Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts
Friday, October 11, 2024
One Year of Genocide in Gaza: Dispatches from Palestine & Lebanon (AMED San Francisco State Umiversity)
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
20-year UVA law school librarian forced to seek redress from President Jim Ryan; defending the right to protest in the face of illegal disciplinary action
Contact: Ben Doherty, 434-282-9009
Charlottesville - On Saturday, May 4th, Ben Doherty (they/them) joined hundreds of UVA co-workers, students and community-members protesting for university leadership to divest from Israel’s war-machine.
Not only do Ben and coworkers have a demonstrable right to protest under the law, it’s also the case that UVA as a public institution has legal restrictions that prevent it from infringing on such rights. However, in response to this May 4 protest, UVA law school leadership issued Ben a “Letter of Counseling.” Letter of Counseling refers to an optional first step in discipline by the VA Department of Human Resources Management’s Standards of Conduct which has jurisdiction over UVA.
On June 25th, Ben was joined by coworkers on a delegation where they asserted the need for UVA to accept its legal restrictions and honor Ben’s right to protest. In response to this delegation, the UVA law school’s Assoc. Dean sent an email to Ben indicating, “a letter of counseling is not a disciplinary action.” However the email also sent mixed messages that were out of step with DHRM requirements. The Asst. Dean would not categorically agree that the result of ruling it not discipline is by extension ruling it unable to be referenced in any future cumulative evaluation or attempts at termination. The Asst. Dean encouraged Ben to take a one-on-one with Dean Leslie Kendrick. However, that meeting on July 12th did not resolve anything.
The unwillingness to comply with Ben’s rights is a risk not only for Ben but for their coworkers as well. That’s why Ben and their team have decided that the issue must be brought to the attention of UVA President Jim Ryan. Ben will lead a delegation to President Jim Ryan’s office tomorrow Wednesday, Oct. 9th at 1pm.
***
What: Delegation to President Jim Ryan
When: Wednesday, Oct. 9th, 1pm.
Where: Launching from Gingko Tree (b/w Rotunda & Chapel), UVA Campus 145 McCormick Rd.
***
Please see below: Full statement from the UCW-UVA’s campaign committee to defeat retaliation.
On Wednesday, October 9 at 1:00pm, United Campus Workers-University of Virginia (UCW) will rally to “say no to retaliation” outside of Madison Hall at the University of Virginia. UCW has chosen that location to tell UVA President Jim Ryan that it will not accept retaliation against any workers for exercising their right to protest.
On May 4, 2024 the University of Virginia administrators sent in riot police to violently break up the encampment for Palestine. After attacking the protesters with shields and chemical weapons, the police arrested 27 people. One of the people arrested was Ben Doherty (they/them pronouns), a librarian who has worked at the law school for over 20 years. Like the other arrestees, Ben was charged with criminal trespass–a charge that was later dismissed; and given a No Trespass Order barring them from campus–which was also soon rescinded since Ben was not an actual threat to anyone at the university.
However–in addition to the police violence, dismissed criminal charges, and rescinded No Trespass Order–on May 21, 2024, the law school issued a “letter of counseling” to Ben. The letter mischaracterizes Ben’s lawful protest against genocide in Palestine as insubordination and explains that “future conduct of this kind, whether at the Law School or elsewhere at the University, will very likely result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.” That is now the second “letter of counseling” the law school has placed in Ben’s employment record, the first being in 2018 when Ben objected to the presence in the law library of one of the main organizers of the white nationalist Unite the Right rally who was harassing people in the law school, and whom the University had failed to issue a No Trespass Order.
Workers everywhere have a right to protest and the United Campus Workers will collectively oppose any retaliation against workers for exercising that right. The University cannot be allowed to illegally chill anyone’s right to protest against genocide. UCW has already raised its concerns about this illegal and chilling discipline twice earlier this summer, and now is asking Jim Ryan to stop this retaliation threatening Ben’s termination for engaging in their right to protest as a member of the world community.
