Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Eslami: Our colleagues' morale at nuclear facilities excellent, carrying out their duties with dedication.
AEOI chief Eslami: Let the enemies know that this aggressive policy will never bear fruit.
AEOI chief Mohammad Eslami: Our people, the people of strength and pride, have not folded under pressure and will never surrender.
Israeli media: Warnings of a drone infiltration in southern [occupied] Golan.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: 11 martyrs, more than 100 injured in IOF bombing of aid seekers, central Gaza Strip.
Mehr News Agency: Cell was planning to execute terrorist operations in crowded areas in Tehran, their plan was foiled.
Mehr News Agency: Confrontations between security forces, gunmen thought to be connected to Israeli intelligence in Rey, south of Tehran.
Official in Varamin, southeast Tehran: Air defenses have destroyed another F-35.
Israeli Health Ministry: 94 injured taken to hospitals last night as a result of Iranian missiles.
Informed source to Al Mayadeen: Over 270 martyred since start of Israeli aggression on Iran

Professors being fired from jobs for pro-Palestine speech, solidarity

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: The Intercept
  • 16 May 2024 16:09
  • 4 Shares
4 Min Read

Professors of fields such as politics, sociology, literature, health, regional studies, Middle East and African studies, and more across the US have been either suspended or fired for pro-Palestine speech. 

  • x
  • People walk past the remnants of an encampment of tents in Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP)
    People walk past the remnants of an encampment of tents in Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP)

Scholars and academics committed to the cause of freeing Palestine are being fired by the institutions they are employed in, with the prime examples and testimonies coming out of the supposed land of democracy and free speech: the United States. 

Professors of fields such as politics, sociology, literature, health, regional studies, Middle East and African studies, mathematics, education, and more have been either suspended or fired for pro-Palestine speech.

Some educators have been teaching for years and others for decades, while some were newly hired. Professors have even joined their students in the encampments on campuses in solidarity with Gaza with some arrested and others beaten by police. 

Mohamed Abdou, a visiting professor in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies at Columbia University (only until the end of the semester), told The Intercept, “This is beyond the new McCarthyism. This has to deal fundamentally with Islamophobia, anti-Muslim racism, anti-Arab racism, anti-Palestinian racism."

Read next: Professor fired from German institute for pro-Palestine voice

Abdou referred to Columbia University Minouche Shafik by saying, “What she effectively did was blacklist me globally," adding. “I’m against any form of authoritarianism."

While university administrations try to appease Israeli donors, over 3,000 students have been arrested nationwide in the US for partaking in pro-Palestine protests on their campuses. 

Professor Danny Shaw said, “I was fired after 18 years as a professor of Latin American and Caribbean studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice,” as he was notified last month by administrators at the college, which is part of the public City University of New York system, that he lost the chance to be reappointed to his adjunct position. 

Related News

Modi rejects Trump’s claim of US mediation in India-Pakistan ceasefire

LA lifts downtown curfew after protests over immigration raids ease

“I saw a genocide in motion, so I began to organize demonstrations and teach-ins and conferences,” Shaw expressed.

Another university, CUNY, cut ties with many of its professors as well because of their pro-Palestine speech.

One professor, Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda, who is a Japanese literature scholar formerly at CUNY’s Hunter College, stated to The Intercept that a student reported some of her social media posts to the head of her department back in November - just one month after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. 

She said that nothing in her posts was antisemitic or insinuated.

“The only thing I have done,” she said, “is to criticize the state of Israel for its 75-year brutal occupation of Palestine and criticize Americans for their complicity or silence in this genocide.”

Back at the end of April when the encampments first kicked off at Columbia University, over 1,400 academics issued an open letter pledging to boycott activities "held at or officially sponsored by Columbia University and Barnard College" unless the University expunges the infractions from protesting students' records and the presidents of both schools step down.

Read more: How Columbia University is the new face of the Intellectual Intifada

The letter entailed two demands. The first is for Barnard College, Teacher's College, and Columbia University to "expunge all charges (including suspensions) from and restore campus privileges to the students who protested, as well as reinstate suspended student groups Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and Columbia Jewish Voices for Peace." The second is for Columbia President Minouche Shafik and Barnard President Laura Rosenbury to resign and for the police to be removed from the campus.

In summary, US universities, instead of upholding their students' rights to peaceful protest and fostering an environment conducive to First Amendment-protected discourse, succumbed to pressure from affluent donors and congressional members. They opted for cracking down on student demonstrators.

  • United States
  • Academia
  • pro-Palestine protest
  • Palestine
  • University
  • professors
  • Israel
  • Columbia University
  • Gaza
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

Iranian missiles impact Israeli sites in Tel Aviv in 2nd wave

Iran's missiles impact 'strategic' Israeli site in Tel Aviv

  • Politics
  • 14 Jun 2025
Bin Salman: Islamic world backs Iran in call to Pezeshkian

MBS says Islamic world backs Iran in call with Pezeshkian

  • MENA
  • 15 Jun 2025
Iran launches 9th wave of Op. True Promise 3, destroys IOF air defense

Iran launches 9th wave of Op. True Promise 3, destroys IOF air defense

  • MENA
  • 17 Jun 2025
Smoke rises after an Iranian ballistic missile directly struck Tel Aviv, Occupied Palestine, June 13, 2025 (AP)

Op. True Promise 3: Iran's ballistic missiles strike Tel Aviv

  • MENA
  • 13 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
A Turkish Air Force pilot gestures from the cockpit of an F-16 military fighter jet before an Air Policing exercise at the Baza 86 military air base, outside Fetesti, Romania, Wednesday, March 6, 2024 (AP)
Politics

Israeli aircraft violate Turkish airspace, fighter jets scrambled

An Israeli occupation forces armored personnel carrier maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, southern occupied Palestine, Wednesday, June 11, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Palestinian resistance downs Israeli drone in Gaza amid extensive ops

An Israeli Hermes 450 UAV drone flies over Beirut, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Politics

Iran reports shooting down 28 types of hostile aircraft in 24 hours

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, occupied Palestine, Monday, June 16, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Iran retaliatory strikes target greater Tel Aviv as injuries reported

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS