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Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024
The Emory Wheel

We must defend the Atlanta Forest: An open letter to President Fenves and the Emory University administration from members of the faculty

As members of the Emory University faculty body, we join in solidarity with all those who seek to protect the land of the South River Forest in DeKalb County, Georgia. We oppose the plan to construct a massive, militarized police training facility, known colloquially as Cop City there. 

On Monday, April 24 through early Tuesday, April 25, Emory students staged a nonviolent demonstration on Emory’s Atlanta campus Quadrangle to protest Cop City. During the course of the demonstration, the students were met by both Emory and Atlanta Police Department officers with threats of arrest. We condemn the presence of Atlanta police on our campus in response to our students’ nonviolent direct action. 

One of the largest undeveloped tracts within the area currently known as Atlanta, the South River Forest, also known as Weelaunee forest, is part of theMuscogee homelands. The Muscogee (Creek) lived as stewards and in relationship to this land for more than 13,000 years, until they were violently driven out in the 1820s and 1830s. This forest is also situated in a predominantly Black and underserved neighborhood.Many members of Atlanta’s Black community oppose the construction of this police training center. There are legitimate fears about the further militarization of the Atlanta police, the trauma of an increased police presence and the environmental impacts of the forest destruction. We have already seen arrests with domestic terrorism charges, as well as the use of chemical irritants, rubber bullets and live ammunition. The latter resulted in themurder of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, the Venezuelan non-binary eco-activist known as Tortuguita. 

As University of California, Santa Cruz Distinguished Professor Emerita Angela Davis recently noted in a statement condemning the building of Cop City, this movement is at the crucial intersection between movements to abolish police and prisons and those Indigenous-led movements to save our forests, and indeed our planet. She argues that a new collective consciousness regarding the structural forms of racism is taking shape, stating “many of us recognize the insistence on old forms of policing as an attempt at further entrenchment of racial capitalism, promoting authoritarianism, political repression and fear-mongering.” 

Like Professor Davis, we stand in solidarity with all those who seek to protect the forest. We stand with all those who condemn the building of the massive, militarized police training facility in the Atlanta Forest. We stand with the Emory students who voice their opposition to the construction of Cop City. We stand with those who condemn the violence that is exemplified by the current police and state responses to Cop City protestors.

Thus, we join faculty members, students, staff and alumni from Emory and other prominent colleges and universities in Atlanta who have voiced their opposition to the construction of Cop City. These include Spelman College,Morehouse College and Georgia State. We also draw attention to two letters (June 2022 and January 2023) written by Emory physicians critical of the Cop City project, which highlight the negative and violent impact the expansion of policing has on public health. A third letter by more than 200 healthcare workers and students in the Atlanta metro area demanded Emory faculty to resign from the Atlanta Police Foundation board. 

We cannot remain silent in light of this continuation of systemic racial and environmental injustice on public land in our city, Atlanta. We hereby demand 

1) that the leaders of both Emory University and Emory Healthcare — two leading institutions in the City of Atlanta — publicly and officially denounce the planned police training facility; 

and we further demand

2) that the leaders of Emory University and Emory Healthcare support the rights of its students, staff and faculty to free assembly in protest of this dangerous, unjust and unwise project, especially in light of the long history of civil disobedience in our city and country;

with the stipulation 

3) that the leaders of Emory University and Emory Healthcare urgently act on these demands in the near future, before it’s too late.

These demands are in line with Emory University’s strong commitment to social and racial justice. These commitments are exemplified in such projects as the Taskforce on Untold Stories and Disenfranchised Populations, which includes plans for Twin Memorials for the purpose of “honoring and memorializing the untold experiences, stories, and contributions of enslaved individuals and their descendants” who lived and worked on the University’s original campus in Oxford, Georgia, and the University’s main campus in Atlanta, and theIndigenous Language Path to honor the Muscogee and other Indigenous peoples whose lands now support Emory’s two campuses and the entire city of Atlanta. They also include the Arts and Humanistic Inquiry Initiative announced by Provost Ravi Bellamkonda, which highlights the importance of climate research, racial justice and equality and the arts and social justice; and the demands are in accord with plans to advance Racial and Social Justice at Emory and beyond, as endorsed by University President Gregory L. Fenves. 

Given Emory University’s commitment to racial and social justice, to protecting the land, to honoring the Indigenous and enslaved persons whose unpaid labor helped to create our institutions and to developing and sustaining a moral conscience alongside the acquisition of knowledge, we encourage everyone to educate themselves about these important issues and we support our students’ efforts to engage in direct action. 

Emory faculty who wish to add their names to this open letter may do so using this form.