Quote from Ben Doherty: “In 2017 and 2018, I was present when University administrators did nothing to protect UVA students, staff and community members from blatant white nationalist violence and harassment. In 2024, I was also present when University administrators sent violent riot police in to attack and arrest people protesting against genocide in Palestine. In both cases, University leadership failures fell on the backs of students, workers and community members. To cover these failures, the University wants to keep people quiet and we all must work collectively to push back against University retaliation designed to chill our right to protest injustice.”
Gary Broderick
UCW-VA Lead Organizer
804-347-4942
Charlottesville - On Saturday, May 4th, Ben Doherty (they/them) joined hundreds of UVA co-workers, students and community-members protesting for university leadership to divest from Israel’s war-machine.
Not only do Ben and coworkers have a demonstrable right to protest under the law, it’s also the case that UVA as a public institution has legal restrictions that prevent it from infringing on such rights. However, in response to this May 4 protest, UVA law school leadership issued Ben a “Letter of Counseling.” Letter of Counseling refers to an optional first step in discipline by the VA Department of Human Resources Management’s Standards of Conduct which has jurisdiction over UVA.
On June 25th, Ben was joined by coworkers on a delegation where they asserted the need for UVA to accept its legal restrictions and honor Ben’s right to protest. In response to this delegation, the UVA law school’s Assoc. Dean sent an email to Ben indicating, “a letter of counseling is not a disciplinary action.” However the email also sent mixed messages that were out of step with DHRM requirements. The Asst. Dean would not categorically agree that the result of ruling it not discipline is by extension ruling it unable to be referenced in any future cumulative evaluation or attempts at termination. The Asst. Dean encouraged Ben to take a one-on-one with Dean Leslie Kendrick. However, that meeting on July 12th did not resolve anything.
The unwillingness to comply with Ben’s rights is a risk not only for Ben but for their coworkers as well. That’s why Ben and their team have decided that the issue must be brought to the attention of UVA President Jim Ryan. Ben will lead a delegation to President Jim Ryan’s office tomorrow Wednesday, Oct. 9th at 1pm.
***
What: Delegation to President Jim Ryan
When: Wednesday, Oct. 9th, 1pm.
Where: Launching from Gingko Tree (b/w Rotunda & Chapel), UVA Campus 145 McCormick Rd.
***
Please see below: Full statement from the UCW-UVA’s campaign committee to defeat retaliation.
On Wednesday, October 9 at 1:00pm, United Campus Workers-University of Virginia (UCW) will rally to “say no to retaliation” outside of Madison Hall at the University of Virginia. UCW has chosen that location to tell UVA President Jim Ryan that it will not accept retaliation against any workers for exercising their right to protest.
On May 4, 2024 the University of Virginia administrators sent in riot police to violently break up the encampment for Palestine. After attacking the protesters with shields and chemical weapons, the police arrested 27 people. One of the people arrested was Ben Doherty (they/them pronouns), a librarian who has worked at the law school for over 20 years. Like the other arrestees, Ben was charged with criminal trespass–a charge that was later dismissed; and given a No Trespass Order barring them from campus–which was also soon rescinded since Ben was not an actual threat to anyone at the university.
However–in addition to the police violence, dismissed criminal charges, and rescinded No Trespass Order–on May 21, 2024, the law school issued a “letter of counseling” to Ben. The letter mischaracterizes Ben’s lawful protest against genocide in Palestine as insubordination and explains that “future conduct of this kind, whether at the Law School or elsewhere at the University, will very likely result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.” That is now the second “letter of counseling” the law school has placed in Ben’s employment record, the first being in 2018 when Ben objected to the presence in the law library of one of the main organizers of the white nationalist Unite the Right rally who was harassing people in the law school, and whom the University had failed to issue a No Trespass Order.
Workers everywhere have a right to protest and the United Campus Workers will collectively oppose any retaliation against workers for exercising that right. The University cannot be allowed to illegally chill anyone’s right to protest against genocide. UCW has already raised its concerns about this illegal and chilling discipline twice earlier this summer, and now is asking Jim Ryan to stop this retaliation threatening Ben’s termination for engaging in their right to protest as a member of the world community.
