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A group of Pro-Palestinian demonstrators unfurl umbrellas during the protest in April near the Alma Mater statue on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. To subscribe, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here.
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Sign up for our daily newsletter here This open letter is written on behalf of the undersigned University of Illinois alumni, as well as the organization UIUC Alumni for Justice in Palestine, in response to the ongoing mistreatment and criminalization of anti-genocide student protesters at the hands of Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign administration. This past spring, we proudly watched as faculty and students protested peacefully on campus to demand freedom for Palestinians from what every leading international human-rights organization has described as ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide. Students rightfully sought answers from the university about its investments in weapons manufacturers and related entities profiting from the mass slaughter of Gazans.
As alumni, we have already invested thousands of dollars into this university system, and are continuously asked to invest in it further via donations and endorsements. We share the concerns raised by these brave students and stand in solidarity with their quest for divestment, financial transparency and accountability. This quest continues, despite the fact that the university has taken multiple steps to derail it.
For one, the university recently refused to grant the Students for Justice in Palestine legitimate status as a registered student organization on campus. It has also collaborated with Rietz to criminally charge students involved in the spring protests with felony mob-action charges — charges that are grossly inflated for the circumstances. The university also continues to punish students via draconian student disciplinary procedures with severe consequences, including dismissal.
All of these actions have a chilling effect on free speech and set a dangerous precedent in academia: expulsion and jail time are on the table for those who speak up on urgent social and political issues that affect a university’s bottom line. Many of us were told that an education at the University of Illinois would teach us how to be global citizens, capable of critically analyzing issues of international importance, and to do so through a lens of cultural awareness, intelligence and justice. The students who exercised their rights on behalf of Palestinians have exemplified the traits that the institution promised to teach them, and yet, instead of being supported and praised, they’ve been punished, ostracized and criminalized.
To correct the university’s egregious missteps, we demand that it: Until such corrective actions are taken, we alumni each pledge to withhold any further donations to the university, actively dissuade any close family or friends from attending and continue to support these students. This includes using our large networks of professional contacts and personal relationships to educate and inform on the ways in which the UI has demonstrated a pattern of punishing those who stand up for Palestinian life. This letter is the first step in our movement to support students and faculty.
We echo the sentiments of the UI faculty’s open letter published by The News-Gazette in July, condemning the university’s response to this student movement. Our message here is conveyed in solidarity with these faculty members, and has their full support and encouragement. The death toll in Gaza — and now Lebanon — over the last 14 months has been conservatively estimated at over 44,000 individuals, mostly women and children.
With no end in sight, the university must examine the ways its actions are contributing to this escalating horror. Right now, it stands firmly on the wrong side of history. We care about this university and do not want it to be remembered as an enabler of these historic atrocities.
Free Palestine..
