SAFE stands in solidarity with students, faculty, and staff boycotting Israeli universities

Identifier

ar_001

Title

SAFE stands in solidarity with students, faculty, and staff boycotting Israeli universities

Description

Letter from Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) expressing solidarity with students, faculty, and staff boycotting Israeli universities -- specifically Professor Cheney-Lippold

Creator

Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) (University of Michigan)

Subject

Arab Americans -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor

Arab-Israeli conflict

Islam

Islamophobia -- Michigan

Islamophobia -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor

Middle Eastern students -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor

Student organizations -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor

University of Michigan -- Faculty

University of Michigan -- Students

Source

https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/149377

Publisher

Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) (University of Michigan)

Spatial Coverage

University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor

Date

2018-09-18

Type

text

Format

text/PDF 64 kB

Rights

This content may be under copyright. Researchers are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.

Rights Holder

Copyright is held by the Regents of the University of Michigan but the collection may contain third-party materials for which copyright is not held. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.

Language

Eng

Provenance

Letter originally written and published by Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) (University of Michigan). Letter was later saved (without alteration) by the Islamophobia Working Group (University of Michigan) on 2019-01-28 to be compiled with a larger collection on letters in support of Professor John Cheney-Lippold.

Bibliographic Citation

[item], https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/149377, Islamophobia Working Group (University of Michigan) records, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan

extracted text

SAFE stands in solidarity with
students, faculty, and staff boycotting
Israeli universities
٢٠١٨ ‫ ﺳﺑﺗﻣﺑر‬١٨ ،‫ · اﻟﺛﻼﺛﺎء‬STUDENTS ALLIED FOR FREEDOM AND EQUALITY (SAFE)

Students Allied for Freedom and Equality at the University of Michigan stands in
solidarity with students, faculty, and staff boycotting Israeli universities.
The state of Israel actively engages in human rights violations upon the Palestinian
people. From daily home demolitions to the imprisonment of thousands of innocent
civilians to the illegal construction of settlements on Palestinian land, there is no
question of the violence and inequity perpetuated by settler-colonial Israeli apartheid.
We support and affirm Professor John Cheney-Lippold’s right to boycott Israel. His
actions are the same demanded by Palestinian civil society, and serve to name and resist
forces committing human rights violations. To punish Professor Cheney-Lippold for his
actions would curtail his own academic agency.
We also want to underscore the double standard of “consequences” faced by students
who support the state of Israel. This student, for whatever inconveniences she may face
in securing a recommendation letter, will undoubtedly be able to visit, study, and work
in the country. We remind the campus community that Palestinian students and their
allies continue to be blacklisted, targeted, and exiled from their home
country for their identities. Palestinian students do not have the privilege of going
back to Palestine, much less studying abroad. Where is the concern for their educational
opportunities?
Finally, SAFE would like to question the speed and force with which the University
administration and campus community condemned Professor Cheney-Lippold. For
years, students at the University of Michigan have been consistently targeted on
international political blacklists for standing up for Palestinian human rights. We have
brought the blacklist to the attention of our administrators repeatedly. There has been
no University statement on the matter. This blacklist is just one of several tangible
barriers for students that will prevent them from engaging in not just study abroad
programs, but academic programs, jobs, and admittance into Palestine/Israel.
It seems as though the administration and community are more interested in punishing
a professor for exercising his right to express political views —views that may offend a
powerful community on campus—than protecting the physical and emotional safety of
Palestinian students.

SAFE vows to keep elevating the voices of Palestinians on this campus and around the
world, and to stand with those already doing so in meaningful ways.
In solidarity,
Students Allied for Freedom and Equality