U.S. Educators’ Conscientious Objection Pledge to End Complicity in
Genocide
&
Apartheid

Islamic University of Gaza, 2 August, 2014. Courtesy of Alamy.

As educators, we recognize our profound responsibility to seek and teach the truth, foster critical thought, build a more just world, and end complicity in all forms of oppression. We recognize our additional responsibility as educators in the U.S., which serves as the world’s primary funder, enabler, and defender of Israeli violations of international law and human rights.In this urgent moment, as the Palestinian people, mainly in Gaza but also across Palestine and in exile continue to endure immense suffering under Israeli colonization, occupation, apartheid, and genocide, we reaffirm these responsibilities.Standing for equality, justice, and freedom for all people is a fundamental moral duty that none of us—especially those who teach—can ignore. We answer the call of Palestinian academics, educators, heads of academic institutions, and civil society in urging the international academic community to reject silence, racism, settler colonialism, and dehumanization, and to help end complicity in oppression.Inspired by the historical precedent of the academic boycott against apartheid South Africa, and in solidarity with the 2004 call by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel:We, the undersigned academics at U.S. academic institutions, and U.S. academics abroad, pledge, on grounds of conscience, not to engage in academic or cultural cooperation, collaboration, or joint projects with Israeli academic, cultural, state, or private entities that are complicit in the ongoing occupation, apartheid, genocide, or other violations of Palestinian rights as stipulated under international law. This includes, but is not limited to, participation in conferences, research collaborations, exchange programs, and institutional partnerships sponsored or organized by such institutions.We support the following additional actions:o Advocate for a comprehensive boycott of such Israeli institutions at the local, national, and international levels, including the suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions;o Promote strategic and targeted divestment from entities that enable Israel’s atrocity crimes against Palestinians, by academic institutions and in our professional organizations and unions;o Press for non-cooperation boycott resolutions to be adopted by academic, professional, workers’, and cultural associations and organizations, against the Israeli state, and against organizations that fund, enable, or advocate for Israeli violations of international law and human rights;o Support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly, without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as a condition for such support.We affirm that our boycott is institutional, not individual. We do not target individuals based on nationality, ethnicity, or beliefs, but focus on institutions and official representatives implicated in supporting or justifying colonial violence, violations of international law, and human rights.We commit to producing, fostering, and disseminating knowledge about the hundred-years’ war on Palestine and the Israeli state’s ongoing Nakba, and confronting the production of ignorance on Palestine.We call upon our colleagues, students, staff, and administrators to join us in this pledge, and to support the right of educators and academic workers to speak out against injustice without fear of retaliation. We demand that educational institutions protect academic freedom and freedom of expression and stand in solidarity with those who advocate for justice and the liberation of all peoples.While this pledge is primarily directed towards educators in U.S. higher education institutions, we invite all those who are in one way or another affiliated with any institution of learning to sign on in support.We believe that educators possess the right and carry the responsibility to educate about matters of public import in the public sphere. We believe that it is of the utmost urgency to uphold this right and to enact this responsibility in the case of the unfolding genocide in Palestine. We are committed to using our expertise–where relevant–to analyze and deconstruct the language used in media, government, and public discourse, demonstrating how language can be either a tool for propaganda or a pathway toward restorative and transformative justice.We invite all members of the academic community to join us in using our collective knowledge to build a just and liberated future for all.In solidarity with all educators who speak out against injustice and in favor of the liberation of Palestine, we pledge to support them and their right to academic freedom and free expression.Free Palestine.

Please fill in the form below to add yourself as a signatory to the pledge.

