’s syllabus is hardly subversive. Some of the books he planned to assign are on syllabi at my own school, Yeshiva University. If the orthodox Jewish undergraduates at Yeshiva can handle those readings, surely the MA students at Brooklyn College can.

Please restore academic freedom to Brooklyn College by returning Mr. Petersen-Overton to his classroom. To do anything less will damage the intellectual credibility of your institution and seriously undermine the morale of faculty and students alike.

Sincerely,

Ellen Schrecker

7:15pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and pub­lic intel­lec­tu­als from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Rhoda Kanaaneh, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University:

Dear Provost William Tramontano,

I recently read about the firing of the adjunct instructor Kristofer Petersen-Overton at Brooklyn College due to his political opinions.  This is a most severe violation of academic freedom– to allow a state assemblyman to influence university decisions on faculty hiring (and in this case even firing) is beyond the pale.  This decision does not bode well for Brooklyn College’s future and reputation.  I urge you to reverse this decision and to uphold academic freedom at your college.

Sincerely,

Rhoda Kanaaneh
Columbia University

6:30pm The Jewish Voice for Peace’s Muzzlewatch has a post on the Brooklyn College imbroglio that takes on Dov Hikind.  Pulling no punches whatsoever, author Cecilie Surasky notes that:

Dov Hikind is a bigot and a supporter of terrorism. He stood by 5 Jewish teenagers who severely beat a young Pakistani man with brass knuckles in a hate crime so heinous, it was condemned even by the Anti-Defamation League.  He is a former follower of the terrorist group the Jewish Defense League and recently waxed nostalgic at the memorial of hate-monger Rabbi Meir Kahane whose Kach party-including the Kahane Chai spinoff-was banned, even in Israel, for racism and terrorism. He and his wife are working towards the Judaization of East Jerusalem and are doing their part to start a Holy War there by supporting the building of the Third Temple. He actually opposed the inclusion of non-Jews (there were some 5 million) in a memorial to those who died in the Holocaust and is an advocate of racial profiling.

Oh, and he said gay marriage would lead to more incest.

And, it must be said, he does all of this while wearing a kippah- he is an Orthodox Jew–which I personally find particularly galling.

(His archived press releases about Israel and the UN are pretty remarkable for a local state assemblyman.)

6:00pm The Advocate has drafted the second in a series of letters that can be directed to the various chairpersons of academic departments at Brooklyn College.  Please take a moment to send along this note, or one of your own crafting, to Namita Manohar, chair of women’s studies.  Her email is included in the link above.

5:30pm Lawyers, Guns, and Money has a piece (We’re Just Firing You — The Course is Safe!) on the Petersen-Overton situation.  There’s a decent back-and-forth in the comments section about the role that PhD students play in teaching terminal MA programs.

4:30pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Joyce Appleby, Professor Emerita of History at UCLA, and President of the American Historical Association, 1997-98:

Dear President Gould,

It is with great sadness that I learned of the firing of Kristofer Petersen-Overton who was slated to each a graduate course in your political science department.

Academic freedom is so integral to the ideals embedded in our nation’s founding that its breach resonates far beyond the particular case.

If those who speak for higher education do not educate those who would silence unpopular views, we’ve no hope for its enduring as a core value in our colleges and universities.

I’m sure that in a subject as divisive as the relations between Palestinians and Israelis that Mr. Petersen-Overton’s views gave offense just as the views of pro-Israel scholars and spokesmen regularly give offense.

A university campus is where keenly felt differences can be aired, discussed, and moderated through more knowledge and better understanding.

In the history of freedom of speech, the great advance was made when the British dropped prior restraint and dealt with abuses after publication or speaking.  In this instance, prior restraint was exercised, a real set-back for academic freedom.

But I know that you know all this, so it is with sadness that I protest Brooklyn College’s action.

Yours sincerely,

Joyce Appleby

4:00pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Aziz Rana, Assistant Professor of Law at Cornell University:

Dear Pres­i­dent Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I teach constitutional law at Cornell Law School.  Before moving to Ithaca, I spent a number of years living in New York City and was deeply impressed by CUNY’s intellectual community.  I’ve had the opportunity to attend events through the Graduate Center and to present my work at CUNY Law School, experiences that I found very rewarding.  Thus, it comes with both surprise and disappointment to read in the New York Times that graduate student Kristofer Petersen-Overton’s contract to teach a course on “The Politics of the Middle East” was cancelled even before the class began.  As Salon notes, numerous adjunct professors with equivalent credentials have taught master’s level courses in the past.  Moreover, his syllabus covers established and seminal academic texts on nationalism and the comparative politics of the region.  In fact, his own piece at the center of the debate, “Inventing the Martyr,” is hardly a work of propaganda, but is rather a scholarly article that engages with the relevant literature and key theoretical figures in the study of nationalism.  Although Peterson-Overton may express a specific point of view, all teachers that cover politically contested topics bring into the classroom their own perspectives.  To bow to external pressure, particularly from elected officials, sends a terrible message that academic freedom can be trumped if scholars hold unpopular views or explore sensitive issues.  CUNY has a wonderful reputation for intellectual diversity and open inquiry.  It would be a shame to buckle now and allow those outside the classroom to dictate pedagogy and to police what texts professors assign or what ideas students debate.

Sincerely,

Aziz Rana

3:45pm The Advocate has drafted the first in a series of letters that can be directed to the various chairpersons of academic departments at Brooklyn College.  Please take a moment to send along this note, or one of your own crafting, to Sally Bermanzohn, chair of political science–the department to which Kristofer Petersen-Overton belongs.  Her email is included in the link above.

