For the Naitonal Project to Defend Dissent and Critical Thinking in Academia
Defendcriticalthinking.info
TAKE ACTION AGAINST YET ANOTHER ATTACK ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
As you know, since 9/11, the right has ramped up its attack on academics
who dare to dissent from the U.S. occupation of Iraq and its policy in
the Middle East more generally. Neo-McCarthyite groups like the American
Council of Trustees and Alumni, Students for Academic Freedom and the
David Project have published lists of “disloyal” faculty and scurrilous
reports on allegedly “anti-American” courses dealing with U.S.
imperialism, Islam and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Respected
scholars who study and write about such subjects -such as Norman
Finkelstein– have been denied tenure solely on the basis of their
politics. Others, like Ward Churchill, have had tenure summarily stripped from them.
In similar instances, applications for tenure have been seriously
threatened (Nadia Abu El-Haj: Joseph Massad) and books and their publishers have
been targeted for censorship (i.e. Joel Kovel’s book “Overcoming Zionism” and
University of Michigan Press). Now, the assault on academic freedom has
effected yet another critical scholar: Terri Ginsberg, a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies
from NYU and an authority on Israeli and Palestinian film.
Last fall, Terri was hired to a one year, non-tenure track position in
Film Studies at North Carolina State University (with the possibility of
renewal). As part of her teaching responsibilities, she offered advanced
courses on film and media treatment of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and on
the political aesthetics of Holocaust film (the subject of her recent book) ; she was
also charged with helping to program a Middle Eastern film series.
Unfortunately, as Terri details in a grievance she filed with the NCSU
Faculty in March 2008, the director of the film studies program and the
director of the Middle East studies program at NCSU made a number of
administrative decisions in the course of the past year that flagrantly violated
Terri’s academic freedom.
To begin with, they limited her involvement in the film series which she
had been hired to curate, and criticized the introduction she gave at a screening of
the Palestinian film “Ticket to Jerusalem” as biased and overly political.
Moreover, the director of the film studies program refused to purchase
many of the materials Terri had requested for her Palestine/Israel film and
media course and submitted her evaluation of Terri’s teaching prematurely. All of
this culminated in her contract not being renewed for the upcoming academic year.
The grievance Terri filed with the NCSU Faculty alleged violations of
her First Amendment and equal opportunity rights under the University Code. Despite a
recommendation from the NCSU Faculty Chair that her case be given a full hearing, NCSU
Chancellor James L. Oblinger summarily dismissed her petition on the grounds that it was filed “too late” and that Terri was no longer a university employee. To make matters
worse, the AAUP– who had been helping Terri with her case– informed her in
the wake of Oblinger’s decision that they would no longer provide her with
assistance. (For more information about the facts of Terri’s case, read the following article:
http://media.www.technicianonline.com/media/storage/paper848/news/2008/07/17/News/Professor.Claims.Unprotected.Speech-3391733.shtml)
In response to this outrage, people from around the world have been
inundating NCSU with letters demanding that the Chancellor and the Board
of Trustees allow Terri’s grievance to go forward. An online petition
has been started that requests that NCSU consider Terri’s case and asks
the AAUP to give her the support she deserves.
Please take a few minutes to help Terri in this fight. First, add your
name to the petition of support drafted by Academics for Justice (AcademicsForJustice.org):
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Protect-Academic-Freedom
Second, send e-mails and make phone calls to D. McQueen Campbell, chair of the NSCU Board of Trustees, andD. McQueen Campbell, Chair NCSU Board of Trustees
tele: 919-515-2195
fax: 919-831-3545
trustees@ncsu.edu
Dr. Larry A. Nielsen, NCSU Provost &
Executive Vice Chancellor
larry_nielsen@ncsu.edu
tele: 919-515-2195
fax: 919-515-5921
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