Dear Board of Trustees Chair Peter Barris, University President Michael Schill, Provost Kathleen Hagerty and Vice President of Student Affairs Susan Davis:
We write as concerned Northwestern faculty to convey our strong disagreement with the new policy on demonstrations at NU and our dismay in the wake of its recent invocation by the administration to suppress free speech on campus following student protests on Oct. 7. A number of peacefully protesting students have already received notices. We support the students’ right to peaceful assembly and stand firmly behind their exercise of the right to free expression.
We contest the presumption in the new policy that peaceful assembly is disruptive if it occurs before 3 p.m. Several of us have offices near The Rock and do not find protests in that area disruptive to learning. To the contrary, participating in, passing by and also dissenting from public demonstrations is an important part of the U.S. college experience and of life in a flourishing democratic society more broadly. It also has been a fundamental part of student movements at NU for decades. In the words of the recent NU Statement on Free Expression and Institutional Speech, “It is through inclusive engagement across difference, where arguments encounter counterarguments, that learning happens.”
Instead of being a leader in supporting this essential aspect of the U.S. college experience, NU has fallen in line with other colleges and universities around the country who have been pressured to institute more restrictive protest policies in recent months. These are clearly a response to pro-Palestinian protests in particular. In acquiescing to political pressure to limit protest, NU falls prey to a series of politicized attacks on higher education that seek to silence not only pro-Palestinian speech, but also protest and teaching on behalf of and about other marginalized groups.
At a crucial moment when educators should be engaging with students and supporting their right to free expression, the University is instead enacting restrictions that position the institution and its staff to further surveil and punish students who speak their moral conscience. This direction is wrongheaded and contradicts the University’s core educational mission. NU should instead be demonstrating moral and pedagogical leadership.
Signed,
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, WCAS
Shirin Vossoughi, SESP
Jessica Winegar, WCAS
Martha Biondi, WCAS
Jorge Coronado, WCAS
Nitasha Sharma, WCAS
Shalini Shankar, WCAS
José Medina, WCAS
Sarah Schulman, WCAS
Kevin Boyle, WCAS
Marcelo Worsley, SESP, McCormick
Cristina Lafont, WCAS
Axel Mueller, WCAS
Brannon Ingram, WCAS
Helen Tilley, WCAS
Jacqueline Stevens, WCAS
Ian Hurd, WCAS
Rajeev Kinra, WCAS
Lina Britto, WCAS
Mark Hauser, WCAS
Sean Hanretta, WCAS
Mérida Rúa, WCAS
Robert Orsi, WCAS
Jonathon Glassman, WCAS
Joseph Feinglass, Feinberg
Mary Weismantel, WCAS
Mary Pattillo, WCAS
Cynthia Coburn, SESP
Nour Kteily, Kellogg
Tabitha Bonilla, SESP
Peter H. Sporn, Feinberg
Kennetta Hammond Perry, WCAS
Megan Bang, SESP
Wendy Pearlman, WCAS
Ana Arjona, WCAS
Michael Rakowitz, WCAS
Sepehr Vakil, SESP
Shayna Silverstein, Communication
Lauren Stokes, WCAS
Erica Weitzman, WCAS
Joshua Chambers-Letson, Communication
Robert Launay, WCAS
İpek Yosmaoğlu, WCAS
Miriam J. Petty, Communication
Leslie M. Harris, WCAS
Samuel Weber, WCAS
Tessie P. Liu, WCAS
Sylvester Johnson, WCAS
Sally Nuamah, SESP
Anna Parkinson, WCAS
Linda Gates, Communication
katrina quisumbing king, WCAS
If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