3:15pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Scott Saul, Associate Professor of English and American Studies at UC-Berkeley:

Dear Ms. Gould and Mr. Tramanto,

I’m writing to express my grave concern about the recent action taken under your watch and, I imagine, with your consent: the revocation of Kristofer Petersen-Overton’s contract to teach in the Political Science Department, ostensibly due to concerns about his level of academic preparation.

The higher officers of a university should not engage in such obvious doubletalk. If you are firing someone for his or her political views, please at least have the decency to acknowledge that this is the reason for your own action.

More than this, though, I’m shocked to see that your administration could so easily overrule the decision-making structure of the Political Science Department itself. This is an obvious violation of academic freedom, and should be taken up by the appropriate organizations.

I’m aware that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict tends to heat up college campuses — as well it should, given that college campuses are where students are supposed to debate the live issues of the day. At UC-Berkeley and within my own home department (English), as I understand it, a graduate teacher was likewise deemed to have “pro-Palestinian” views by an outside group, which exerted pressure to have that student fired. However, the student was not fired. A faculty member was appointed an unofficial advisor to the course, and the course went off without a hitch.

We have come to a very sad day when basic and essential intellectual questions — such as, “What motivates suicide bombings?” — cannot be asked and answered for fear of these sorts of reprisals.

Yours,

Scott Saul

2:30pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Greg Grandin, Professor of History at New York University, alumnus of Brooklyn College and author of Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano:

My name is Greg Grandin and I am an alum of Brooklyn College.   Born and raised in Brooklyn, I enrolled in my alma mater eight years after high school and, after receiving my BA in 1991, went on to obtain a doctorate in history at Yale University.   I now teach at NYU, and often credit my success as a scholar to Brooklyn College, particularly to the history department and the political science department.   I was dismayed, therefore, to read in the New York Times about Brooklyn College’s dismissal of Mr. Petersen-Overton, at the urging of a local politician.    I believe that that kind of interventionism on the part of our elected officials opens a dangerous door, and that a strict firewall needs to be maintained between political grandstanding (not to mention pandering) and pedagogy.    I was even more troubled after I took the time to read some of Mr. Petersen-Overton’s work and found it to be standard fare, fully within the bounds of conventional approaches.

I understand that the defense of the Brooklyn College administration will be procedural:  Mr. Petersen-Overton’s appointment as an adjunct violated standard norms.   But please respect the intelligence of a graduate of your institution:  do not pretend there have been no other cases, either in the past or currently, of corner-cutting in appointing adjuncts.  It is clear that Mr. Petersen-Overton’s termination directly resulted from a local politician meddling in Brooklyn College’s affairs.   It sets yet another dangerous precedent at a time when, now more than ever, we need courage from our university leaders

Best wishes,

Greg Grandin

1:00pm Breaking News: The Advocate has learned that various departments at Brooklyn College will be holding emergency meetings on Monday to decide how to react to the news of Petersen-Overton’s firing.  The Advocate will run the names and contact info for department chairs at Brooklyn for those interested in writing letters in support for the defense of academic freedom.

12:45 pm The amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion of Uni­ver­sity Pro­fes­sors Pres­i­dent Cary Nel­son has issued the fol­low­ing state­ment on the issue at Brook­lyn College:

The AAUP has rea­son to be con­cerned that Brook­lyn Col­lege may have improp­erly can­celled Kristo­pher [sic] Petersen-Overton’s con­tract to teach an M.A. sem­i­nar on Mid­dle East Politics.The admin­is­tra­tion has asserted that Petersen-Overton is unqual­i­fied because he has not yet earned a PhD. Yet tes­ti­mony from many at the col­lege con­firms that other doc­toral stu­dents like Petersen-Overton, with a Master’s degree, have reg­u­larly taught in the M.A. pro­gram with­out admin­is­tra­tion objec­tion. His removal from the course fol­lowed rapidly upon a student’s com­plaint that the course would not be “bal­anced” and a state assemblyman’s attack on Petersen-Overton’s schol­ar­ship. The AAUP does not require that courses be bal­anced, believ­ing that expo­sure to advo­cacy can be a ben­e­fi­cial com­po­nent of an edu­ca­tion, so long as stu­dents are not expected to agree with an instructor’s point of view. More­over, the department’s deci­sion to hire him should have car­ried the day. The administration’s inter­ven­tion out­side due process is a threat to aca­d­e­mic freedom.

Speak­ing now – in what fol­lows – for myself, rather than for the AAUP, I would add that Petersen-Overton’s dis­puted essay “Invent­ing the Mar­tyr,” which dis­cusses the role of sac­ri­fice and martry­dom in the con­struc­tion of Pales­tin­ian iden­tity, is a seri­ous and infor­ma­tive work of schol­arly analy­sis. Given that myths of sac­ri­fice are pro­moted by many nation states in cri­sis, read­ers may learn from the essay no mat­ter what their stand on Mid­dle East Pol­i­tics may be.

–Cary Nel­son, AAUP Pres­i­dent
Jan­u­ary 28, 2011

12:37am CUNY Con­tin­gents Unite has issued a for­mal res­o­lu­tion call­ing for the full rein­state­ment of Kristofer and an end to attacks on aca­d­e­mic free­dom. Plans for a pos­si­ble protest at The Provost’s Office at Brook­lyn Col­lege are being dis­cussed in the case that Kristofer is not rein­stated soon.

12:30pm A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Katha Pollitt, columnist for the Nation magazine:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I’m writing to you about the case of Kristofer Petersen-Overton. What disturbs me is that a local politician, Dov Hikind, seems to have been able to insert himself into  academic decisions.  Should a state assemblyman decide who gets to teach at Brooklyn  College, and what  the content of courses should be? That Mr. Petersen-Overton’s contract was terminated before he had taught a single class, on the basis of his syllabus and Dov Hikind’s  objections to what he believed were the Petersen-Overton’s views on Israel, is just plain McCarthyism. It is shocking that Hikind has the power to micromanage a great school like Brooklyn College—right down to the hiring of an adjunct.

