Northwestern faculty, staff, librarians and graduate students formed a new chapter of Educators for Justice in Palestine, the group announced Tuesday.
Over 200 educators at NU signed a December statement declaring solidarity with NU Students for Justice in Palestine and condemning anti-Palestinian and anti-Jewish hate and other forms of racism. The statement included a callout for more educators to join the movement, and several of those signees have since worked to organize a chapter of NU EJP, forming seven committees and establishing leadership.
“As a Northwestern faculty member, I think it’s really important for the community to have a lot of different perspectives on this conflict to educate ourselves on campus,” Weinberg Prof. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd told The Daily.
She added that one of the group’s first priorities is scheduling a listening session with NU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to coordinate support for the club.
Israel’s continued ground and air offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian officials, since the militant group Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli officials. The International Court of Justice ordered Israel prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza in a Friday ruling, stopping short of ordering a ceasefire.
“Before we jump ahead to the point where so many people jumped to right away — which is, ‘What are we going to do next?’ ‘How are we going to fix it?’ — it seems to me really important to understand what’s happened historically,” Shakman Hurd said.
Weinberg Prof. Wendy Pearlman, the interim director of the Middle East and North Africa Studies Program, will also serve on the chapter’s publicity committee.
The release outlined eight guiding principles for the chapter, including defending students’ rights, aligning with movements against colonialism and oppression, and cultivating community care.
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