[Uosenate] UO Senate letter to UO President affirming our commitment to academic freedom

Tue May 7 08:49:47 PDT 2024

Dear Colleagues,

I am a member of the Senate Executive committee and representative for Sociology and the College of Arts and Sciences. I have received the attached “Joint Statement on Antisemitism” from the UO Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, UO Jewish Voice for Peace, and Jewish Voice for Peace Eugene. In the spirit of facilitating open dialogue about the matters we have been discussing on this thread, on campus, and recently in the Senate meetings, I have been asked to pass this statement along for consideration by the Senate and UO Leadership.

Sincerely,

Raoul Liévanos

------------------------------------------
Raoul S. Liévanos, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Chair-Elect, Section on Environmental Sociology<https://www.asanet.org/asa_sections/environmental-sociology/>,
  American Sociological Association
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology<https://socialsciences.uoregon.edu/sociology>
1291 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1291

The University of Oregon is located on the homeland of Indigenous Kalapuya peoples<https://library.uoregon.edu/honoring-native-peoples-and-lands>.

E-mail: raoull at uoregon.edu<mailto:raoull at uoregon.edu>
Website: https://cas.uoregon.edu/directory/sociology/all/raoull

New Publication: Liévanos, Raoul S. 2023. “Racialized Hazardous Space: A Critical Race Urban-Environmental Sociology of Residential Security in the Depression Era<https://doi.org/10.1177/15356841231176539>.” City & Community 22(4):308-329 (Special Issue: “Environmentalizing Urban Sociology”).

From: uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> On Behalf Of Yoav Dubinsky
Sent: Monday, May 6, 2024 2:36 PM
To: Kevin Reed <ksreed at uoregon.edu>; Alison Schmitke <schmitke at uoregon.edu>; Pedro Garcia-Caro <pgcaro at uoregon.edu>; Senate President <senatepres at uoregon.edu>; uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu; Senate Vice President <senatevp at uoregon.edu>; Sandy Weintraub <sandymw at uoregon.edu>; Betina Lynn <betina at uoregon.edu>
Subject: Re: [Uosenate] UO Senate letter to UO President affirming our commitment to academic freedom

Hi all,
I am not signing any petition, but the statement of the Senate leadership turns a blind eye to what antisemitism is by avoiding a definition. Calls such as “From the River to the Sea” (which is in front of Lillis for a week) are part of Hamas genocidal ideology to eradicate the only Jewish state by force. We heard that in Israel for years or decades as part of very militant speeches, not just by Hamas but by others as well. That can be seen as antisemitic, hate speech and calls for violence. There are people and groups who adopted it as a call for a one-state solution with equal rights to all. That is of course not antisemitic, even if you believe in a two states solution. Some people and groups use it as a general call for Palestinian future aspirations, which is up to interpretation regarding what are the implications. And some people or groups use it to perpetuate antisemitism, hiding behind the guise of antizionism and take advantage of the normalization of the call for antisemitic purpose. But as long as we do not discuss operationally what is antisemitism, we will keep seeing these divisions about hate speech.

I completely agree that normalizing “From the River to the Sea” for a week while consistently avoiding sharing the operational definition of antisemitism and what exactly we condemn and do not tolerate when it comes to antisemitism, creates a hostile environment for the Jewish community on campus. Keeping general comments such as condemning antisemitism, islamophobia, and any form of racism, are not helpful if all issues are grouped together and there is no operational substance behind them. Again, I am not signing any letters or affiliated with any groups who signed any letters, but the growing antisemitism on campuses is disturbing and concerning and in my opinion a letter such as the one by Senate leadership is part of the problem.

Best,
Yoav
From: uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu>> On Behalf Of Kevin Reed
Sent: Monday, May 6, 2024 1:50 PM
To: Alison Schmitke <schmitke at uoregon.edu<mailto:schmitke at uoregon.edu>>; Pedro Garcia-Caro <pgcaro at uoregon.edu<mailto:pgcaro at uoregon.edu>>; Senate President <senatepres at uoregon.edu<mailto:senatepres at uoregon.edu>>; uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>; Senate Vice President <senatevp at uoregon.edu<mailto:senatevp at uoregon.edu>>; Sandy Weintraub <sandymw at uoregon.edu<mailto:sandymw at uoregon.edu>>; Betina Lynn <betina at uoregon.edu<mailto:betina at uoregon.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Uosenate] UO Senate letter to UO President affirming our commitment to academic freedom

Making sure Senators have seen this, distributed this afternoon to other UO leadership.