I understand that the administration is arguing that Petersen-Overton, as a graduate student early on in his studies, is underqualified to teach a graduate course. That’s not for me to say,  but grad students teaching other grad students is a fairly common phenomenon.  Given the widespread use of adjuncts at CUNY, one does wonder if credentials are really the issue here.

Sincerely yours,

Katha Pollitt

11:30am A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Anne Norton, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania:

Dear President Gould,

I am writing with regard to the decision your College has made to rescind the appointment of  Kristofer Petersen-Overton as an adjunct professor.  This concerns many of us in the broader academic community because it appears to come from political pressure.  The New York Times reported that “Dov Hikind, a Democratic state assemblyman from Brooklyn, wrote to the college president and to the chancellor of the City University of New York, which includes Brooklyn College, to express alarm about the “slanted nature” of the professor’s works.”

This is an issue of academic freedom, a principle that is essential to academic life.  I am sure that you endorse and support that principle, but you may not be fully aware of how often it comes under assault with regard to Middle East politics.  Campus Watch patrols classrooms with lists of books professors must use, or face harassment (or worse.)  They have posted enemies lists of professors whose views are (in their view) critical of Israel or Israeli policy.  This has resulted in intense harassment and threats to those professors.

You may have learned, inconveniently and belatedly, that Mr. Petersen-Overton, does not have the qualifications you desire for this position. Appearances matter.  The suspicion that Mr. Petersen-Overton’s appointment was terminated for political reasons damages the College and emboldens those who want to limit speech.  A robust defense of the principle requires either that the level of the course be changed or that a more senior person sharing his views be hired in his place.

There is a third consideration.  The people of New York, Brooklyn in particular, have diverse views on the question of Israel- Palestine.  They come from many places.  Some feel free to speak, but some do not.  Mr. Hivkind’s constituents are important parts of your community.  So too are the many Arab Americans whose views are often silenced by pervasive hostility and organized campaigns of intimidation.

I hope that you will reconsider your position in deference to the diverse views that prevail among the people of New York and the principle of academic freedom.

Sincerely yours,

Anne Norton

11:00am A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics and public intellectuals from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Rosalind Petchesky, Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the Graduate Center and Hunter College.

Dear Provost Tramontano:

I am a Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and had the pleasure of teaching Mr. Kristofer Petersen-Overton in my graduate course, Contemporary Political Theory:  Biopolitics, in the spring of 2010.  Mr. Petersen-Overton was not only one of the three or four best thinkers and writers in a class of 22 (he received an A as his final grade) but also produced a scrupulously well documented paper on Israel’s occupation of Gaza that I judged to be of publishable quality.  Although I am not a specialist on Middle East politics, I have a particular interest in recent developments there and have read a great deal concerning the history of both Zionism and Palestinian nationalism (my uncle is the biographer of Martin Buber, and my mentor in college was a leading Palestinian political scientist, Professor Ibrahim Abu-Lughod).  I was particularly struck by Mr. Petersen-Overton’s command of the literature and his ability to apply that knowledge, as well as his first-hand experience working in the region, to a highly original exploration of Foucault’s theory of biopolitics.  His approach to understanding the complexities of Israeli-Palestinian relations, while clearly sympathetic to Palestinian aspirations, is solidly grounded in fact, well balanced, and in line with many respected scholars who are critical of some of Israel’s policies while fully recognizing its right to exist.  In fact, I was so impressed with Mr. Petersen-Overton’s abilities as an intellectual and a communicator that I saw in him the makings of a first-rate classroom teacher and urged my chair at Hunter to consider hiring him to teach in our department.

Given all this, it came as a tremendous shock and disappointment to learn that your office has abruptly terminated Mr. Petersen-Overton’s appointment to teach as an adjunct professor in the Political Science Department at Brooklyn College this semester, apparently on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations by one student and one state politician.  Not only does this action depart from all principles of due process and academic freedom–long held dear at CUNY–but it also evokes the sort of repression and censorship of the McCarthy era.  I am at a loss to understand why your office would act in such a precipitous manner, even risking CUNY’s reputation as a bastion of civility and fairness.  It also concerns me deeply that one of our finest graduate students is now in peril of losing vital tuition support, health benefits, and professional standing as a result of this very arbitrary–and seemingly politically motivated–action on your part.  I thus urge you to reconsider this decision and to rehire Mr. Petersen-Overton, not only for his sake but also for that of CUNY and its ethical integrity.

Sincerely,

Rosalind P. Petchesky

10:25 The online petition to the administration of Brooklyn College  sponsored by the Advocate has broken 1,000 signatures, including that of Professor Noam Chomsky.  In a letter from Chomsky obtained by the Advocate, Chomsky reiterated his support for academic freedom and Kristofer Petersen-Overton, labelling the whole situation “disgusting.”

Please join Professor Chomsky and now thousands of others by signing the petition.  It can be accessed here.

10:00am A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From John Hammond, Professor of Sociology at The Graduate Center and Hunter College:

Dear Dr. Gould and Dr.  Tramontano,

I write to express my deep concern about  the summary dismissal of Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton from the Department of Political Science.  This event, on its face, appears to combine a violation of academic freedom, undue subjection to the will of outside political forces, and disregard for ordinary decency in the treatment of adjuncts since it occurred less than a week before the beginning of classes.

