The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) called for an “immediate ceasefire and end to the siege of Gaza” on Feb. 14, signing on to U.S. labor movement members’ ceasefire request. The association joined 5,114 other signatories, including the Rutgers University (N.J.) and the University of New Mexico AAUP chapters, to fulfill a “moral obligation,” according to AAUP At-Large Council Member Ernesto Longa.
However, Emory University’s chapter of the AAUP did not sign on to the petition. Peter Wakefield, professor of pedagogy in the Institute for the Liberal Arts and vice president of Emory’s AAUP’s branch, said they received a request from Georgia’s AAUP office to consider endorsing the ceasefire as a chapter. Emory’s AAUP executive committee circulated the request among its members but did not receive enough responses to consider making its own statement, Wakefield said.
Emory’s AAUP chapter has not released political statements, aside from a 2016 endorsement to turn Emory into a sanctuary for Delayed Action for Childhood Arrival students. This decision followed threats from then-president-elect Donald Trump to repeal the bill, a threat which ultimately did not come to fruition due to a 2020 Supreme Court decision.
“As the chapters, it’s kind of a grand term for us, expressing our commitment to the principles of the AAUP, seeking guidance from them when we perceive that there might be issues that have to do with those principles and their enforcement across academia generally,” Wakefield said. “That’s a pretty high level of concern that individual events on the campus often don’t rise to.”
Demonstrators arranged a flag-placing memorial on Feb. 2 in honor of Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war. (Jack Rutherford/Asst. News Editor)
The American labor movement first released the statement regarding a ceasefire shortly after the most recent outbreak of conflict in the region last October.
“We, along with other members of the American labor movement, mourn the loss of life in Israel and Palestine,” the statement reads. “We express our solidarity with all workers and our common desire for peace in Palestine and Israel, and we call on President Joe Biden and Congress to push for an immediate ceasefire and end to the siege of Gaza.”
Additionally, the petition calls for humanitarian aid such as water, fuel and food to be allowed into Gaza, the ability for Gazans to leave the territory to seek medical aid and an immediate release of Hamas’ Israeli hostages.
Longa, a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, stated that a significant majority of the national council’s members voted in support of signing the petition.
“The International Court of Justice found that Israel … is plausibly engaged in a genocide in Gaza and a U.S. District Court judge in a court case regarding U.S. complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza stated, quote, ‘It’s every individual’s obligation to confront the current siege in Gaza,’” Longa said.
The national council decided to support the content of the message itself because they viewed it as “fair and balanced,” Longa said.
“It mourns the loss of life in both Israel and Palestine,” Longa said. “It condemns all hate crimes against Jews and Muslims. It calls for the restoration of basic human rights and the release of hostages. It expresses solidarity with all working people rather than any one government and it calls upon the Biden administration and Congress to push for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the siege in Gaza.”
Additionally, Longa said the Palestinian labor movement and General Union of Palestinian Teachers’ requests for solidarity and calls for a ceasefire influenced the group. Another factor was that several teachers’ unions, faculty unions and graduate workers’ unions had already signed on to the petition.
Longa said he hopes the AAUP’s declaration will encourage local chapters of the organization and other unions to urge for an immediate ceasefire.
The AAUP has previously weighed in on issues surrounding the conflict in Gaza. In a statement released on Oct. 24, 2023, the group urged universities to uphold the principles of their academic freedom clauses to protect “free and open inquiry,” which includes “expression of controversial ideas that some may consider wrong or offensive.” The statement asked that higher education institutions resist external pressures from donors, politicians and other groups to protect speech.
This debate has continued on Emory’s campus. In October 2023, University President Gregory Fenves sent an email to the Emory community alleging that community members used antisemitic phrases during a pro-Palestine protest organized by Emory Stop Cop City. Fenves wrote “this rhetoric has no place at Emory.” His statement elicited a response from faculty and staff, who published an open letter in November 2023 condemning Fenves’ response as one that “censures students who speak in support of Palestinian lives and rights.” A total of 78 faculty and staff members signed on to the letter.
AAUP President Irene Mulvey published a statement on Feb. 8 titled “The Time is Now to Resist Political Interference.” In this statement, she criticized the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s actions as an “alarming escalation” in partisan political entities attempting to control speech at colleges and universities.
“Although today’s inquisition targets groups and individuals that criticize the state of Israel or U.S. policy toward Israel, it is actually an expansion of a broad effort to undermine the integrity and democratic mission of U.S, higher education,” Mulvey wrote.
Longa stressed that statements on foreign policy were not unprecedented for the AAUP, citing examples from the past several decades where the association made similar statements against injustices, such as encouraging the United States’ rapid withdrawal from South Vietnam in 1969.
“AAUP has a long and rich history of answering the call for solidarity and support when workers in academics, in higher ed institutions, are confronting crimes against humanity and war atrocities,” Longa said.
Assistant News Editors Jack Rutherford (27C) and Lauren Yee (25Ox) contributed reporting.
