To President Eduardo Peñalver, Seattle University Students, Faculty, and Staff:
We, the undersigned staff and faculty, write to endorse the demands made by the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and co-sponsored by the Direct Action Coalition (DAC) and the Sustainable Student Action (SSA). These demands, in their own words, include the following:
- Statement acknowledging the US-backed genocide in Gaza and CALL for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
- Divest from Boeing and other weapons manufacturers.
- Carry out the SGSU resolution and provide financial portfolio transparency.
- Change the demonstrations clause and student code of conduct.
We believe these demands are eminently reasonable and aligned with Seattle University’s Mission, Vision and Values, especially its commitments to social justice and empowering leaders for a just and humane world. By taking the steps outlined here, Seattle University will model ethical leadership for its students by firmly saying no to an attempted genocide that has already killed at least 35,000 Palestinians (a provisional number considered a significant undercount given the number of bodies buried beneath rubble and in mass graves), including over 15,000 children, over 130 journalists, and over 350 medical personnel, as well as destroyed every hospital and university in Gaza. As faculty and staff who believe in the sanctity of all life, we cannot stand silent as these atrocities are committed with this institution’s tacit support through its partnerships and investments. In light of these dire conditions, it is clear the On Campus Demonstrations Policy and Speaker Policy must be revised to empower student activists as they organize events in response to this urgent crisis and others to come by removing arduous and unnecessary permit deadlines and speaker approval processes. Similarly, in the face of an ongoing genocide, the university must uphold its commitment to academic freedom for faculty and respect staff members’ rights to act in accord with their conscience.
On May 10, 2024, President Eduardo Peñalver sent a university-wide email titled “Conflict in Israel and Gaza.” In it, President Peñalver outlined steps he is taking in response to student demands. These steps are not enough. We are concerned that students will be subjected to fragmented, inefficient, and wholly discretionary bureaucratic processes, that faculty and staff will be excluded from such institutional actions, and that neither students, nor faculty, nor staff, will have any decision-making power. We thus additionally ask for the following:
- Inclusion of faculty and staff in any conversations between the president and students about these demands.
- Accountability around these demands through quarterly updates, beginning with an update on all of these demands within the first two weeks of Fall Quarter 2024, and yearly reviews of any new processes or policies related to the demands by groups with broad student, faculty, and staff representation.
We believe faculty and staff, whose work is the core of the university’s function, must follow the lead of our courageous student activists not only in declaring our own outrage at the violent ethnic cleansing and ongoing slaughter in Gaza and the West Bank, but also in demanding substantive actions on the part of the university. Moving forward on the students’ demands would represent an actual commitment to “the actions we can take in response to events around the world…” that President Peñalver claims supersede hollow statements.
We invite President Peñalver and his administration to show real moral clarity and leadership for a just and humane world by joining the Pope in calling for an immediate ceasefire; joining Evergreen State College in committing to divestment from Israel and weapons manufacturers sponsoring their violence; joining Brown and Northwestern University in providing full investment transparency; and serving as a model for truly open and non-restrictive student activism through a collaborative revision of the current student demonstration policy. Having the courage to stand against the tide of war and genocide will demonstrate our devotion to social justice as a historical reality worth fighting for and not only an abstract ideal.
To sign this statement, fill out the form here.