I regard Mr. Petersen-Overton as a colleague since I am a professor in the sociology department at Hunter College and the Graduate Center.  I deeply regret  that the University or any branch of it would engage in such a flagrant violation of its own principles.

I call on you to restore Mr. Petersen-Overton’s adjunct position and affirm your commitment to the academic freedom without outside political interference of your college’s curriculum.

Sincerely yours,

John L. Hammond

12:25am A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Marshall Berman, Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the Graduate Center, CUNY and the City College of New York:

Dear Ms. Gould,

You may be too young to remember McCarthyism.  I’m old enough to remember it well, and what I’ve read about this case, in the Times and elsewhere, brings it back vividly.  It is appalling to see somebody being hired to do a job, and then, because of political pressure, being fired before he has a chance to do it.

Do you really want to appoint Assemblyman Hikind as Academic Commissar?

In Brooklyn College’s long Gideonse age, jobs were given and taken away by political tests, and people who stayed saw themselves as “survivors”. In recent years, many people have worked hard to get Brooklyn taken seriously.  This case flies in the face of all that work, sends a strong signal that professors and their decisions have no meaning, politicians rule, and your college has NOT overcome.  I don’t know you–I don’t know any of the principals–but I find it hard to imagine that you want your Presidency to be remembered as the place that established that principle.  Please have some second thoughts!

Shalom,

Marshall Berman

12:10am A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Moustafa Bayoumi, Professor of English at Brooklyn College, and himself no stranger to similar political controversy at the college.

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I was disappointed to learn that Brooklyn College has rescinded the appointment of Kristofer Peterson-Overton to teach a graduate course on Middle Eastern politics this semester. According to both the New York Times and Mr. Peterson-Overton, the decision to terminate his course was not because of any procedural gaffe but because of outside pressure put on Brooklyn College. This is regrettable.

I was very proud of and thankful to the College last semester precisely because the College did not succumb to outside pressure to alter its selection of my book as the common reading this year. As an institution of higher learning dedicated to academic freedom, Brooklyn College must protect its integrity zealously, and it is imperative that decisions regarding curriculum be made by the faculty of the College and not by outsiders to our institution. This was the principle at stake last August, and it is again being called in to question today.  I urge you to reconsider the decision regarding Mr. Peterson-Overton’s course and to reinstate him accordingly.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Moustafa Bayoumi

12:05am Welcome to Day 2 of the Advocate‘s Academic Freedom at CUNY Blog.  You can view Friday’s updates here.

Share on Facebook

Wel­come to the Aca­d­e­mic Free­dom at CUNY blog. We’ll be cov­er­ing the recent sit­u­a­tion of polit­i­cal purg­ing at Brook­lyn Col­lege and any related news start­ing this afternoon. Most recent updates will appear at the top with a EST stamp.

We are now officially in Day 2 of the blog.  View Saturday’s updates here.

Day 1

11:55pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Susan Buck-Morss, Distinguished Professor of Political Theory at the Graduate Center, CUNY:

Dear Provost Tramontano,

As a newly appointed Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center, I had the privilege of teaching Kristofer J. Peterson last fall. The course, my first here, was dedicated to the tradition of Critical Theory, with an emphasis on the Frankfurt School, that brilliant generation of German Jewish intellectuals who were exiled under the fascists, and many of whom, as refugees in the United States, were seminal in shaping political thought in the best colleges and universities of our country. Kristofer excelled in that seminar, convincing me that the students at the Graduate Center are every bit as superb as those I have taught at Cornell for 25 years.

I must admit that I was shocked to hear of the decision to suspend Kristofer Peterson from teaching because of pressure from a political figure. That is just what we teach our students is not to be tolerated. We take the memory of past history seriously. Never again.

Sincerely,
Susan Buck-Morss

11:50pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the world have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Neve Gordon, Professor of Politics and Government  at Ben-Gurion University in Israel:

Dear Prof. William A. Tramontano, I am writing you from Israel out of deep concern for academic freedom. I recently read an article about Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton and the decision to cancel his appointment as an adjunct professor due to his ostensible bias with respect to a Middle East Politics class. I do not know Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton, I never met him, and indeed never heard of him until this morning. Having read the article about the decision to cancel his appointment, I googled him, found his personal homepage and the syllabus for the Middle East Politics class.I am a professor of politics, and since I have taught similar courses both in Israel and the US (e.g., the Political Science Dept. at University of Michigan Ann Arbor), I went over the syllabus very carefully. I can say with confidence that it is a very good syllabus that uses one of the classical textbooks as the major reading, alongside a series of other articles and books. While the textbook itself emphasizes the Zionist narrative, some of the article’s (mine included) are more critical of this perspective, while others provide a more staunch support of Israel than is offered by the textbook. I also went over the paper Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton is scheduled to present at the Middle East Political Science Association and was struck by its academic rigor. 

Thus, it seems to me that Assemblyman Dov Hikind is carrying out a witch hunt against Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton, in the tradition of Senator McCarthy. Hikind’s claims are groundless and his approach is antithetical to academic life and academic freedom. Allow me to urge you not to bow down to this kind of harassment. Moving ahead with the decision to cancel Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton’s appointment will not only have grave implications on his academic career, but, perhaps more importantly, will definitely serve a potent blow to academic freedom at Brooklyn College and the US at large.As you no doubt know, the great Jewish political philosopher Hannah Arendt once taught at Brooklyn College. I am certain that if she were alive today, she would be knocking at your door asking you to protect the academic freedom of Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton. It is her legacy that we need to follow and not the legacy of Senator McCarthy. 

