With tensions high, some professors are making their voices heard

A group of faculty are joining forces with Chapman’s Students for Justice in Palestine to demand the administration divest funding to the state of Israel, among other things. Photo collage by EMILY PARIS, Photo Editor

Days after students set up an encampment outside of Wilkinson Hall to support Palestine, faculty members joined the protests to voice their shared concerns.

In a May 6 statement, dozens of faculty echoed similar demands, namely that the Chapman administration call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, divest tuition funds to all organizations complicit in the occupation of Palestine and provide full financial transparency of tuition allocation.

As of publication, 58 professors have signed on, including English professor Ian Barnard.

“Our students at the Chapman Gaza encampment are incredibly brave and righteous and have sacrificed a lot in order to devote themselves to the encampment,” Barnard told The Panther. “I want them to know that Chapman faculty support them and have their backs.”

Aside from demands for administration, the statement, which was organized by a collective of faculty from multiple programs, details the estimated casualties in Gaza since the conflict broke out last fall.

“Since Hamas' horrific attack on October 7, 2023, the Israeli state has killed 34,735 Palestinians in Gaza, including 13,800 Palestinian children, displaced 1.7 million people in Gaza and destroyed every single university in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read. “These casualty numbers are mere estimates as thousands of civilians are still missing and buried under rubble.”

Professor Lisa Leitz, the chair of the Department of Peace & Justice Studies, teaches courses that help students develop practices for standing up for those whose rights are violated. She believes Palestinian people should have the same rights to self-determination, freedom of movement and legal rights as Jewish people.

“The present moment sees the people of Gaza, who are already internally displaced persons trapped in a small geographic region they cannot leave, facing unprecedented death tolls and destruction,” Leitz said.

Leitz continued: “UN officials and human rights investigators are concerned about genocide and famine. I would hope Chapman students, faculty, staff and administrators would use their voices to speak up about this.”

Chapman’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has been demanding administration stop supporting the state of Israel and increase support for Palestinian and Arab students on campus for weeks, with walkouts that began in mid-April and an ongoing encampment that was set up two weeks ago.

“We have deeply appreciated their efforts to keep us fed and supplied while also protecting our freedom of speech,” SJP member Ynéss Riedel said. “To have our voices recognized, especially Palestinian student voices, was such an accomplishment.”

Arthur Blaser, the co-director of the disability studies minor, highlighted the urgency of the statement and supporting Palestine during this time of conflict in the Middle East.

“It's a major peace and justice concern, (and it’s) also human rights, global health, disability justice and environmental concerns,” Blaser said. “The notion of exceptionalism, either that some people are not entitled to liberation or that some governments should be unexamined, is repugnant to me.”

Blaser also acknowledged that the conflict is a major children’s rights issue. According to the United Nations, more than a third of Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 have been children. 

“The world has too many civilians, many of them children, being denied a future,” he added.

While Barnard says many faculty members have expressed support for the letter, he notes some are reluctant to sign their names for fear of retaliation, among other reasons.

“I think it's really unfortunate that all faculty members don't feel confident about Chapman's commitment to protecting free speech and academic freedom,” they said.

Barnard added: “Even if I had been the only signatory on the letter, I would still have signed. There comes a time where all of us have to stand up against injustice, no matter how unpopular our stand may be.”

Faculty who would like to add their name to the statement in support of Gaza and SJP’s encampment can do so by filling out the following form.

In addition, another petition was emailed to Chapman faculty around the same time, stating their concerns regarding the petition supporting Palestine. Among the concerns listed include concerns related to the demands that some faculty have made in support of SJP, such as the demand for Chapman to “sever ties with the Military Industrial Complex” and the call for Chapman to divest. As of publication, this petition has received 75 signatures, and it can be accessed here.