Liberal faculty criticizes UT President for breaking up protests

Among the over 600 faculty members at the University of Texas at Austin who signed onto a letter stating that they have “no confidence” in the university president because he took swift action against anti-Israel protesters are radical liberal professors who blamed Israel for Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack.

Led by Pauline Turner Strong, a women’s and gender studies professor who is currently studying the “role of indigenous nations and movements in climate justice activism,” the professors say that President Jay Hartzell “has shown himself to be unresponsive to urgent faculty, staff, and student concerns”

“He has violated our trust,” the letter states. “The University is no longer a safe and welcoming place for the diverse community of students and scholars who until now have called this campus home.”

The faculty take issue not only with Hartzell’s handling of the protests — he brought in police to forcibly disperse students that formed an encampment — but also his decision to fire dozens of diversity, equity, and inclusion staffers at the university. Hartzell “capitulated to political pressure” by dissolving the Division of Campus and Community Engagement (DCCE) last month, the letter states, resulting in the firing of “at least forty staff — predominantly women and people of color.”

The letter and signature campaign is coordinated by the union, American Association of University Professors at UT Austin, which co-organized a “Stop the Purge” rally to protest the firings.

“President Hartzell needlessly put students, staff and faculty in danger,” the letter states. “Dozens of students were arrested for assembling peacefully on their own campus.”

The letter currently stands at 657 signatures, making up about 20% of the roughly 3,200 faculty members at the university.

Only seven signatures are publicly displayed on the website with the posted letter, all of whom are AAUP chapter officers. These include professors Pauline Turner Strong, Brian L. Evans, Karma R. Chávez, Andrea C. Gore, Lauren Jae Gutterman, Steven Seegel, and Julia Mickenberg.

The Daily Wire obtained a copy of the letter with all of the signatories listed, and identified several with a history of anti-Israel activism.

One of the most controversial signatories is Nahid Siamdoust, an assistant professor in the Middle Eastern Studies department who put the blame on Israel in the immediate wake of Hamas committing its massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7.

“This is the moment when the world powers need to step in and say enough is enough,” Siamdoust posted. “End the occupation. There won’t be peace otherwise. Let’s stop this bloodshed. Let’s solve this problem. Instead they empower Israel to retaliate indiscriminately. My [heart breaks] for all the innocent.”

This is the moment when the world powers need to step in and say enough is enough. End the occupation. There won’t be peace otherwise. Let’s stop this bloodshed. Let’s solve this problem. Instead they empower Israel to retaliate indiscriminately. My 💔 for all the innocent.

— Nahid Siamdoust (@nahid8) October 8, 2023

In a tweet two days later, she said she was “ashamed” by seeing exiled Iranians celebrating “Israel’s illegal siege and indiscriminate killing of Palestinians with the military & financial might of the world.”

African diaspora and gender studies professor Pavithra Vasudevan, a member of the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, frequently sports a keffiyeh and has attended anti-Israel rallies on campus. In one video, she is heard telling students that she “lost confidence” in the university for “inviting the police state to take over this campus.”

“The police do not protect us, we protect us,” she added. “This is our space, this is our campus.”

Associate Dean for Faculty Mentoring and Development, Peniel E. Joseph, also signed onto the letter and published an op-ed on Thursday accusing the school of assaulting democracy by firing the DEI-focused faculty members.

“What we are experiencing here in Texas is an assault on the nation’s democracy,” Joseph wrote. “As in Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Florida, Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts here amplify conservative legislators’ vision of ‘reclaiming’ the university from a so-called ‘woke mob’ apparently populated by folks who look like me.”

The faculty letter demands that criminal charges be dropped “against students and others,” that students not face disciplinary action, and that the school “respect the first Amendment free speech rights of students and faculty.”

The idea for the letter began as police were still arresting people on campus last Wednesday, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

While the number of faculty who signed on to the letter is certainly large, there is also substantial support for Hartzell in the university community. A letter of support for Hartzell organized by Alums for Campus Fairness thanks him for his “decisive action in putting an end to the recent antisemitic encampment on campus.”

Organizers say the letter in support of Hartzell already has 9,137 signatories from its community of alumni, parents of students, and donors to the university.

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