Yours Sincerely,Prof. Neve Gordon 

11:35pm   The Professional Staff Congress has released an official statement on the Brooklyn College situation.  The text follows below, from:

Dr. Barbara Bowen, President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY

On Wednesday, January 26, Kristofer Petersen-Overton received notice that the administration of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York had refused to approve his appointment as instructor of a graduate course in Political Science after receiving a letter from Assemblymember Dov Hikind protesting Mr. Petersen-Overton’s appointment.

Outside political interference in academic decisions about faculty
appointments undermines the integrity of higher education. Ultimately, it is the students and society at large who suffer when university administrators inappropriately bend to the will of politicians.

As the union representing faculty and professional staff at CUNY, the Professional Staff Congress will not tolerate political meddling in academic decisions. When college administrators yield to such pressure, they compromise the academic freedom not just of the individuals directly affected, but of the university community as a whole.

Academic freedom is a bedrock principle of higher education. Without the freedom to pursue lines of inquiry wherever they may lead, faculty cannot truly contribute to the vibrant exploration of ideas that makes college a place of learning.

The Professional Staff Congress will defend the academic freedom of Mr. Petersen-Overton-and of every member of the CUNY faculty, whether full-time or part-time. The union will use every tool at our disposal to defend the rights of our members if their rights have been violated.

Mr. Peterson-Overton’s experience is an ugly byproduct of a labor system that undermines academic freedom for thousands of hard-working adjunct faculty at CUNY, who work with far fewer job protections than their full-time colleagues. Contingent faculty need built-in, contractual protections that allow them to remain critical and independent thinkers; they should not have to look over their shoulders when they craft their syllabi and teach their classes.

11:25pm   A citizen group–Jews Say No!–has also written a letter to Provost Tramontano to protest Brooklyn College’s actions against Kristofer Petersen-Overton’s dismissal.  It reads:

Dear Provost Tramontano:

I write on behalf of Jews Say No! concerning the decision of  Brooklyn College to rescind the appointment of Mr. Petersen-Overton to teach a course on the Middle East this coming semester.  Jews Say No! was created partly in response to the increasing tendency of  public officials and institutions to prevent open and balanced discussion of issues pertaining to Israel.  Brooklyn College’s action regarding Mr. Petersen-Overton is an egregious example of that phenomenon.

We understand that the termination of his appointment began with a complaint from a student – about the alleged one-sidedness of a course that had not yet commenced! – which was then apparently taken up by Assemblyman Dov Hikind in a letter to the College President, in which he called Mr. Petersen-Overton “pro suicide-bomber.”  We understand that the course was withdrawn in response.

Assuming that to be a fair characterization of the events, one is is sadly reminded of that period in Brooklyn College’s history when it, along with its CUNY sister colleges, shamefully capitulated to anti-communist hysteria and, in 1941, fired respected faculty members and forced the resignation of others.  When, forty years later, the CUNY Board of Trustees publicly apologized for its actions, it vowed “diligently to safeguard the constitutional rights of freedom of expression, freedom of association and open intellectual inquiry of the faculty, staff and students of the University.”  The decision to terminate Mr. Petersen-Overton makes a mockery of that vow.

We think it not unfair to say that Brooklyn College’s reputation as an institution committed to academic freedom is at stake in this controversy. That, at least, is our view, and we know it is the view of any number of other groups and individuals in New York City who are committed to insuring that public colleges stand up to political pressure in defense of the right of students and faculty to discuss controversial issues without fear of reprisal. We will honor that commitment in our continued resolve to take whatever actions are necessary on behalf of Mr. Petersen-Overton.

Yours sincerely,

Alan Levine

11:20pm  A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Alex Gourevitch, a Harvard College Fellow, rising academic superstar in political science and all around stand-up guy:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I am a Harvard College Fellow, and recent Ph.D in political science from Columbia University, who also took classes at CUNY. I recently found out that Kristofer J Petersen-Overton was fired from his appointment to teach a course on Middle East politics after questions were raised regarding his political views. This is a distressing violation of academic freedom. It is especially unworthy of the CUNY system, where I not only took courses but where I have respected colleagues, and which I have always thought to be a beacon of diverse and contentious viewpoints. 

As an organizer of events on academic freedom at Columbia University, I know the complex educational environment in New York. Many different groups outside academia seek to influence the hiring and teaching decisions. It takes considerable fortitude to resist these bad influences. But it is essential.

The topic of Israel and Palestine is complex. I have been to Israel and Palestine a number of times; my wife’s family is Israeli; I have many friends who work on political issues involving Israelis and Palestinians. It is a situation in which it is almost uniquely impossible to write scholarly social science that does not come across as political advocacy. I have read Petersen-Overton’s paper on martyrdom and it is a very solid piece of scholarship, very well versed in the literature on nationalism and national identity. He cites key sources – Gellner, Hobsbawm, Renan – on nationalism, and has clearly done extensive research on his specific case. The paper is not only well within the norms of academic scholarship, it is a very good piece of scholarship, especially for someone who I understand to be a graduate student.

Of course, Petersen-Overton has a political point of view. But it would be very strange if someone studying any area of political science failed to have a point of view on that subject. That he has a point of view, regardless of what that point of view is, is irrelevant to his ability to teach his course. What matters is rather that he knows the literature – which he clearly does – and that he is able to teach the course in a way that accepts alternative points of view. There is no indication that he cannot do so. According to reports, a Brooklyn state senator objects to Petersen-Overton teaching because his research and views are ‘one-sided’. But it is the senator who is one-sided, or simply narrow-minded, if he thinks that that having a point of view makes a person unable to teach a class effectively, or with a suitable degree of objectivity. Some of the best courses I took in college and graduate school were with professors who had very different points of view, and who had very different interpretations of the readings and cases we studied. Often I knew this about them; it sometimes made me struggle that much harder to figure out why I thought they were wrong. All of these teachers – and I have little doubt this is true of Petersen-Overton – were able to treat students fairly, teach the material in an open-minded way, and make it a good course.

