We got this statement from President Alivisatos not long ago.
I’ll wander over there and see what’s happening soon. In the meantime, I’ll give a copy of the letter that many of us faculty sent to the Provost and President yesterday afternoon; Dorian Abbot posted it on Substack, and did most of the work putting it together and getting signers. I like to think that it influenced the decision above, but that was probably made in advance. However, several of us, including me, had previously registered complaints about the encampment with the administration, which must have been inundated with protest from faculty and students about the disruptions. I’m very happy that Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, an accomplished classics professor and wife of our late President Bob Zimmer, agreed to sign. Bob wouldn’t have tolerated the encampment for a minute.
An Open Letter to President Alivisators and Provost Baicker Concerning the Encampment
Dear President Alivisatos and Provost Baicker,
Allowing the continued encampment of protesters on our main quad imposes the following significant costs on the University:
- Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) restrictions are put in place to ensure that expression furthers the goal of intellectual exchange in the pursuit of truth. Flagrant violations of TPM restrictions undermine the purpose of the University.
- TPM restrictions are not being applied equally. If the University continues to allow TPM violations by these protestors, while enforcing TPM restrictions on other groups, it is effectively violating the principle of institutional neutrality outlined in the Kalven report.
- It prevents us from hearing opposing viewpoints since these protestors have repeatedly ripped down and removed posters, flags, and banners they disagree with and shouted down speakers they disagree with.
- It provides an incentive to engage in TPM violations and encourages future encampments. We risk chaos and the collapse of our ability to function as an institute of higher learning.
This flagrant violation of our academic values is not going to end unless you take decisive action to remove and sanction these protestors while firmly rejecting their demands.
Sincerely,
Dorian S. Abbot, Professor of Geophysical Sciences
Peggy Mason, Professor of Neurobiology
Callum F. Ross, Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy
Rick Shweder, Harold Higgins Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Comparative Human Development
Steve Kaplan, Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor, Booth School
Jerry Coyne, Emeritus Professor of Ecology and Evolution
Micah T Prochaska, Assistant Professor of Medicine
Sam Peltzman, Ralph & Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Economics Emeritus
Casey B. Mulligan, Professor of Economics
Juan I. Collar, Professor of Physics
Rachel Fulton Brown, Associate Professor of History
Andrew Aronsohn, Associate Professor of Medicine
Gautham Reddy, Professor of Medicine
Adam Cifu, Professor of Medicine
Elliot S. Gershon, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Genetics, post-retirement appointment
Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, Helen A. Regenstein Distinguished Service Professor of Classics
Lawrence Grossman, Professor Emeritus of Geophysical Sciences
David Zarfes, Clinical Professor of Law
Emily Underwood, Associate Clinical Professor of Law
Kevin M. Murphy, George Stigler Distinguished Service Professor of Economics Emeritus
John Reinitz, Professor of Statistics, Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology, and Ecology & Evolution
Laszlo Babai, Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Prof of Computer Science and Mathematics
Dario Maestripieri, Professor of Comparative Human Development
Shmuel Weinberger, Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professor of Mathematics
Alexander Razborov, Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
Robert H. Topel, Isidore Brown and Gladys J. Brown Distinguished Service Professor of Economics
Leslie Kay, Professor of Psychology
D. Allan Drummond, Associate Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
George Glauberman, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics
Russell D. Cohen, Professor of Medicine
Steven J. Davis, William H. Abbott Distinguished Service Professor of International Business and Economics Emeritus, Booth School
Anil Kashyap, Stevens Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Finance
Jing Chen, Janet Davison Rowley Distinguished Service Professor in Cancer Research
Lisa Bernstein, Wilson Dickenson Professor of Law
Josh Avratin, Clinical Professor of Law
Benson Farb, Professor of Mathematics
Laurie Zoloth, Margaret E. Burton Professor of Religion and Ethics
Harald Uhlig, Bruce Allen and Barbara Ritzenthaler Professor of Economics
David Martinez, Associate Professor of Classics and the Divinity School
Richard Epstein, James Parker Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus
Greg Kaplan, Alvin H. Baum Professor of Economics
Dennis W. Carlton, David McDaniel Keller Professor of Economics Emeritus
Simeon Chavel, Associate Professor of Divinity
Ross M. Stolzenberg, Professor of Sociology
*****************************************************
And here’s the Instagram statement of the Maroons for Israel, which I believe went up yesterday:
A big +1 on the Maroons for Israel Statement!
But Looks like the President has left a little wiggle room for yet another chance in his final, somewhat elliptical sentence.
It brings a warm smile to my face to see Prof Bartsch-Zimmer’s name on the faculty letter….family continuity.
+5
I hope Harvard follows suit, but I won’t hold my breath.