Initial SignatoriesA. Pollicino (Rutgers University)
Aaron Roussell (Portland State University)
Abdel Razzaq Takriti (Rice University)
Adam Rzepka (Montclair State University)
Adit Sabnis (Brown University)
Ahlam Muhtaseb (California State University, San Bernardino)
Al Kagan (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Alan Wald (University of Michigan)
Alessandro Morosin (University of La Verne)
Alexa Firat (Temple University)
Alexander Elinson (Hunter College)
Alexandria Hollett (California State University, Northridge)
Alicia Christoff (Amherst College)
Amanda Batarseh (University of California, San Diego)
Amber Hickey (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)
Ambereen Dadabhoy (Harvey Mudd College)
Amelia Simone Herbert (Barnard College, Columbia University)
Amira Jarmakani (San Diego State University)
Amy Hagopian (University of Washington)
Ana Carolina Díaz Beltrán (University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley)
Anand Vaidya (Reed College)
Andrea Herrera (Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Missouri State University)
Andrea Morrell (Guttman Community College)
Andrea Schmidt (Temple University)
Andrés Fabián Henao Castro (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Andrew Ross (New York University)
Anita Sanyal (University of Maryland)
Anna Feder (formerly, Emerson College)
Annelise Orleck (Dartmouth College)
Anthony Alessandrini (Kingsborough Community College, CUNY Graduate Center)
Anton Shammas (University of Michigan)
Ara Merjian (New York University)
Ariana Vigil (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay (Brown University)
Askold Melnyczuk (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Atalia Omer (University of Notre Dame)
Bahia Munem (Middlebury College)
Barbara Foley (Emerita, Rutgers University)
Barbie Wu (Reed College)
Barry Trachtenberg (Wake Forest University)
Bassam Bamieh (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Bassam Haddad (George Mason University)
Begum Adalet (Cornell University)
Beth Baker (California State University, Los Angeles)
Beth Ribet (University of California, Los Angeles)
Bethany Letiecq (George Mason University)
Bill Mullen (Emeritus, Purdue University)
Brittany Munro (CUNY Graduate Center)
Brooke Lober (University of California, Berkeley)
Bruce Levine (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Bruce Robbins (Columbia University)
Caitlin Schroering (University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
Callen Zimmerman (Stony Brook University)
Candace Fujikane (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
Carol M. Lang (Bronx Community College)
Catia Cecilia Confortini (Wellesley College)
Cesare Casarino (University of Minnesota)
Charlotte Karem Albrecht (University of Michigan)
Chris Dole (Amherst College)
Chris Tilly (University of California, Los Angeles)
Christa Robbins (University of Virginia)
Christine Hong (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Christopher Stone (Hunter College)
Colleen Rost-Banik (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
Corinna Mullin (The New School)
Cynthia Franklin (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
Dana Miranda (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Daniel Segal (Pitzer College)
Daniel Sidorick (Rutgers University)
Danielle Purifoy (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Dara Orenstein (The George Washington University)
Darlene Lee (University of California, Los Angeles)
Darrin Hoop (National Education Association)
Darryl Li (University of Chicago)
David Klein (California State University, Northridge)
David Laibman (Emeritus, Brooklyn College, CUNY Graduate Center)
David Letwin (Rutgers University)
David Lloyd (University of California, Riverside)
David Love (Rutgers University)
David Palumbo-Liu (Stanford University)
David Yaghoubian (California State University, San Bernardino)
Deborah Rosenfelt (University of Maryland)
Devon Clifton (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
Diane Gallo (University of California, Los Angeles)
Dina Omar (University of California, Berkeley)
Dylan Rodriguez (University of California, Riverside)
Edgar Garcia Velozo (University of Kentucky)
Eli Meyerhoff (Duke University)
Elisabeth Weber (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Elsa Auerbach (Emerita, University of Massachusetts Boston)
Elybeth Sofia Alcantar (University of Texas at Austin)
Elyse Crystall (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Emad Abou-Arab (University of Michigan)
Emmaia Gelman (Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism)
Eric Cheyfitz (Cornell University)
Ericka Kimball (Portland State University)
Erin Clancy (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Erin Hammond (Virginia Tech)
Erin Pineda (Smith College)
Eunsong Kim (Northeastern University)
Eve Meltzer (New York University)
Fawzia Afzal-Khan (Montclair State University)
Federico Pérez Fernández (Portland State University)
Fidelito Cortes (Hunter College)
Frank T. Fitzgerald (College of Saint Rose)
Fred Rowland (Temple University)
Gabi Kirk (California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt)
Ganesh Trichur (College of Staten Island)
Gina Crandell (Boston Architectural College)
Grace Kyungwon Hong (University of California, Los Angeles)
Hannah Appel (University of California, Los Angeles)
Hannah Manshel (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
Heather Dorfman (Portland State University)
Heather Ferguson (Claremont McKenna College)
Heba Gowayed (Hunter College)
Heidi Morrison (University of Wisconsin-La Crosse)
Heike Schotten (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Helen DeVinney (The George Washington University)
Hosu Kim (College of Staten Island)
Howard Winant (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Huda Fakhreddine (University of Pennsylvania)
Hussein Rashid (Barnard College)
Ilham Khuri-Makdisi (Northeastern University)
Ira Dworkin (Texas A&M University)
Irene Siegel (Hunter College)
Isaac Kamola (Trinity College)
Isabel Ortiz (Amherst College)
Isabella Arzeno Soltero (University of California, Los Angeles)
Ishad Zaman (City College of New York)
J. Kehaulani Kauanui (Princeton University)
Jacqueline Siapno (University of California, San Diego)
Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores (Texas Tech University)
James Hoff (Borough of Manhattan Community College)
Jamie Jones (Portland State University)
Jan Haaken (Portland State University)
Janet Jakobsen (Barnard College)
Janet Winston (California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt)
Jay Arena (College of Staten Island)
Jazmine Janay Cuevas (Cornell University)
Jean Beaman (CUNY Graduate Center)
Jean Halley (College of Staten Island, CUNY Graduate Center)
Jennifer Ruth (Portland State University)
Jessica Hardie (Hunter College)
Jessica Pabón (n/a)
Jodi Dean (Hobart and William Smith Colleges)
John Cox (University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
John Gianvito (Emerson College)
John King (New York University)
John Maerhofer (Rutgers University)
Jolie Chea (University of California, Los Angeles)
Jonah Rubin (Jewish Voice for Peace)
Jonathan Graubart (San Diego State University)
Jorge Coronado (Northwestern University)
Judith Butler (University of California, Berkeley)
Judith Norman (Trinity University)
Julia Gettle (n/a)
Julie Carlson (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Julie Diamond (ret., City College of New York)
Justin Flatt (Rutgers University)
Kai Bosworth (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Karen Suyemoto (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Karim Mattar (University of Colorado at Boulder)
Karla Strand (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
Karlyn Koh (LaGuardia Community College)
Karma Chavez (University of Texas at Austin)
Katherine Franke (formerly, Columbia University)
Katherine Killmer (Brescia University)
Kathryn DePaolis (Eastern Washington University)
K.D. Thompson (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
Kevin Bruyneel (Babson College)
Kevin Winkler (The City University of New York)
Key K. Bird (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Khaled Mattawa (University of Michigan)
Kolson Schlosser (Temple University)
Kristen Gillespie-Lynch (College of Staten Island, CUNY Graduate Center)
Kristian Contreras (National Women's Studies Association)
Lara Deeb (Scripps College)
Laura Bray (University of Oklahoma)
Laura Goldblatt (University of Virginia)
Laura Tanenbaum (LaGuardia Community College)
Leila Kawar (University of Michigan)
Leila Mansouri (Scripps College)
Lisa Hajjar (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Lisa Rofel (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Lizabeth Roemer (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Loryn Hilferty (Temple University)
Loubna Qutami (University of California, Los Angeles)
Louise Penner (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Lucien Baskin (CUNY Graduate Center)
Lynne Layton (Harvard Medical School)
Macy Miller (University of Illinois Chicago)
Mahruq Khan (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Manijeh Moradian (Barnard College, Columbia University)
Manisha Desai (Stony Brook University)
Manzar Foroohar (Emerita, California State University, Polytechnic)
Mar Golub (Scripps College)
Marcy Newman (Mudita Mindful Learning)
Margot Weiss (Wesleyan University)
María Regina Firmino-Castillo (University of California, Riverside)
Mark Driscoll (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Mark LeVine (University of California, Irvine)
Mark Rifkin (University at Buffalo)
Marlon Bailey (Washington University in St. Louis)
Martin Vega (Scripps College)
Mary Stricker (Temple University)
Matt Chorpenning (Portland State University)
Matthew Thomas Miller (University of Maryland)
Maura Finkelstein (formerly, Muhlenberg College)
Max Weiss (Princeton University)
Maya Mikdashi (Rutgers University)
Mayida Zaal (Montclair State University)
Meital Yaniv (University of California, Riverside, Chaffey College)
Melanie Bush (Adelphi University)
Melissa Levy (University of Virginia)
Melissa Weiner (College of the Holy Cross)
Merrill Cole (Western Illinois University)
Michael Drexler (Bucknell University)
Michael Loeb (Brooklyn College)
Michel DeGraff (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Michelle Fine (CUNY Graduate Center)
