POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN

The following statement is republished here with permission of its organizers.  The statement with a regularly updated list of signatories may also be found here.

As Jewish faculty and staff at Northwestern University, we write today to defend the values of academic freedom, pluralism and independence that animate Northwestern and undergird its commitment to teaching, learning, and research. We write to dispel misconceptions that are being wielded by outsiders to weaken the university and harm our students. The fact that U.S. government leaders are making unwarranted threats to our university and stripping rights from students, faculty, and researchers nationwide in the name of Jews is deeply offensive to us. We believe it should stop.

In announcing Title VI investigations of 60 universities, including Northwestern, the U.S. secretary of education spoke of “relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year.” As Jews who walk the campus every day and teach in its classrooms, we can reliably report that this depiction bears little resemblance to life at Northwestern. Some of us have been disappointed at times by Northwestern’s response to campus events. We recognize that antisemitism is present on college campuses, as it is in the world. Yet a fair-minded assessment would reveal a faculty and a university administration committed to the education of our students through rigorous and respectful debate.

We come from different points on the political compass. We express our identities as Jews in myriad ways. But we are united by the conviction that our Jewishness must not be used as a cudgel to silence the vigorous exchange of ideas that lies at the heart of university life. To punish Northwestern financially or to limit academic freedom in the name of protecting Jewish students could itself spark antisemitism — and would be an injustice to those very students and an injury to American society at large.

Signed:

1. Shana Bernstein, Legal Studies
2. Sanford Goldberg, Chester Tripp Professor, Department of Philosophy
3. Adam Goodman, Clinical Professor, McCormick School of Engineering
4. Lilah Shapiro, SESP
5. David Shyovitz, Director of Jewish and Israel Studies, Associate Professor of History
6. Ken Alder, Professor of History
7. Karen J. Alter, Norman Dwight Harris Professor of International Relations
8. Joe Bass FSM Professor of Medicine
9. Lisa Beutler, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
10. Julie Biehl, Clinical Professor, Director Children and Family Justice Center, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law,
11. Jonathan Brack, Assistant Professor, History
12. Ann Bradlow, Abraham Harris Professor of Linguistics, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
13. Noah Chaskin, Assistant Professor of Instruction, English
14. Nate Cohen, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Instruction
15. Deborah Cohen, Leopold Professor of History
16. Richard A. Cohn, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics
17. Jonathan Copulsky, Senior Lecturer, Medill
18. Zayd Dohrn, Professor, Radio/TV/Film
19. Jack Doppelt, Emeritus Professor in Journalism, Medill
20. David Dranove. Professor of Strategy. Kellogg School of Management
21. John Elson, Emeritus professor of law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
22. Steven Epstein, Professor of Sociology and John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities
23. Joshua Ewen, MD; Professor of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine
24. Michelle Falkoff, Clinical Professor of Law
25. Joe Feinglass, PhD, Research Professor of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine
26. Peter Fenves, Professor of German
27. Alison Flaum, Clinical Professor, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
28. Ezra Friedman, Professor, Pritzker School of Law
29. Benjamin Frommer, Department of History
30. Ezra Getzler, Professor, Department of Mathematics
31. Danielle Gilbert, Assistant Professor, Political Science
32. Jonathon Glassman, Professor Emeritus, Department of History
33. Bennett Goldberg, Professor of Physics and Astronomy
34. Jeffery A. Goldstein, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology
35. Paul Goren, PhD, Director E4 Center, School of Education and Social Policy
36. Susannah Gottlieb, Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies
37. Devora Grynspan, Vice President for International Relations
38. Joshua Hauser, Professor, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine
39. Penny L. Hirsch, Prof. Emerita, Weinberg College
40. Lisa Hirschhorn, Professor in Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine
41. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Professor of Religious Studies and Political Science
42. Daniel Immerwahr, Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities, History Department
43. Emily Kadens, Williams Memorial Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
44. Dean Karlan, Frederic Essel Nemmers Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance
45. Ben Z Katz, MD
46. Heidi Kitrosser, William W. Gurley Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
47. Jonathan Koehler, Beatrice Kuhn Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
48. Andrew Koppelman, John Paul Stevens Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
49. Alex Kotlowitz, Professor, Medill
50. Bryna Kra. Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor of Mathematics
51. Robert Launay, professor of anthropology
52. Jules Law, Professor, English
53. Donna R Leff, Professor Emeritus, Journalism, Medill
54. Alissa Levy Chung, Associate Professor of Instruction, Psychology
55. Hilarie Lieb, Associate Professor of Instruction, Department of Economics Emerita
56. Steven Lubet, Williams Memorial Professor Emeritus, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
57. Michael Maltenfort, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Weinberg Advising and Dept. of Mathematics
58. Jon Marshall, Associate Professor, Medill
59. Kate Masur, Professor of History
60. Sarah Maza. Professor Emerita of History
61. Joel Mokyr, Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences
62. Wendy Muchman, Professor of Practice, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
63. Shmuel Nili, Associate Professor, Political Science
64. Leslie Oster, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
65. Wendy Pearlman, Jane Long Professor of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Political Science
66. Abe Peck, Prof. Emeritus in Service, Medill
67. Michael Rakowitz, Alice Welsh Skilling Professor of Art, Department of Art Theory and Practice/ MENA Studies
68. Martin H. Redish, Louis and Harriet Ancel Professor of Law and Public Policy, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
69. Brian J. Reiser, Orrington Lunt Professor of Learning Sciences, SESP
70. Jeff Rice, Political Science
71. Leonard L. Riskin, Visiting Professor of Law, Northwestern U. Pritzker School of Law
72. Andrew Roberts, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University
73. Gabriel Rocklin, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
74. Ariel Rogers, Associate Professor, School of Communication
75. Judy Rosenbaum, Clinical Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
76. Joseph L. Schofer, Emeritus Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
77. Sarah Schulman, Ralla Klepak Professor of English
78. Kenneth Seeskin, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
79. Rebecca Seligman, Associate Professor, Dept. of Anthropology
80. Elisheva Shanes, MD
81. Gail Shapiro, Associate Professor of Instruction, Theatre Department, School of Communication
82. Nitasha Sharma, Professor, Asian American Studies and Black Studies
83. Mark Sheldon, Distinguished Senior Lecturer Emeritus, Department of Philosophy
84. Doron Shiffer-Sebba, Assistant Professor of Sociology
85. Eric Sirota, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Tenant Advocacy Clinic
86. H. David Smith, Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Northwestern University
87. Alexandra H. Solomon, PhD, School of Education and Social Policy (SESP)
88. Lynn Spigel, Frances Willard Professor of Screen Cultures, RTVF
89. Peter Sporn, MD; Professor of Medicine, Cell and Developmental Biology, and Medical Education; Feinberg School of Medicine
90. Amy Stanley, Professor of History
91. Julia Stern,  Henry Sanborn Noyes Professor of Literature, Department of English
92. Debra Tolchinsky, Associate Professor, RTVF
93. Boris Tsygan Professor Department of Mathematics
94. Lauren S. Wakschlag, PhD, Professor, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine
95. Caryn Ward, Professor, Medill
96. Adriana Weisleder, Assistant Professor, Communication Sciences & Disorders
97. Mimi White, Professor, Department of Radio/TV/Film
98. Barry Wimpfheimer, Associate Professor, Religious Studies and Law
99. Roy Wollen, Lecturer, Medill
100. Deborah Wood, retired, Writing Program
101. Jared Wunsch, Professor of Mathematics, Northwestern University
102. Sandy Zabell, Professor, Department of Mathematics, Northwestern University
103. Anne Zald, Government Information Librarian, Northwestern University Libraries
104. David Zarefsky, Owen L. Coon Professor Emeritus of Argumentation and Debate, School of Communication
105. Eric Zaslow, Henry S. Noyes Chair in Mathematics, Department of Mathematics
106. Cliff Zimmerman, Professor of Practice, Prtizker School of Law
107. Richard Zinbarg, Professor, Psychology Department