Toronto: Action against Racism and in Support of Academic Freedom



Toronto: Action against Racism and in Support of Academic Freedom

The York University Branch of the Coalition for Academic Freedom will hold a silent protest to coincide with Mr. Daniel Pipes' visit to our campus on Tuesday, January 28th at 12 noon, location TBA.

Mr. Pipes is the founder of Campus Watch, which actively promotes racism and censorship on campuses by compiling "dossiers" on academics who oppose American and Israeli government policy including the war on Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. Campus Watch targets faculty who take critical positions on these issues and specifically targets Middle Eastern faculty and academics of colour.

We invite all students and faculty to walk out of your classrooms at noon and join us to express your support for academic freedom and a racism-free campus environment.

Please wear black. We will wear nametags that state our support of academic freedom and opposition to Campus Watch and Mr. Pipes' racist intimidation campaign. To symbolically protest their silencing strategies, we will also tape our mouths shut. Posters, placards, nametags and tape will be provided.

Other events including film screenings, information outreach, and a press conference are also being planned. Stay tuned for updates...

AND, if you haven't already, sign onto and circulate the following statement:

We are particularly seeking group endorsements of these actions (forward group endorsements directly to academicfreedomyork@yahoo.com)

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Coalition for Academic Freedom, York University branch, strongly encourages all Canadian educators to stand up and be counted in defense of academic freedom.

We are aware that Campus Watch (http://www.campus-watch.org/) is compiling "dossiers" on educators known for their opposition to American and Israeli government policy such as a war in Iraq and Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands. Campus Watch targets faculty who take critical positions on these issues and specifically targets Middle Eastern faculty and academics of colour who speak out.

We believe Campus Watch promotes racism and undermines academic freedom. Following the lead of many academics from the U.S. and other countries, and in support of academic freedom, we, the undersigned Canadian academics, would be enormously honored to be counted amongst those who actively oppose war and all forms of racism - including hatred against Muslim people, anti-Semitism and racism against people of colour - and promote anti-racist and just values in our role as educators.

We would like to present Mr. Daniel Pipes, the founder of Campus Watch, with a list when he visits York University next week. To be counted in, please add your name below, forward to others and copy to academicfreedomyork@yahoo.com

1 - Gita Hashemi, York University, Fine Arts Cultural Studies Faculty

2 - Kim Rygiel, York University, Political Science, Ph.D.

3 - Krista Johnston, York University, Women's Studies, Ph.D.

4 - Julian Manyoni, York University, English, Ph.D.

5 - Trevor Robertson, York University, Social and Political Thought, Ph.D.

6 - Alex Levant, York University, Political Science, Ph.D.

7 - Astrida Neimanis, York University, Social and Political Thought, Ph.D.

8 - Furat Al Yassin, York University, Political Science

9 - Daiva Stasiulis, Carleton University, Sociology, Ph.D.

List of academics to date who have self-identified in defense of academic freedom, from the Campus Watch website: http://www.campus-watch.org/apologists.php

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