Abstract
This study proposes there is an intense political contest at US universities over whether Zionism will be the only legitimate and permissible political speech on campus regarding Israel and the Palestinian people. Using news sources and initial academic analyses, I document how academic administrators, politicians, and students are using “performative” liberalism as the basis for making anti-Palestinian racism as normative on campus. Focusing on Columbia University, an Ivy League and University of California, Los Angeles, a large public institution, I show how “hate speech,” an entity without jurisdictional status in US law, is being silently invoked in double standards regarding freedom of speech, assembly, and protest on these two campuses. I explore the role of “outsiders” and “insiders” to campuses partner in working to make the claim stick that Palestinian political existence is inherently racist and anti-Semitic. A standard trope among politicians and university administrators, “Students have the right to protest, but…” This essential rhetoric asserts differential standards for Palestinian student protests relative to some Zionist students and allies. As a result, there is a national battle over what counts as being unsafe on campus, whether a lack of safety is measurable and objective, and with what consequences. Finally, I nod toward the University of California, Berkeley, the institution most identified with students’ rights to “free speech.” I speculate as to how that campus avoided the political psychodrama that took over Columbia and UCLA.
Presenters
Deborah GordonAssociate Professor, Women's Studies, Ethnicity and Intersectional Studies Department, Wichita State University, Kansas, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
ANTI-PALESTINIAN RACISM, US CAMPUSES, STUDENT PROTEST
