Angry about Katherine Franke's "retirement"? Good, you should be. But if people are serious about stopping something like this from happening again, they need to get serious about the cause. Because the precedent was set loooong ago.
A big-ish 🧵
In fact, all of the tools now being used against pro-Palestine faculty (the DEI apparatus, Title VI complaints, collegiality discourse) were developed years ago to quash speech opposed by the left. And I have receipts to prove it.
Here's your imperial boomerang, folks. 2/
This prof worries about DEI being weaponized as a tool of repression. Buddy, that die was cast years ago. In fact, I'd wager that the use of DEI as a weapon is *less* effective now than it was five years ago. It's just that the target has (partially) changed. 3/
It's suddenly grown very fashionable on the left to criticize DEI. Those folks should spare a thought for all the center and rightwing profs who came before them and paid for it with their careers. Like Nathaniel Hiers, who lost his job at UNT for this: 4/
reason.com/volokh/2022/03…
Or Matthew Garrett, a tenured history prof at Bakersfield College. In April 2023, he was fired for criticizing DEI initiatives, which apparently is not allowed. Thankfully, he sued and forced Bakersfield into a costly settlement. 5/
edsource.org/2024/professor…
Or Stuart Reges. In 2022, he criticized Indigenous land acknowledgements as empty posturing. In retaliation, his university encouraged students to file complaints against him, accused him or harassment, and launched a year-long investigation. He sued... 6/
kentreporter.com/news/uw-profes…
...and lost in federal court. But that's only b/c the court applied the incorrect and highly alarming legal standard. Reges has appealed with supportive briefs from virtually every civil liberties and academic freedom group in the Rolodex. /7
thefire.org/cases/reges-v-…
(With one rather notable exception.) /8
Lesson #1: The "weaponization" of DEI happened long ago and has claimed many, many professors long before it came for Katherine Franke. So it would be a huge mistake for academics today to diagnose the problem as "DEI" + "Anti-Zionist Activism" as opposed to DEI tout court. /9
Another claim I've seen floating around is that Zionist groups have somehow hacked the DoE and Title VI complaint process to accuse activists of antisemitism. Again, this is misleading. 10/
Yes, it's true that Zionist groups are abusing the Title VI process, something I have argued repeatedly and at great length. 11/
pen.org/for-federal-ce…
But a huge part of the reason why they're able to do so is b/c of a change introduced a decade ago by Obama to combat sex-based discrimination and harassment under Title IX. That change, which was ported over to Title VI as well, made it much easier to prove a CRA violation. /12
I've run through this history before so I won't replicate it here. But it's worth saying explicitly that what made Columbia so vulnerable to pressure by Zionist orgs is a policy choice made by Obama, dropped by Trump in 2017, and restored by Biden. /13
Depressed? Take heart! Biden's Title IX policy has been struck down as a 1A violation by courts across the country. As of last week it is effectively dead and I fully expect Trump will finish the job. Shame it took 4+ years of red state litigation. /14
insidehighered.com/news/governmen…
Lesson #2: Yes, Zionist orgs are going to use Title VI to eviscerate pro-Palestine activism. But they didn't create this weapon. They didn't hone it to fine edge. That work was already done for them elsewhere, and so the work of neutralizing that weapon begins elsewhere too. 15/
Pissed at me yet? Too bad, because there's one lesson left. One of the chief complaints used against Franke and many other activists is "lack of collegiality," especially in their service work. It's a massive academic freedom "loophole" used to silence angry profs. 16/
Again, this weapon has been used against profs for years. Profs like Ohio Northern University law school's Scott Gerber, who in 2023 got the whole Katherine Franke treatment: escorted out of class by armed security, marched to the dean, and ordered to resign or be fired. 17/
Why? No one really knew, at least at first. Just that he had violated the university's policy "governing collegiality." AFAIK we still don't have a clear answer, but it has something to do with (you guessed it) criticism of ONU's DEI initiatives. 18/
thefire.org/news/professor…
At its essence, Gerber's case, like Franke's, is about the right of faculty to forcefully criticize their own university's internal policies. It's a dimension of their service, and for that reason should be protected under the 1A and the principles of academic freedom. 19/
But *again*, that right has been under threat for years now. And *again*, the ones who were targeted were not pro-Palestine activists. In fact, the crucial court case happened two years ago and involved a prof who criticized -- once again -- DEI. 20/
carolinajournal.com/federal-appeal…
When his dean removed him from the PhD program, he sued on 1A grounds. But the 4th CA, in a 2-1 ruling, decided that the 1A only protects a public uni prof's teaching and scholarship, NOT anything they say or do in the course of university service. 21/
documentcloud.org/documents/2386…
Lesson #3: For pro-Palestine profs intent on making themselves a righteous nuisance to their colleagues and department heads (and they should!), be careful. You may very well be utterly unprotected by the 1A. You can thank NCSU’s Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. 22/
Three hard lessons. One hard truth: The "Palestine Exception," if there is one, is much less exceptional than some would like to believe. Don't let that fact anger you so much that you reject it. It's a *good* thing. This is how you diagnose the problem. It's also how you... 23/
...build an alliance to solve it. Yes, pro-Israel orgs intent on destroying academic freedom must be confronted head on, but understand that they are only guilty of taking advantage of tools other people had already built. Eliminate the tools and you eliminate the threat. 24/
Meanwhile, to those right-wingers now crowing over just desserts and whatnot, you need to also understand that it was conservatives who dealt the most grievous blow to academic freedom way back in 2006 (the Garcetti decision)... 25/
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
...and are now intent on finishing the job (Florida's defense of the Stop WOKE Act). Glass houses, people. 26/
thefire.org/news/why-flori…
Again, pro-Palestine activists should welcome these facts. Yes, it probably means eating some crow, owning the hypocrisy, and even (heaven forfend) apologizing to some colleagues. Nevertheless, it offers us all a roadmap toward getting back what we've lost.
That's it. 27/27
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