You do a great disservice not only to your students, but to academic freedom generally, if you buckle to narrow-minded and politically interested pressure. Let your students make up their own mind about well-taught material. And on a personal note, I will find it very disappointing if an institution I have respected for a long time buckles to such pressure.

Sincerely,

Alex Gourevitch

11: 15pm   The Advocate has gotten hold of the response David Nasaw received from Tramontano in answer to his original letter reprinted below (see 11:00).  You will be shocked to learn that it is an exact copy of the letter sent in response to Andrew Ross. 

David Nasaw replies:

Dear Provost Tramontano,

Thanks for your prompt reply.   Regrettably, I find it hard to accept it at face value, especially after reading in SALON magazine that, in the very recent past, several students, with credential similar to Mr. Petersen-Overton’s, have taught masters’ levels courses at Brooklyn College.   The SALON article, in claiming this, incidentally verifies my own experience.   Here’s my problem: unless you can demonstrate to me and others (and I hope you can) that you or your predecessors as Provost have removed other adjuncts from their positions because they did not have sufficient academic training to teach masters’ level courses, I fear my questions and disappointment must stand.  

David Nasaw

11:00pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From David Nasaw, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Professor of History at the Graduate Center, CUNY:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano:

I am writing to express my dismay that an administrative action at Brooklyn College has once again brought disrepute to the City University of New York.   I began my teaching career at Brooklyn College, have now taught at the City University for more than three decades, and am currently the Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Professor of History at the Graduate Center.   I do not know as much as I would like to about the decision to rescind the appintment of Mr. Petersen-Overton to teach a masters’ level course in the political science department, but, from what I read this morning in the New York Times, the decision, the timing, and the rationale raise significant questions about academic freedom, academic governance, and outside influence.   Is it truly the stated, written, and enforced policy at Brooklyn College to appoint only Ph.D. holders to teach masters’ level courses?   If it is not, why was Mr. Petersen-Overton singled out and removed from his position one week before classes?  The answers supplied to this point are clearly insufficient.   I do not enjoy sending such messages–and rarely do so–but this case casts such a negative light on an institution to which I am committed that I feel obliged to speak out and ask for further clarification.    

David Nasaw

10:50pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.  Smith was also a member of the external review committee that evaluated the political science program at the CUNY Graduate Center in 2008. 

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano:

I’m a political scientist who studies civil rights and civil liberties.  Some years ago I had the great pleasure to participate in an external review of the Brooklyn College political science department.  I’ve also served on external review committees for City College and the CUNY Graduate School.  Those experiences taught me much about the complex and fascinating CUNY system–but I came away particularly impressed with Brooklyn College.  At the time we visited, all the faculty members had to share offices and all had heavy teaching loads. But all were enthusiastic about their students and their research, and the students we spoke with were all thrilled to be at Brooklyn College. Intellectual energy, high morale, amazing productivity under tough circumstances–I thought Brooklyn College was inspirational.

Now the New York Times is reporting a decision that, as a First Amendment believer as well as a friend of Brooklyn College, shocks and disappoints me. An alum complains that an instructor’s writings are insufficiently friendly to Israel, and the instructor is summarily fired–on the transparent pretext that this teacher of Master’s students only has a Master’s degree, which is true of many teaching in master’s programs around the country, and which presumably was known before he was hired.  I know Brooklyn College has been effectively privatized, that you get paltry public funds and rely on private donors, especially alums.  But if that means that what gets taught can be purchased by private donors, then an institution that has long been, and I thought still was, a shining beacon of first-class education largely for immigrant kids will be gone. It will be replaced by an institution where students receive paid political announcements.  I hope the media has it wrong, as is so often the case.  But if the facts are what the Times says they are, please consider this an amendment to the earlier review committee report I co-authored.  The amendment must read that Brooklyn College has some great faculty and students.

But the Brooklyn College administration appears to have lost sight of what academic freedom means, particularly in regard to teaching about politics–and no political science department thus administered can long endure as a reputable place for faculty or students.

Respectfully,

Rogers M. Smith

10:45pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From John Wallach, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Hunter Human Rights Program at Hunter College and The Graduate Center:  

Dear Provost Tramontano,       

I taught Mr. Petersen-Overton last semester in my Graduate Center seminar, P SC 701–Ancient to Medieval Political Theory.  He received an “A” in the class for reading and writing about Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, and Aquinas.  I also came to know M. Petersen-Overton fairly well over the course of the term.

Kristofer is a fine young man, and he exhibits excellent scholarship.  I had no idea of his involvement with a Palestinian Human Rights group.  However, that should have no bearing on his suitability to teach at Brooklyn College.  Indeed, it should be a qualification–as few academics have first-hand knowledge of the empirical circumstances about which they regularly lecture.  It does not seem that Kristofer has used his experiences in a way that compromises his ability to teach a fine class on The Politics of the Middle East.

 I noted the title of a paper that Kristofer wrote about Palestinians.  It concerned conceptions of martyrhood and Palestinian identity.  I could imagine such material being discussed in a piece published in The New York Times Magazine.  Moreover, insofar as he might have provided some understanding of suicide bombers, that would be all to the good–in order to address some of the causes that led to their self-destructive, violent, and hateful decision to kill others.  I expect that it would be happily read in many Israeli universities and discussed at Israeli academic conferences–contrary to incendiary, hateful remarks made public by Assemblyman Hiking.  I might add that I know Professor Talal Asad, a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at The Graduate Center, has written a book on suicide bombing that has been well-received among highly regarded scholars–not because he has endorsed the activities of his subjects but because he has shed light on them.  Should we have no books or papers on Hitler, or seek to understand the factors that led to his abominable rise to power?

