Faculty for Justice in Palestine groups form, emulating anti-Israel student organization
Faculty at universities across the country have established 'Faculty for Justice in Palestine' groups, mirroring the anti-Israel 'Students for Justice in Palestine' chapters.
These groups have largely accused Israel of 'genocide' and 'apartheid,' while condemning the United States' support for the Jewish state.
Faculty at universities across the country have established “Faculty for Justice in Palestine” groups, mirroring the anti-Israel “Students for Justice in Palestine” chapters that have become especially controversial since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
In the New York City metropolitan area, faculty have established such organizations at New York University and Rutgers University, the latter of which called for “ Palestinian liberation from 75 years of systemic Israeli racism, dispossession, dehumanization and brutality” in a December statement.
There are also similar groups at many Ivy League schools.
As Campus Reform reported in January, the Faculty for Justice in Palestine group at the University of Pennsylvania held a “die-in” protest that involved faculty and staff pretending to be deceased and laying on the ground, with banners draped over them accusing Israel of “genocide.”
The Faculty for Justice in Palestine group at Princeton University, in a November open letter featured in The Daily Princetonian, referred to the “Israeli siege” and “genocidal assault” on Gaza, as well as “apartheid” in the West Bank.
“We, Faculty for Justice in Palestine at Princeton University, declare our solidarity and absolute political support for the cause of Palestinian liberation,” the letter read. “We oppose all forms of colonialism, racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and apartheid. We stand against white supremacy in the United States and against Jewish supremacy in the land of Palestine/Israel.”
At Harvard University, more than 65 faculty members created their own chapter in January, called Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, as reported by The Harvard Crimson.
In a statement the group released, it referred to the “unfolding genocide in Gaza” and “over 75 years of violent dispossession of the Palestinian people.”
“The US government, media, and other institutions of knowledge production have long provided financial, military, moral, and political cover for the Israeli occupation and its colonial, racial violence,” the statement continued.
The faculty group at Harvard also demanded that the university “withdraw investments from the State of Israel and all companies that sustain Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians.”
In December, The Los Angeles Times reported that there were Faculty for Justice in Palestine groups at nine out of the 10 campuses in the University of California system.
Campus Reform has contacted Harvard University, Princeton University, New York University, Rutgers University, and the University of California system for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