Sincerely,

Dilek Huseyinzadegan, PhD, Department of Philosophy, ECAS and LGS 

Sara McClintock, PhD, Department of Religion, ECAS and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Michel Khoury, MD, Department of Neurology, ESOM

Gautham Reddy, PhD, Emory Libraries

Adriane Ivey, PhD, Department of English, OCEU

Walter C. Rucker, PhD, Department of African American Studies, ECAS and LGS

Rose Deighton-Mohammed, PhD, Institute for Liberal Arts, ECAS

Nimmi Natarajan, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, ESOM

Janeria Easley, PhD, Department of African American Studies, ECAS

Uriel Kitron, PhD, Department of Environmental Sciences, ECAS

Thomas Rogers, PhD, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Jeremy R. Bell, PhD, Department of Philosophy, ECAS

Mark Risjord, PhD, Institute for Liberal Arts and Department of Philosophy, ECAS

Amy Zeidan, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, ESOM

Noëlle McAfee, PhD, Departments of Philosophy and Psychiatry, ECAS, LGS, ESOM

Henry Kahn, MD, Family and Preventive Medicine, ESOM (Emeritus)

Jessica Lynn Stewart, PhD, Department of African American Studies, ECAS

Daniel Reynolds, PhD, Department of Film and Media, ECAS

Dabney Evans, PhD, MPH, Rollins School of Public Health

Elizabeth M. Bounds, PhD, Candler School of Theology and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Chad Córdova, PhD, Department of French and Italian, ECAS and LGS

Kristin D. Phillips, PhD, Department of Anthropology, ECAS and LGS

Marta Jimenez, PhD, Department of Philosophy, ECAS and LGS

Aisha Finch, PhD, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, ECAS and LGS

Michael Kramer, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, RSPH and LGS

Eric Bulakites, PhD, Department of French and Italian, ECAS

Pablo Palomino, PhD, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, OCEU

Sa'ed Atshan, PhD, Department of Anthropology, ECAS and LGS

George Yancy, PhD, Department of Philosophy, ECAS and LGS

Valérie Loichot, PhD, Department of French and Italian, ECAS and LGS

Neil Lava, MD, Department of Neurology, ESOM

Malinda Maynor Lowery, PhD, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Katherine Young, DMA, Department of Music, ECAS

Eri Saikawa, PhD, Department of Environmental Sciences, ECAS and LGS

Pamela Scully, PhD, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, ECAS and LGS

Kylie Smith, PhD, SON and LGS

Clifton Crais, PhD, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Stu Marvel, PhD, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, ECAS and LGS

Joel Rust, PhD, Department of Music, ECAS

Falguni Sheth, Professor, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, ECAS

Mariana P. Candido, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Daniel LaChance, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Aaron Anderson, MD, Department of Neurology, ESOM

Mitchell Damian Murtagh, PhD, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, ECAS

Tehila Sasson, PhD, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Tara Doyle, PhD, Department of Religion (Emerita) and CST

Yanna Yannakakis, PhD, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Julio Medina, MFA, Department of Theater and Dance, ECAS

Debra Vidali, PhD, Department of Anthropology, ECAS and LGS

Peter D. Little, PhD, Department of Anthropology, ECAS and LGS

Lynne Huffer, PhD, Department of Philosophy, ECAS and LGS

Harshita Mruthinti Kamath, PhD, Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, ECAS, LGS

Wesley Longhofer, PhD, Organization & Management, GBS and LGS

Judith A. Miller, PhD, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Ellen Gough, PhD, Department of Religion, ECAS and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Chandra Ford, PhD, MPH, Behavioral, Social & Health Education Sciences, RSPH, and African American Studies, ECAS 

Joshua Mousie, PhD, Department of Philosophy, OCEU

Lisa Dillman, Professor of Practice, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, ECAS

David Nugent, PhD, Department of Anthropology, ECAS and LGS

Kwok Pui Lan, ThD, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Jason Morgan Ward, PhD, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Anna Grimshaw, PhD, Department of Anthropology, ECAS

Karen Stolley PhD, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, ECAS and LGS

John Wegner, PhD, Department of Environmental Sciences, ECAS and LGS

Devaka Premawardhana, PhD, Department of Religion, ECAS and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Tanine Allison, PhD, Department of Film and Media, ECAS

Arri Eisen, PhD, Department of Biology, Institute for Liberal Arts and ECAS

David Lynn, HHMI Professor, Departments of Chemistry and Biology, ECAS and LGS

Maria Franca Sibau, PhD, Department of Russian and East Asian Languages, ECAS

Sean Meighoo, PhD, Department of Comparative Literature, ECAS and LGS

Marjorie Pak, PhD, Program in Linguistics, ECAS

Bethany Caruso, PhD, MPH, Hubert Department of Global Health, RSPH

Peter Wakefield, PhD, Institute for Liberal Arts, ECAS

Hiram Maxim, PhD, Professor of German Studies and Linguistics, ECAS

Matthew Payne, PhD, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Angela Porcarelli, PhD, Department of French and Italian, ECAS 

Roxani Eleni Margariti, PhD, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, ECAS and LGS

Michelangelo Grigni PhD, Departments of Computer Science and Mathematics, ECAS and LGS

Myra Woodworth-Hobbs, PhD, Center for the Study of Human Health, ECAS

Deanna M. Kaplan, PhD, Department of Preventive Medicine, ESOM

Roman Palitsky, PhD, Emory Woodruff Health Sciences Center

Christine Ristaino, PhD, Department of French and Italian, ECAS

Andrew J. Mitchell, PhD, Department of Philosophy, ECAS and LGS

Dayna Johnson, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health

Tonio Andrade, PhD, Department of History, ECAS

Eladio Abreu, PhD, Department of Biology, ECAS

Patricia Cahill, PhD, Department of English, ECAS and LGS

Leah Roesch, PhD, Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program, ECAS

