Palestine Exception: U.S. Colleges Suppress Free Speech, Academic Freedom for Students & Professors
Amy Goodman, Safiya O'Brien & Premilla Nadasen | 27 December 2023 | Democracy Now
We look at the “Palestine exception to free speech” on U.S. college campuses, where students and faculty face backlash and professional retribution for speaking up in defense of Palestinian rights amid the Israeli war on Gaza. We hear from Safiya O’Brien, a Barnard College student and organizer with the Columbia University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, and speak with Barnard College professor Premilla Nadasen, who describes an organized campaign “to censor student and faculty speech and curtail academic freedom.” The New York Civil Liberties Union recently sent a letter to the president of Barnard to protest a new policy that requires departments to submit content for their websites for approval by the Office of the Provost.