[Image]

Kevin S. Reed | Vice President and General Counsel
Office of the Vice President and General Counsel
219 Johnson Hall | Eugene, OR 97403-1226
(541) 346-3082 | ksreed at uoregon.edu<mailto:ksreed at uoregon.edu>

vpgc.uoregon.edu<https://vpgc.uoregon.edu/>

From: uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu>> on behalf of Alison Schmitke <schmitke at uoregon.edu<mailto:schmitke at uoregon.edu>>
Date: Monday, May 6, 2024 at 12:26 PM
To: Pedro Garcia-Caro <pgcaro at uoregon.edu<mailto:pgcaro at uoregon.edu>>, Senate President <senatepres at uoregon.edu<mailto:senatepres at uoregon.edu>>, uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu> <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>>, Senate Vice President <senatevp at uoregon.edu<mailto:senatevp at uoregon.edu>>, Sandy Weintraub <sandymw at uoregon.edu<mailto:sandymw at uoregon.edu>>, Betina Lynn <betina at uoregon.edu<mailto:betina at uoregon.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Uosenate] UO Senate letter to UO President affirming our commitment to academic freedom
Thank you, Pedro.  I’ll be sure your name is added.

Alison

Alison Schmitke, PhD
University Senate Vice President
Senior Lecturer II
Undergraduate Degree Program Director
Education Studies
College of Education
University of Oregon

From: Pedro Garcia-Caro <pgcaro at uoregon.edu<mailto:pgcaro at uoregon.edu>>
Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2024 9:22 PM
To: Senate President <senatepres at uoregon.edu<mailto:senatepres at uoregon.edu>>; uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>; Senate Vice President <senatevp at uoregon.edu<mailto:senatevp at uoregon.edu>>; Alison Schmitke <schmitke at uoregon.edu<mailto:schmitke at uoregon.edu>>; Sandy Weintraub <sandymw at uoregon.edu<mailto:sandymw at uoregon.edu>>; Betina Lynn <betina at uoregon.edu<mailto:betina at uoregon.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Uosenate] UO Senate letter to UO President affirming our commitment to academic freedom

Dear Gerard and Alison,

Thanks for the opportunity to sign this well-crafted letter. I was sorry we did not have time or quorum at the end of Wednesday’s meeting, but this is a great approach to submitting this strong document to the president. Please add my name to the letter.

All the best,
Pedro

Pedro García-Caro

Associate Professor of Spanish | Department of Romance Languages | School of Global Studies | 325 Friendly Hall | 1233 University of Oregon | Eugene, Oregon 97403-1233 | (541) 513-8706 | pgcaro at uoregon.edu<mailto:pgcaro at uoregon.edu>
https://cas.uoregon.edu/directory/romance-languages/all/pgcaro
________________________________
From: uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu>> on behalf of Senate President <senatepres at uoregon.edu<mailto:senatepres at uoregon.edu>>
Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2024 7:51:05 PM
To: uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu> <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu<mailto:uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>>; Senate Vice President <senatevp at uoregon.edu<mailto:senatevp at uoregon.edu>>; Alison Schmitke <schmitke at uoregon.edu<mailto:schmitke at uoregon.edu>>; Sandy Weintraub <sandymw at uoregon.edu<mailto:sandymw at uoregon.edu>>; Betina Lynn <betina at uoregon.edu<mailto:betina at uoregon.edu>>
Subject: [Uosenate] UO Senate letter to UO President affirming our commitment to academic freedom

UO Senators,

Thank you for participating in the Senate meeting on Wednesday, May 1st.  Many senators have expressed interest in Senate action related to the email I distributed in advance of the meeting and then read during my opening statement. The letter affirmed our Senate's commitment to the principles of academic freedom and advocated for respectful dialogue and constructive engagement with the issues being raised by the Gaza Solidarity Camp.

The Senate meeting schedule does not coincide with the urgent need to communicate our statement.  The next Senate meeting is on May 22nd (Week 7).  Thus, Senate leadership is releasing a revised letter (refer to the attached).

If senators wish to add their names to the letter, please use this Google Doc<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/docs.google.com/document/d/1MBb5KsyO50Bybexmaa1QxC6F9TX1vPHVjK0UQZjr-Wk/edit?usp=drive_link__;!!C5qS4YX3!GuAW-RAyhW98qPj1RZpLF6VmejRJfIrvd4LwX169DfMaBJBUmSG1ycIP_gYpi4BbxOK7O5evQepY9P13FAtsZdDO$> and do so by noon on Wednesday, May 8th.  The names will then be added to the letter and sent to the UO President by 5:00 on Wednesday, May 8th.

Senate leadership and the Senate will continue to engage and advocate for a productive way forward.  Please let me know if you have additional questions.

Sincerely,

Gerard Francisco Sandoval, UO Senate President

Alison Schmitke, UO Senate Vice-President

Gerard Francisco Sandoval, PhD

President, University Senate<https://senate.uoregon.edu/>

Professor, School of Planning, Public Policy and Management<https://pppm.uoregon.edu/>

University of Oregon

147A Hendricks Hall

Eugene, OR, 97403-1209

541-346-8432

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