Quote from Ben Doherty: “In 2017 and 2018, I was present when University administrators did nothing to protect UVA students, staff and community members from blatant white nationalist violence and harassment. In 2024, I was also present when University administrators sent violent riot police in to attack and arrest people protesting against genocide in Palestine. In both cases, University leadership failures fell on the backs of students, workers and community members. To cover these failures, the University wants to keep people quiet and we all must work collectively to push back against University retaliation designed to chill our right to protest injustice.”
Gary Broderick
UCW-VA Lead Organizer
804-347-4942
Thursday, October 3, 2024
“Repression on Grounds: A Virtual Town Hall on May 4 and Its Aftermath” (Faculty for Justice in Palestine)
(Charlottesville, VA)
In the aftermath of the violent repression of the encampment protests at UVa in May by police and administration, and with issues about first amendment rights at UVa still unresolved, faculty at the University of Virginia will host: “Repression on Grounds: A Virtual Town Hall on May 4 and Its Aftermath” on Sunday October 6 from 11 am -12:30 pm EDT. The town hall will be virtual.
Participants can register for the event here: https://tinyurl.com/56r54kus
The town hall will address violent break up of the pro-Palestinian encampment on May 4, 2024
by military-style police in riot gear and its aftermath. But rather than seeing this as a defeat,
organizers will share what they have learned since the summer and chart a path forward for
pro-Palestinian activism at UVA and nationally, including renewed calls for divestment from
Israel and genocide. The town hall will address:
- What happened on 5/4;
- What has happened since 5/4;
- Suggested steps moving forward;
- National framing;
- Disclosure, divestment & how to get involved
- Q&A
As Israel’s genocide in Gaza intensifies to include Lebanon, members of Faculty for Justice in
Palestine and allies will highlight the moral urgency of the moment and discuss the role student,
faculty, staff, and community activism and pressure has to do in achieving an arms embargo
against Israel and charting a path towards Palestinian sovereignty. With free speech and
academic freedom under fire across the nation and in the Commonwealth, It’s time to hear from
faculty, staff and students what is really going on with regards to freedom of speech, academic
freedom and protest rights at Jefferson’s University.
As we enter into another academic year, questions of politics, both domestic and international,
are central to the work we do at the university. It is critically important that faculty, staff, and
students maintain the right to speak freely on these issues without risking the kinds of retaliation
they've seen in the last several months.
Contact: Faculty for Justice in Palestine, UVA. fjp.uva@gmail.com
Related links:
Elite Universities on Lockdown. Protestors Regroup.
What caused 70 US universities to arrest protesting students while many more did not?
Campus Protests, Campus Safety, and the Student Imagination
Democratic Protests on Campus: Modeling the Better World We Seek (Annelise Orleck)
Methods of Student Nonviolent Resistance
Wikipedia Community Documents Pro-Palestinian Protests on University and College Campuses
One Fascism or Two?: The Reemergence of "Fascism(s)" in US Higher Education
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Higher Education Uncensored
The Higher Education Inquirer is a rare space for students (consumers), workers, debtors, and community members to speak the truth about higher education and its most important issues, including the truth related to climate change and environmental destruction, human rights, student rights and worker rights, mass surveillance and policing, sexual assault and rape culture, racism and bullying, mental illness and suicide prevention, hypercredentialism, student loan debt and underemployment, NCAA money sports, higher education scams, cheating, and AI, university endowments, land theft and gentrification by universities, and any issues that are too politically charged for other news outlets to consider.
HEI fills this role because many student newspapers cannot perform that service. No mainstream media outlet (large or industry niche) or nonprofit can do that either. In those cases, the purse strings affect what is published and what isn't. Writers and editors are censored, and sometimes they censor themselves to avoid retribution or the possibility of retribution. If you are a student journalist, whistleblower, or concerned citizen, we invite you to submit your work to us. If you have a petition or an event, or want to leak documents anonymously, please let us know.
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