In solidarity,
- Abdoulaye Ahmadou, Staff, Externship & Clinical Program Legal Administrative Assistant, Seattle University School of Law
- Saheed Adejumobi, Faculty, Associate Professor, History
- Anonymous, Faculty
- Anonymous, Faculty
- Anonymous, Faculty, Assistant Professor, English
- Anonymous, Faculty, Associate Teaching Professor
- Anonymous, Faculty, Philosophy
- Anonymous, Staff
- Anonymous, Staff
- Will Bassett, Staff, Assistant Director of Admission, Law School
- Claire Baumgardner, Staff, Administrative Assistant, CAS Office of the Dean
- Mary J. Brogan, Staff, Paralegal, Clinical Program, School of Law
- Sarah Cate, Faculty, Assistant Professor, Political Science
- Robert S. Chang, Faculty, Professor of Law and Executive Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, Law
- Jeremiah Chin, Faculty, Associate Professor, Law
- Rashmi Chordiya, Faculty, Associate Professor, Public Affairs and Nonprofit Leadership
- Natalie Cisneros, Faculty, Associate Professor, Philosophy
- Elizabeth Dale, Faculty, Associate Professor, Public Affairs and Non-Profit Leadership
- Dr. Joseph Nicholas DeFilippis, Faculty, Associate Professor, Social Work
- Amelia Seraphia Derr, Faculty, Associate Professor, Social Work
- Eva Dicker, Faculty, Assistant Professor, Psychology
- Fade Eadeh, Faculty, Assistant Professor, Psychology
- Theresa Earenfight, Faculty, Professor Emerita, History & WGSS
- Rob Efird, Faculty, Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies, Anthropology and Sociology
- Al Eisenbarth, Faculty, Adjunct Professor, Albers
- Pilar Margarita Hernández Escontrías, Faculty, Assistant Professor, School of Law
- Anne Farina, Faculty, Assistant Professor, Social Work
- Jarrad Felgenhauer, Faculty, Philosophy
- Heather Reis Fike, Staff
- Stefanie Fatooh, Staff, Director of Arts Programming, Visual Arts; Performing Arts & Arts Leadership
- GG Flint, Staff, Staff & Adjunct Instructor, College of Education
- Jennifer Fricas, Faculty, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing
- Daisy Garcia, Faculty, Clinical Assistant Professor, Nursing
- Marina Cárcamo-García, Faculty, Assistant Professor, Modern Languages and Cultures
- Bobby Gaon, Faculty, Adjunct Instructor, Social Work
- Sam Harrell, Faculty, Assistant Professor, Social Work
- Amanda Heffernan, Faculty, Assistant Professor, Nursing
- Wai-Shun Hung, Faculty, Associate Professor, Philosophy
- Sonora Jha, Faculty, Professor, Communication and Media
- Alexander Johnston, Faculty, Associate Professor of Film and Media
- Hye-Kyung Kang, Faculty, Professor, Social Work
- Ally King, Staff, Externship Program Legal Assistant, School of Law
- Suzan Knowles, Faculty, Assistant Clinical Professor, College of Nursing
- Kate Koppelman, Faculty, Associate Professor and Chair of English
- Charles Lawrence, Faculty, Associate Professor, Anthropology & Sociology
- Erica Lilleleht, Faculty, Associate Professor, Psychology
- Jennifer Lindsay, Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, Psychology
- Colleen Loranger, Faculty, Instructor, College of Education
- Rachel E. Luft, Faculty, Associate Professor, Anthropology & Sociology
- Tayyab Mahmud, Faculty, Professor, Law School
- Alanna Martin, Faculty, Adjunct Instructor, Social Work
- Kira Mauseth, Faculty, Teaching Professor, Psychology
- Alexander Mouton, Faculty, Associate Professor, Department of Visual Art
- David Neel, Faculty, Associate Professor, Mathematics
- Nikkita Oliver, Faculty, Adjunct Law School
- Nicole Plastino, Staff, Graduate program coordinator, Nonprofit Leadership, PANL
- Juan Carlos Reyes, Faculty, Associate Professor, English/Creative Writing
- Leanne Robertson, Faculty, Professor, Mathematics
- Nova Robinson, Faculty, Associate Professor, History, International Studies, Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies
- Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa, Faculty, Associate Professor Film and Media
- Becky Snow, Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, English
- Dean Spade, Faculty, Professor, Law
- Heidi Speck, Staff, College of Arts and Sciences
- Mia Stroutsos, Staff, Associate Director for Persistence Initiatives, Office of Student Persistence
- Benedict Stork, Faculty, Senior Adjunct Instructor, Film and Media
- Nicholas Tamarkin, Teacher
- Darozyl Touch, College of Arts and Sciences Staff
- Mehmet Vurkaç, Faculty, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Amy Walker, Faculty, Professor, Nursing
- Anna Watson, Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, Social Work
- Dr. Jason Wirth, Faculty, Philosophy