Newspapers have reported that your office has responded to pressure from Assemblyman Dov Hikind in this matter.  Mr. Hikind does not have the credentials to evaluate Mr. Petersen-Overton’s qualifications.  That is within the province of Brooklyn’s Department of Political Science.  To succumb to such outside, political pressure violates cherished American principles and practices of academic freedom.  Assemblyman Hikind must be resisted and rebuked, and the decision of your college must be reversed.

John R. Wallach

10:30pm   The Advocate  has received Tramontano’s response to Andrew Ross’s original letter reprinted earlier (see entry at 7:30).  Here’s the provost’s response, followed by Ross’s reply:

Dear Andrew:

Thank you for your email.  I appreciate your concern about the college’s decision not to approve the appointment of Kristofer Petersen-Overton. When his appointment was brought to my attention as Chief Academic Officer, I determined that Mr. Petersen-Overton was not sufficiently qualified to teach an advanced-level graduate course.

In order to ensure the high academic standing of our graduate programs, Brooklyn College expects that those teaching courses at the graduate level hold a terminal degree in the appropriate field or, at the very least, have completed coursework toward a terminal degree and passed their comprehensive exams.  Kristofer Petersen-Overton has completed only three semesters of doctoral study and, therefore, does not have the credentials to teach at the graduate level.

Furthermore, all faculty appointments including adjunct appointments are subject to initial approval by an appointments committee comprised of faculty from the appropriate academic department.  This appointment did not follow this standard process.  All adjunct appointments are subject
to my final approval.

For these reasons alone, I a made the decision not to approve Kristofer Petersen-Overton’s appointment.

Again, thank you for your message.  I hope this information answers your questions.

Sincerely,

William A. Tramontano
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

And Andrew Ross’s reply:

Dear Provost Tramontano,

I appreciate your prompt reply, though it does raise some new questions which I hope you can take the time to answer.

In response to inquiries of mine, Brooklyn College political science faculty have informed me that there are several instructors in the MA program who do not hold a terminal degree and some who are not even ABD. Nor, according to these faculty, have any of the instructors for this spring been approved by the department appointments committee, as you suggest is the normal procedure.

If these reports are accurate–and surely they are factual matters subject to verification–then the singling out of Petersen-Overton seems to be aberrant. Are you able to verify the accuracy of these claims?

Andrew Ross

10:20pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Joseph Lowndes, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano:

I have just been made aware of Brooklyn College’s decision to fire an instructor who was hired by the political science department there to teach a course on Middle Eastern Politics. It seems clear, according to the account in the New York Times, that the instructor was fired because of a complaint made by a state assembylyman about what he perceived as political biases in the instructor’s academic work. The firing of this instructor on political grounds, based on what appears as pressure from a political official, is egregious, alarming, and a stain on Brooklyn College’s fine reputation.

It is not the role of an elected official, nor the members of any particular political persuasion to determine the competency of an instructor to teach a college course. Indeed, in this case it is only the political science department at Brooklyn College that should make such a determination, which it did in hiring this instructor in the first place.  Academic freedom, the cornerstone of intellectual inquiry, means that that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts (including those that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities) without being targeted for, among other things, job loss.

I hope that you re-think this decision, which beyond violating basic premises of academic freedom, is surely demoralizing to your own academic community.

Sincerely,

Joseph Lowndes

10:15pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Renate Bridenthal, Emerita Professor of History at Brooklyn College:

Dear Provost Tramontano: 

I have learned about the summary dismissal of Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton from the Department of Political Science overruling the Department’s decision.  Apart from the violation of faculty rights, I am appalled to learn of the apparently political nature of your decision, which brings up the matter of academic freedom.

I taught in the Brooklyn College History Department for 34 years and am very familiar with the political pressures that abound on campus. From what I understand, your decision was based on an objection by a state official motivated by one student and Mr. Petersen-Overton was not invited to participate in it.  This leads me to protest your decision in light of my own history as a Jewish child refugee from Nazism who detests censorship and bigotry.  A people who have experienced discrimination are not therefore entitled to practice it on others.  

I hope you will reconsider Mr. Petersen-Overton’s case and at least subject it to a fair hearing.  You wouldn’t want it bruited about that Brooklyn College can be pushed around by one state assemblyman. 

Sincerely yours,

Renate Bridenthal, Emerita Professor of History

10:00pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Jay W. Driskell, Assistant Professor of History at Hood College:

Dear President Gould,

It is shocking to me to hear that an institution like Brooklyn College would surrender to the sorts of anti-intellectual fear mongering to which academia should be immune.  In a time where most knowledge about the broader world gets circulated via cable news outlets that serve only as echo chambers for one or another version of political spin, the role of colleges and universities in preserving critical inquiry remains more vital than ever.  When a professor like Mr. Petersen-Overton is silenced through outside political pressure, the education available at Brooklyn College moves one step closer to being reduced to the bloviations of cable TV news and talk radio.

The academy exists in part to confront received wisdom and not merely to rehearse the words of the powerful.  Without the sorts of challenges that thinkers like Peterson-Overton present, our society will stagnate.  I urge you to reinstate him to his teaching position immediately.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jay W. Driskell

7:30pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, and President of the NYU-AAUP chapter:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

Like many of my colleagues here in NYU’s AAUP chapter, I was appalled to read press reports on the firing of Petersen-Overton. I have also heard from members of the Political Science department who are extremely concerned that college officials appear to have acted under pressure from an influential outsider. As a member of the national AAUP’s Committee A (on Academic Freedom), I see an increasing number of similar cases around the country of this kind of flagrant violation of academic freedom. Sadly, it is usually always because an outside group or individual has objected to the way that Middle Eastern politics is being taught in the classroom. Brooklyn College can do better. I urge you to reinstate the instructor.

