CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM
November 16, 2016 Press Release
CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM
POST-ELECTION POSITION STATEMENT
As part of our mission to defend the deep values and ethics of California institutions of higher education, especially academic freedom, free speech, and freedom of association, we members of California Scholars for Academic Freedom **–200 faculty from twenty universities and colleges– stand united against acts of hate, and bigotry which have already been directed at our students and colleagues in the wake of a polarizing presidential campaign. Such acts threaten our mission as educators in institutions committed to the betterment of our global society through teaching, research, learning, and the dissemination of new knowledge.
We will support and defend the rights of the most vulnerable among us. We have seen firsthand the anxiety and fear generated in those deliberately targeted by electioneering rhetoric and who are now victims of hate in its wake: members of our community who are undocumented, people of color, LGBTQ people, Muslims and other religious minorities (the rise of anti-Semitism, for example), immigrants, the differently abled, women, and political activists on the Left. We will do everything in our power to lessen this climate of fear and mitigate its chilling effect on academic freedom both on and off campus.
As activist educators, we commit ourselves to doing everything we can to nurture an environment that is inclusive and respectful of diversity in all its forms — in our classrooms, our offices, on campus, and in the scholarly community. We will take action where and when necessary to defend the academic freedom, free speech and right of association of our students and colleagues.
In Solidarity,
California Scholars for Academic Freedom
Contact Persons:
Manzar Foroohar, Professor, History
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Nancy Gallagher
Research Professor of History and Professor Emerita
University of California, Santa Barbara
Sondra Hale
Research Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies
and Professor Emerita
University of California, Los Angeles
Katherine King, Professor of Comparative Literature and Classics
University of California, Los Angeles
Lisa Rofel, Professor of Anthropology
University of California, Santa Cruz
**CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM (CS4AF) is a group of some 200 scholars from over 20 institutions of higher education who defend academic freedom, the right of shared governance, and the First Amendment rights of faculty and students in the academy and beyond. We recognize that violations of academic freedom anywhere are threats to academic freedom everywhere. California Scholars for Academic Freedom investigates legislative and administrative infringements on freedom of speech and assembly, and it raises the consciousness of politicians, university regents and administrators, faculty, students and the public at large through open letters, press releases, petitions, statements, and articles.
CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM 