From David Palumbo-Liu's Tumblr Account
Don’t Break Pace—Energize: Fighting for #SalaitaToday’s “decision” by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees was for all intents and purposes a foregone conclusion. Without downplaying the bitterness and anger most of us feel, it is critical and urgent not to lose energy or commitment.
The major goals remain the same and achievable. What to do? First, support Steven Salaita in any ways he deems best. We must step up donations to his financial support fund, and advocate widely for an academic position for him. With his remarkable scholarship and teaching, that should not be too hard, though as we do so we must be prepared to answer skeptics by making sure they have a clear vision of who is his. Read his scholarship, engage with it, share it. Share too his statement—it is characteristically dignified, courageous, and inspiring.
Second, we must isolate the Board of Trustees and Wise. They have nothing more to say. Good. I have just written an op-ed that I have sent to Truthout—in it I argue that these people should be seen as abjectly uncivil—they have blithely ignored the voices of literally thousands of people and the petitions of an incredibly impressive array of academic organizations. Make no mistake—the BoT and Wise must now be called out for what they are—out-laws. They have removed themselves from “civil” (in the sense of the citizenry of a society) academic life. We should repeatedly and emphatically denounce, ridicule, upbraid, mock them. We must insist that this never happen again to any academic. Think of them as a contaminant—quarantine them! Make any other administrators think twice about doing this sort of thing.
The BoT and Wise have inadvertently created amongst us an incredible, unified front of students, faculty (tenure-track and NTT), alums, staff, parents, friends who all see the same injustice and are more than angry—we are enraged. We must keep unified in fighting against top-down, outsider interference in our academic communities. We must insist on democratic process. We must question authority.
Practical steps:
1 Unionize.
2 Join the AAUP.
3 Within your academic organizations set up Academic Freedom committees. If they already exist ask them to make a public statement on the Salaita case.
4 Set up panels on academic freedom topics regularly at all your conferences.
5 Invite Steven Salaita to your campus to speak on any subject he wishes. Also—very important, reach out to progressive faculty at UIUC: invite them to lecture at your institution, collaborate with them, make them feel less isolated.
6 Join your faculty senate and elect good people to key committees. Get on search committees for deans if you can, etc.
7 Start work groups, discussion groups, on academic freedom.
8 Learn to blog, write op-eds, on a number of topics—develop good relations with editors of online and print media.
9 Ask your dean, provost, whatever, to address the Salaita case in both public and private forums. Ask them to read the AAUP statements and to reaffirm them, publicly!
10 Ask academic journals to which you subscribe to do a special issue on the topic.
11 Offer a course that explores the history of academic freedom and its current challenges.
12 Get on twitter (yes) and follow the #SupportSalaita hashtag and others, and create ones of your own.
13 Add to this list! Be creative and “disruptive.”
14 Don’t lose sight of our goals.
15 There have to be many more things we can and must do—post your ideas on Facebook, Twitter, share with friends over coffee.
I’ll add to this as I can.
In solidarity,
DP-L
Don’t Break Pace—Energize: Fighting for #SalaitaToday’s “decision” by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees was for all intents and purposes a foregone conclusion. Without downplaying the bitterness and anger most of us feel, it is critical and urgent not to lose energy or commitment.
The major goals remain the same and achievable. What to do? First, support Steven Salaita in any ways he deems best. We must step up donations to his financial support fund, and advocate widely for an academic position for him. With his remarkable scholarship and teaching, that should not be too hard, though as we do so we must be prepared to answer skeptics by making sure they have a clear vision of who is his. Read his scholarship, engage with it, share it. Share too his statement—it is characteristically dignified, courageous, and inspiring.
Second, we must isolate the Board of Trustees and Wise. They have nothing more to say. Good. I have just written an op-ed that I have sent to Truthout—in it I argue that these people should be seen as abjectly uncivil—they have blithely ignored the voices of literally thousands of people and the petitions of an incredibly impressive array of academic organizations. Make no mistake—the BoT and Wise must now be called out for what they are—out-laws. They have removed themselves from “civil” (in the sense of the citizenry of a society) academic life. We should repeatedly and emphatically denounce, ridicule, upbraid, mock them. We must insist that this never happen again to any academic. Think of them as a contaminant—quarantine them! Make any other administrators think twice about doing this sort of thing.
The BoT and Wise have inadvertently created amongst us an incredible, unified front of students, faculty (tenure-track and NTT), alums, staff, parents, friends who all see the same injustice and are more than angry—we are enraged. We must keep unified in fighting against top-down, outsider interference in our academic communities. We must insist on democratic process. We must question authority.
Practical steps:
1 Unionize.
2 Join the AAUP.
3 Within your academic organizations set up Academic Freedom committees. If they already exist ask them to make a public statement on the Salaita case.
4 Set up panels on academic freedom topics regularly at all your conferences.
5 Invite Steven Salaita to your campus to speak on any subject he wishes. Also—very important, reach out to progressive faculty at UIUC: invite them to lecture at your institution, collaborate with them, make them feel less isolated.
6 Join your faculty senate and elect good people to key committees. Get on search committees for deans if you can, etc.
7 Start work groups, discussion groups, on academic freedom.
8 Learn to blog, write op-eds, on a number of topics—develop good relations with editors of online and print media.
9 Ask your dean, provost, whatever, to address the Salaita case in both public and private forums. Ask them to read the AAUP statements and to reaffirm them, publicly!
10 Ask academic journals to which you subscribe to do a special issue on the topic.
11 Offer a course that explores the history of academic freedom and its current challenges.
12 Get on twitter (yes) and follow the #SupportSalaita hashtag and others, and create ones of your own.
13 Add to this list! Be creative and “disruptive.”
14 Don’t lose sight of our goals.
15 There have to be many more things we can and must do—post your ideas on Facebook, Twitter, share with friends over coffee.
I’ll add to this as I can.
In solidarity,
DP-L
From University of Illinois Students Support Steven Salaita #UISTUDENTS4SALAITA Facebook Group