Have you all heard about Rutgers’ administration capitulating to the encampers? It’s disturbing. (I just applied for a job there, and now I’m getting cold feet.)
At last some clear delineations.
I note two points :
• 24-hour law enforcement
This is consistent with deliberate pressure-testing of infrastructure. I think it is the Cloward-Piven strategy. Note that this is giving the organizers lots of useful feedback for four years from now. Pressure-testing of pinch-points is what could explain the bridge occupations, road blockages seen in recent months. Those participating are likely unaware of this but were just told to do it by organizers.
• Does this statement apply to individuals unaffiliated with UoC?
After all that, the response is also of course operationally designed. I also think this is also overall designed to get the United States government to react, e.g. the recent antisemitism bill (I know few details) to potentially control or define meanings of speech.
Even Binghamton University (State University of New York at Binghamton), with 26% of students being Jewish, now has an encampment. I am an alumnus, and I sent the following letter to the University President yesterday. I can only hope that university administrators are learning from other campuses how to respond and how not to respond. This is new territory for all of them.
—
Dear President Stenger,
I just learned from reports on WBNG and WICZ that a pro-Palestinian encampment is being erected at Binghamton University. As an alumnus (B.S., Geological Sciences, 1978) I am concerned. While I respect the right of students to protest on campus, I would urge you to insist they adhere to the university’s time, place, and manner rules and that you immediately remove any activists who are not legitimate members of the university community. I do not want to see Binghamton University descend into the chaos and violence that we have seen over the past few days at other locations. Students and faculty have a right to teach and learn free from distraction.
I am particularly incensed to learn that protestors at Northwestern University were effectively rewarded for their illegal actions by promises to provide scholarships to Palestinian students and positions for Palestinian faculty. This is little different from rewarding Hamas with its own state as the reward for attacking Israel. Please take care not to reward illegal behavior, as this will only encourage more.
I have confidence in your ability to lead the University through this phase, and I trust that I will soon read that your administration has calmed the waters and has preserved the climate for teaching and learning that has brought the University its high reputation.
Please accept my best wishes for a speedy resolution.
—Norman G
—
Very nicely said, Norman.
+1
Good! I want people to have the right to protest, but there were more than enough reasons to shut this one down.
Given that some protests have been shut down and people arrested (much to their surprise?), I suspect these protestors will know that it really is time to skedaddle lest they be put on probation or worse.
Well, I am glad the University isn’t going to tolerate the criminality anymore, but it’s unclear when the tipping point was reached. I would have said on day one. Now Alivisatos has left the door open to continued criminal encampments testing the limits of what will be allowed.
“… continued criminal encampments testing the limits of what will be allowed.”
Yes – is the campus private property?
If some KeffiyehKampers all of a sudden appeared in a department store they’d be kicked out/arrested. Even in a “public” park, which usually charges day pass / parking fees or has rules.
Oh, and the Maroon is reporting this statement from the protestors on the meeting with the University (10:35am post):
“… until liberation.”
Wink-wink
We know what that means
So have the police arrived yet?
P.S. Jerry I’m relieved that you weren’t hurt by the Borg during your latest reconnaissance. Thanks for witnessing.
Borg. LOL. Le mot juste.
I’m heading over there now. My guess is that they’ll take it down this evening. But the Jewish students are having a picnic on the quad (I’m invited) and it would be way cool to picnic while watching the tents come down.
Bon appetit!
The university’s response should include that organizers of these events are responsible to remove all graffiti, tape, litter, and repair all other vandalism done by participants. This should be standard university policy regarding any protest or other activity anyway, and should be enforced.
You spray paint wooden doors of the Kent Chem Lab, then you get to clean it off and bring the doors back to the original (or better) condition, even it if means spending a week at the local refinishing company working on them alongside an expert. Spray paint on concrete – you get a crash course in how to use a sandblaster to remove it. Tape a flagpole – here’s your Goo Gone and a rag, make sure all the residue is off the pole after you unwrap the tape.
These brat kids who talk about income inequality have no problem making the janitorial staff clean up after them.
Absolutely! The footage of the debris left behind at the scenes of other encampments is atrocious. So much for concern for the environment that these kids claim to espouse!
“Hear, hear!” to Abbot’s open letter. It’s a bit depressing, though, to see the humanities disciplines represented by only three or so signatories. Perhaps that simply reflects a general rift in communication between the sciences and the humanities in the gathering of signatures, but it’s also conceivable that signing even such a reasonable statement on this issue could cause a humanities faculty member to be ostracized within their department.
That’s a good statement from President Alivisatos – the point has been made by the organisers of the encampment. Now it’s time for them to leave or else be confronted by the consequences of their illegal actions. I expect that they will try to avoid both, of course.
No gender studies professor signed?