Dear all,
We, the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter of Hamilton College, would like to address some points that the Hamilton College administration made in their letter to faculty on November 19th, 2024 regarding the Strike for the People's University on November 21st, 2024.
Professional Responsibilities vs Politics
The administration expressed concern regarding what a call to "cancel classes [..] in support of a political position" means for faculty's responsibility to teach and educate students. We reiterate that, as many of us liberal arts college students have learned in our classes, politics and education are intrinsically tied. On Class & Charter Day 2024, Dan Chambliss remarked on how thirty-three years ago, in the spring of 1986, Hamilton students participated in an international divestment movement, the purpose of which was to force colleges to divest their holdings in the South African government, practitioner of an apartheid regime. In light of the fact that South Africa has maintained that Israel is responsible for apartheid against Palestinians and filed a case against Israel with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), we are proud of our history of anti-apartheid protests when we teach it in classrooms, yet we cannot support a movement to strike similar conversations in current times?
As a community, each of us manage the responsibility of framing what education is and navigating discourses that construct it. We emphasize that Hamilton's educational goals do not exist in a social vacuum, and that the Strike for the People's University is in line with each one of these goals:
Intellectual Curiosity and Flexibility
Analytic Discernment
Creativity
Communication and Expression
Understanding of Cultural Diversity
Ethical, Informed and Engaged Citizenship
Interpreting faculty support of the strike as a compromise of professional responsibility is antithetical to the goals of a Hamilton College education, especially considering the emphasis on learning beyond the classroom in the administration's letter. Further, confining the scope of education to the classroom as a response to the strike, whose purpose is not only to demand the College to disclose and divest, but also to educate and invite dialogue, is a political stance against faculty and students alike. This is a failure on the part of the institution to balance between a commitment to critical thinking and its own politics.
Academic Freedom
The administration mentioned that "choosing not to teach, respond to emails, or engage with students on the subject of the classes in which they've enrolled" is a "stretch to any reasonable understanding of academic freedom." We must not decontextualize this choice. Those who choose to participate in the strike are making a choice to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon. Faculty will have made this choice to support education beyond the classroom, which the administration claims to also support. Hence we ask the College: if faculty choosing to strike threatens academic freedom, then do the deaths of Palestinian college students who were supposed to graduate in 2025 not threaten academic freedom as well?
While the administration claims that "one day without classroom instruction is a significant disruption to education for [..] students," we must ask ourselves what education really means. When students engage in critical discussion with faculty members beyond the classroom in light of academic freedoms at Hamilton College and elsewhere, is that not education? On what grounds can we question the integrity of faculty that show support of students exercising Understanding of Cultural Diversity and Ethical, Informed and Engaged Citizenship? It is uncritical and erroneous to reduce education to "explicit learning [objectives] tied to the curricular arc of [courses]."
Further, questioning faculty integrity for supporting students does not make for the "inclusive educational environment" at Hamilton College that the administration claims faculty have a commitment to maintain. November 21st is truly an opportunity to engage with students, as the administration claims, only if all faculty, especially those who support the Strike for People's University and education beyond the classroom, possess the right to choice and academic freedom at this institution. Faculty are not merely course instructors, but also co-educators who teach to and learn from students in open dialogue. In their letter, the administration expresses their belief that the "fundamental commitment to educating and supporting all [..] students" and bringing awareness to political views must be balanced. We highlight that faculty support of students applying their critical thinking skills and knowledge to current global events is in line with said commitment to students, regardless of political views.
Open Dialogue
The event "Hope for Hamilton: Engagement, expression, and community - an open conversation" was hosted under the Dunham tent on September 15th, 2024. However, the administration's email goes against the spirit of open dialogue and conversation that is an integral part of Hamilton College as an institution. Through strike action, students and faculty are collaborating to create a space for asking important questions and reflecting on the Palestinian struggle for justice, freedom, and liberty. If we cannot hold these communal spaces to emphasize the importance of discussing such matters with each other, then what is the use of a so-called liberal arts education? Where else can we express our thoughts, voice, opinions, and concerns, if not at the very educational institution that claims to make us "thoughtful, responsible and purposeful individuals with the capacity to make a positive difference in the world"?
At the end of their letter, the administration recalled how faculty navigated last year's events by "[drawing] upon [..] incredible strength as a community, with learning at [the] center." The Strike for the People's University on November 21st is no different in this regard. Through organizing, sharing, teaching, educating, learning, and growing, we are drawing upon our strength as a community with learning at our center. Not being open to having difficult conversations in the spirit of the Strike for the People's University compromises faculty members' professional responsibility to not only engage with the student community, but also to exemplify Ethical, Informed and Engaged Citizenship themselves.
The letter that Hamilton College administration sent to the faculty serves as an appropriate text for students and campus community members alike to practice their analytical discernment and critical thinking skills. We reiterate that dictating what education should be like, imposing value judgements on the community, and questioning the integrity of faculty is in of itself a political statement on behalf of Hamilton College. In solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon, we must come together, organize, and build community with one another. What is the use of informed citizenship if we cannot engage with global events at a deeper level? What is the use of communication skills if we cannot encourage open dialogue with one another? What is the use of a liberal arts education if we are not allowed to think and act for ourselves?
There is one important question that is at stake: according to the administration's letter, why is faculty support for the strike on November 21st not considered to be academic freedom? We offer up our space in the KJ atrium to transparent, respectable, and constructive dialogue that will bring us together as a community more than threatening the compromise of one's integrity ever will.
Free Palestine.
Yours,
SJP
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