Join the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the nation, in demanding administrators of universities where Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, African-American, and others were recently censored, silenced, or suppressed to urgently move to protect academic freedom and free speech on college campuses this academic year.
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For months, students have been peacefully protesting the Israeli government’s ongoing attacks against Palestinians, which have killed more than 40,000 men, women, and children since October 2023. The students have also objected to investments in companies facilitating Israel’s decades-long system of apartheid and occupation of Palestinian land.
According to researchers at Princeton University, 95% of demonstrations occurring between October 7 and May 12 have been peaceful, with “no reports of encampment protesters engaging in physical violence or destructive activity.”
University administrators at over 30 universities have reportedly failed to protect these peacefully protesting students from physical attacks, verbal harassment, and doxing, and have even enabled anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia by targeting anti-genocide student protesters.
In August, CAIR designated three of these universities as ‘institutions of particular concern’ due to their threat toward the safety of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, and other students and faculty who stand against occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
SEE: “Hostile: How Universities Target Anti-Genocide Protesters While Enabling Anti-Palestinian Racism and Islamophobia”
The report recommends that administrators refuse to use police violence and other draconian disciplinary measures to target anti-genocide protesters, engage in good-faith negotiations with students, and establish accountability measures to ensure resolutions are respected by all parties.
In a statement, CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor said:
“Many of these universities are seeking to admit students who respect free speech and can engage in controversial and uncomfortable conversation. We’re simply demanding that these same principles be extended to students who are standing up against genocide, apartheid, and occupation.”
Sample Message:
Dear X,
I stand with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in demanding university administrators urgently move better to protect academic freedom and free speech on campus this academic year. This request is directly in response to reports of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, African-American, and other students being censored, silenced, or suppressed at your institution.
I am seriously concerned that CAIR’s recent report “‘Hostile’: How Universities Target Anti-Genocide Protesters While Enabling Anti-Palestinian Racism and Islamophobia,” lists your university as an institution where Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, African-American, and other students may have experienced religious, racial, and ethnic discrimination, censorship, and/or police violence due to their stance against the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Your university’s presumed commitments to academic freedom and the safety of all students stand in stark contrast to reported discriminatory actions on your campus when such principles were seemingly discarded to silence or otherwise suppress peaceful activism for Palestinian human rights.
For months, students have been protesting the Israeli government’s ongoing attacks against Palestinians, which have killed more than 40,000 people since October 2023, as well as their university’s investments in companies facilitating Israel’s decades-long system of apartheid and occupation of Palestinian land. According to researchers at Princeton University, 95% of demonstrations occurring between October 7 and May 12 have been peaceful, with “no reports of encampment protesters engaging in physical violence or destructive activity.”
Still, rather than engage inan uncomfortable conversation, your institution and multiple others have reportedly chosen police batons, censorship, and/or draconian disciplinary measures. In many cases, events with Palestinian voices have been canceled or censored, new university policies were introduced with the seeming intent of suppressing free speech, and law enforcement wasunleashed on students and affiliates.
Without protest, many important advancements in American history–ending child labor, voting rights for women, ending school segregation–may have never come to pass. As the new year begins, I request you recommit to upholding the principles that many universities themselves expect of their students when admitting them – respecting academic freedom, pursuing open inquiry, and engaging in controversial debate – and protect students on your campus who are protesting ongoing genocide.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
END
CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com