To the Editor:
We, the undersigned faculty of Near Eastern Studies, write to express our grave concern in regards to the new Interim Expressive Activity Policy. These policies are not only diametrically opposed to the values espoused by the theme year of “The Indispensable Condition: Freedom of Expression at Cornell,” they are contrary to Cornell’s mission to educate thoughtful and critically-minded global citizens.
Our students should be allowed to engage in disruptive peaceful protest as a critical form of expression freely and without fear. The Interim Policy cultivates instead an atmosphere of intolerance and surveillance put into place through authoritarianism and overreach.
As scholars of the Middle East, we are unfortunately familiar with repressive regimes hostile to student protest and critique. It is all the more disturbing then, to find such sentiments and policies being put into place at home.
— Near Eastern Studies Department Faculty
Jonathan Boyarin
Ross Brann
Ziad Fahmy
Seema Golestaneh
Kim Haines-Eitzen
Lori Khatchadourian
Jonathan Lawrence
Jason Mokhtarian
Christopher Monroe
Lauren Monroe
Deborah Starr
Parisa Vaziri
Makda Wetherspoon
Munther Younes