Jed Brody, PhD, Department of Physics, ECAS

Megan E. O’Neil, PhD, Department of Art History, ECAS

Walter Kalaidjian, PhD, Department of English, ECAS

Carolyn Keogh, PhD, Department of Environmental Science, ECAS

Lisa M Thompson, RN, PhD, SON

Cassidy Puckett, PhD, Department of Sociology, ECAS and LGS

Deborah Elise White, PhD, Departments of English and Comparative Literature, ECAS and LGS

Stephanie Sherman, PhD, Department of Human Genetics, ESOM

Jeffrey Lesser, PhD, Department of History, ECAS, LGS and Halle Institute for Global Research

Barbara Ladd, Professor, Department of English, ECAS and LGS

Geoff Goodman, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, ESOM, and CST

Ish Ruiz, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow of Catholic Studies, CST

Jonathan Calvillo, PhD, CST

Kyle Lambelet, PhD, Ethics, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Elizabeth W. Corrie, PhD, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Maria Arbatskaya, PhD, Department of Economics, ECAS and LGS

Brady Beard, PhD, Pitts Theology Library, CST

Edward Phillips, PhD, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS 

Megan Ross, SJD, Department of Philosophy and the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, ECAS

Caroline Schaumann, PhD, Department of German Studies, ECAS

John Snarey, EdD, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Pat Marsteller, PhD, Professor Practice Emeritus, Department of Biology, ECAS

Katherine Ostrom, PhD, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, ECAS

Collin Cornell, PhD, Provost-Candler School of Theology Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, CST

Arun Jones, PhD, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Bayo Holsey, PhD, Departments of African American Studies and Anthropology, ECAS

Lisa Paulsen, MFA, Department of Theater and Dance, ECAS

Emily Burchfield, PhD, Department of Environmental Sciences, ECAS and LGS

María M. Carrión, PhD, Departments of Religion and Comparative Literature, ECAS and LGS, and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Christina E. Crawford, PhD, Department of Art History, ECAS

Gyanendra Pandey, Department of History, ECAS and LGS

Danielle Tumminio Hansen, PhD, CST

Emmanuel Y. Lartey, PhD, Charles Howard Candler Professor, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Patrick Cafferty, PhD, Department of Biology, ECAS

Simona Muratore, PhD, Department of French and Italian, ECAS

Athena Sherman, PhD, Assistant Professor, SON

Steffen Lösel, ThD, Candler School of Theology

Shaunna Donaher, PhD, Department of Environmental Sciences, ECAS

Deanna Roberts, Pitts Theology Library, CST

Sarah Febres-Cordero, PhD, RN, SON, Emory University

Catherine Nickerson, PhD, Department of English, ECAS and LGS

Nicholas Fesette, PhD, Department of Theater, OCEU

Susan Hylen, PhD, Shatford Professor of New Testament, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Paige Tolbert, PhD, Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health (Emerita), RSPH

Louise Pratt, PhD, Department of Classics, ECAS

Bethany Mamola, DMA, Department of Music, ECAS

Leigh Elion, PhD, Department of English, OCEU

Stacy Bell, MS, Department of English, OCEU

Jill Robbins, PhD, Departments of Religion and Comparative Literature, ECAS and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Alix Olson, PhD, Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, OCEU

Ana Catarina Teixeira, PhD, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, ECAS and LGS

Kristin Wendland, PhD, Department of Music, ECAS

Aaron Anderson, MD, Department of Neurology, ESOM

Rev. Keith Menhinick, PhD, Spiritual Care and Pastoral Theology, CST

Peter W. Roberts, PhD, Organization and Management, GBS

Ethan Cicero, PhD, RN, SON and LGS

Martine Brownley, PhD, Department of English, ECAS and LGS

Lauren Klein, PhD, Departments of Quantitative Theory & Methods and English, ECAS and LGS

Alison C. Greene, PhD, CST and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Dana Haugaard, MFA, Associate Teaching Professor, ECAS

Shaquita Starks, PhD, Department of Nursing, SON

Kate O’Toole, PhD, Department of Biology, ECAS

Scott Kugle, PhD, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, ECAS and Graduate Division of Religion, LGS

Alejandro Abarca, MFA, Assistant Teaching Professor of Dance, OCEU

Deepika Bahri, PhD, Departments of English and Comparative Literature, ECAS, LGS

Neha Gupta, PhD, Department of Mathematics, ECAS

Subha Xavier, PhD, Department of French and Italian, ECAS and LGS

Abbreviations

CST = Candler School of Theology

ECAS = Emory College of Arts and Sciences

ESOM = Emory School of Medicine

GBS = Goizueta Business School

LGS = Laney Graduate School 

OCEU = Oxford College of Emory University

RSPH = Rollins School of Public Health

SON = Woodruff School of Nursing