Miguel Valerio (University of Maryland)
Mita Banerjee (Pitzer College)
Momodou Taal (Cornell University)
Monica Morosin (n/a)
Monica Parmley-Frutiger (Portland State University)
Muhammad Ali Khalidi (CUNY Graduate Center)
Nada Elia (Western Washington University)
Nadia Yaqub (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Nadine Naber (University of Illinois Chicago)
Nadine Sahyoun (University of Maryland)
Nadja Eisenberg-Guyot (Trinity College)
Nancy Khalil (University of Michigan)
Nandini Sikand (Lafayette College)
Naomi Braine (Brooklyn College)
Naomi Schiller (Brooklyn College, CUNY Graduate Center)
Navid Farnia (Wayne State University)
Neferti Tadiar (Barnard College)
Nerissa Balce (Stony Brook University)
Ngo Nhan (Temple University)
Nic Francisco (formerly, Portland State University)
Nicholas Mirzoeff (New York University)
Nichole Shippen (LaGuardia Community College)
Nicole Lopez-Jantzen (Borough of Manhattan Community College)
Nicole Morse (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
Nicole Simek (Whitman College)
Nina Silber (Boston University)
Noelle Mapes (CUNY Graduate Center)
Nour Joudah (University of California, Los Angeles)
Noura Erakat (Rutgers University)
Nouri Gana (University of California, Los Angeles)
Omnia El Shakry (Yale University)
Oscar Fabian Soto (California State University, San Marcos)
Oumar Ba (Cornell University)
Pam Butler (University of Notre Dame)
Paul Kohlbry (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Paul Sawyer (Cornell University)
Rabab Abdulhadi (San Francisco State University)
Rachel Lockart (Augustana College)
Rachel Rosenbloom (Northeastern University)
Ralph Ghoche (Barnard College, Columbia University)
Rana Jaleel (University of California, Davis)
Rana Sharif (University of California, Berkeley)
Randa Tawil (University of Washington)
Ranjani Srinivasan (Columbia University)
Rashid Khalidi (Emeritus, Columbia University)
Rebecca Alpert (Emerita, Temple University)
Rebecca E. Karl (New York University)
Rebecca Jordan-Young (Barnard College)
Richard Shin (University of Maryland)
Robert Warrior (University of Kansas)
Robin D. G. Kelley (University of California, Los Angeles)
Ron Heyduk (San Francisco State University)
Rosalind Petchesky (Emerita, Hunter College)
Rosemari Mealy (City College of New York)
Roshanak Kheshti (University of California, Berkeley)
Ruha Benjamin (Princeton University)
Rupal Oza (Hunter College, CUNY Graduate Center)
Russell Rickford (Cornell University)
Saadia Toor (CUNY Graduate Center)
Sam Anderson (Medgar Evers College)
Sam Malabre (University of California, Los Angeles)
Samah Selim (Rutgers University)
Sameer Ud Dowla Khan (Reed College)
Samer Alatout (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
Samer M. Ali (University of Michigan)
Samera Esmeir (University of California, Berkeley)
Sang Kil (formerly, San José State University)
Sangeeta Ray (University of Maryland)
Sanghyuk Shin (University of California, Irvine)
Sarah Combellick-Bidney (Augsburg University)
Sarah Gilbert (Pitzer College)
Sarah Horsley (University of Massachusetts Boston)
Sarah Katz (Temple University)
Sarah Pursley (New York University)
Saulo Colón (Connecticut State Community College)
Sean Malloy (University of California, Merced)
Setsu Shigematsu (University of California, Riverside)
Shahinaz Geneid (Northeastern University)
Sherena Razek (University of California, Los Angeles)
Sherene Razack (University of California, Los Angeles)
Sherene Seikaly (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Sherry Millner (College of Staten Island)
Shireen Soliman (The New School)
Sid Jordan (Portland State university)
Sofya Aptekar (CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies)
Sonali Gulati (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Sophia Azeb (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Sophia Taborski (Cornell University)
Stacy Fahrenhold (University of California, Davis)
Stéphanie Wahab (Portland State University)
Stephen Sheehi (College of William & Mary)
Steve Roddy (University of San Francisco)
Stuart Chen-Hayes (Lehman College)
Stuart Parker (Kingsborough Community College)
Summer Kim Lee (University of California, Los Angeles)
Surya Teja Gavva (Rutgers University)
Susan Slyomovics (University of California, Los Angeles)
Sut Jhally (Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Terri Ginsberg (Rutgers University)
Thomas Volscho (College of Staten Island)
Timothy Seidel (Eastern Mennonite University)
Tom Alter (formerly, Texas State University)
Tomomi Kinukawa (San Francisco State University)
Ujju Aggarwal (The New School)
Urmitapa Dutta (University of Massachusetts Lowell)
Victor Silverman (Pomona College)
Victoria Baena (University of Virginia)
Vinicius Navarro (Emerson College)
William Robinson (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Yannis Hamilakis (Brown University)
Yasser Munif (Emerson College)
Yogita Goyal (University of California, Los Angeles)
Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College)
Zayde Antrim (Trinity College)
Zeynep Celik (New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University)
Zeynep Korkman (University of California, Los Angeles)
Zillah Eisenstein (Emerita, Ithaca College)