Andrew Ross

7:00pm   A num­ber of promi­nent aca­d­e­mics from around the coun­try have sent let­ters to Brook­lyn Col­lege Pres­i­dent Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tra­mon­tano express­ing their dis­plea­sure with the recent turn of events.

From Shira Robinson, Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs at George Washington University:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramontano,

I am writing to express my deep concern over your recent decision to fire adjunct professor Kristofer Petersen-Overton just before the start of his scheduled course on Middle East politics. Given the circumstances of the case as reported in the New York Times and elsewhere, it is difficult not to read your decision as a crude violation of academic freedom.  

As I’m sure you know, few subjects in the American academy today are more politicized than the history and politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  It is precisely for this reason that university administrations must remain steadfast in their professional commitment to judge scholarly work on its merits and according to the rigorous standards of each discipline.  The concern of state assemblyman Dov Hikind that Petersen-Overton’s syllabus includes Israeli historians like Avi Shlaim and Benny Morris is personal and political, not professional.  While numerous scholars have argued over the proper interpretation of the evidence Shlaim, Morris, and others have brought to bear on the history and historiography of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, none have been able–or even tried–to discredit that evidence.  More importantly, the critical and reasoned evaluation of the conclusions drawn by these Jewish Israeli historians has occurred in appropriate professional fora, such as  peer-reviewed scholarly publications and in talks delivered at countless academic conferences.   These debates have enriched our field and our students enormously. They have also led to important changes in the Israeli school curriculum itself.

If Hikind and other politicians find the conclusions of professional historians disturbing, they should encourage students to challenge them using the rigorous methods of the profession. Politicians are also welcome to go to the archives and publish their own findings, or more generally to express their objections through the press and the microphone.   

In the meantime, it is the job of the university to uphold and protect its own professional standards in all academic subjects and all classrooms, without exception.  

Sincerely,

Shira Robinson

6:30pm   A number of prominent academics from around the country have sent letters to Brooklyn College President Karen Lee Gould and Provost  William Tramontano expressing their displeasure with the recent turn of events.  The Advocate has received permission to reprint some of them here. 

The first comes from Distinguished Professor of History at Baruch College Ervand Abrahamian.  His letter follows below:

Dear President Gould and Provost Tramantano,

I was deeply distressed by the New York Times piece today describing the firing of an adjunct because of concerns expressed by an asemblyman. As a faculty member of CUNY for some forty years, I strongly feel that questions of teaching and syllabi should be under the jurisdiction of the faculty–especially the relavant department–and not be dictated to by outsiders, especially politicians. I am sure if I scrutinized the syllabi of other faculty members, I would find books I would object to. But I feel I have no academic right–even thought I have been in academcis for forty years–to tell them what they can or can not use in class. If I feel I dont have such a right, why should those outside academics and the relevant field enjoy such interfering privileges.

Yours sincerely,

Ervand Abrahamian
Distinguished Professor of History

6:10pm   The full text of FIRE’s letter to Brooklyn College President Karen Lee Gould can be read in its entirety here.

6:10pm   Salon‘s Justin Elliot reports that the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has sent a letter of protest to Brooklyn College’s president.  Elliot quotes the letter at some length:

Please understand that FIRE defends free speech, academic freedom, and due process for all students and faculty members because we understand that the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech is more than simply a legal doctrine—it represents the belief that open discourse is critical to democratic society and that the merits of ideas are best decided in a free marketplace of expression rather than by government officials. History has decisively and repeatedly demonstrated that attempts by public officials to regulate or punish opinions are fraught with far greater peril than even the most offensive words.

As you know, BC is a public institution and thus is both legally and morally bound by the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of expression and academic freedom. The Supreme Court has held that academic freedom is a “special concern of the First Amendment” and that “[o]ur nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to teachers concerned.

6:07pm   The Gothamist has a brief snippet on Kristofer Petersen-Overton.  They’ve quoted Dov Hikind in the New York Daily News article that ran yesterday in bold, perhaps to highlight the fact that claiming someone is “literally radical” makes zero sense. 

6:05pm   Here’s a link to the Chrinicle of Higher Education post on the situation. 

6:00pm   Huffington Post has a story on the Brooklyn situation here. Nothing new here, but it’s good to see that the story is gaining traction nation-wide. 

5:00pm   If you haven’t seen Kristofer Petersen-Overton’s op-ed at the Advocate today, make sure to read it.  Particularly sobering is Petersen-Overton’s consideration of the practical consequences of Brooklyn College’s actions:

In the blink of an eye, I have been denied tuition remis­sion, access to sub­si­dized health care for my fam­ily and finan­cial com­pen­sa­tion for the spring semes­ter in a time of seri­ous eco­nomic uncer­tainty. If the college’s deci­sion stands, it should send a chill through­out the entire adjunct community.

4:45pm   The controversy at Brooklyn College has received some decent coverage in the popular media.  Of particular note, check out the New York Times coverage, as well as pieces that ran in Salon and Inside Higher Ed. 

4:40pm   The petition in support of Kristofer Petersen-Overton has collected nearly 800 signatures in less than twenty-four hours.  If you haven’t already done so, please take a moment to read it through and sign.  The petition will be sent to Brooklyn College President Karen Lee Gould and Provost William Tramontano.

4:30pm   Welcome to the Academic Freedom at CUNY blog.  We’ll be covering the recent situation of political purging at Brooklyn College and any related news starting this afternoon. Updates will appear at the top with a EST stamp.

Share on Facebook