‘Censorship’: over 115 scholars condemn cancellation of Harvard journal issue on Palestine | Harvard University
More than 120 educational academics condemned the cancellation of the entire problem of an academic magazine dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher.
One open letter The academicians, published on Thursday, condemned the Harvard training review – the first scrape of a special problem announced by Guardian in July to the “academic examination of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel and its allies.
The authors state that the censorship of the issue is also an example of anti -Palestinian discrimination, and that the information about Palestine prevents the spread of the genocide in Gaza ”.
The special issue of the Prestige Journal of Education was planned for six months of the Israeli War in Gaza to deal with questions about the education of Palestinians, the education of Palestinians and Palestinians, as Guardian has reported earlier, and about the relevant discussions in the United States.
Edit The editors of the magazine have an important role in supporting students, educators and policy makers in contexting those in Gaza, ”the editors of the magazine said.
The academicians also asked the publisher to apologize to the authors, assign a new special issue about Palestine, and apply protection to protect editorial independence. Until then, they promised to boycott the magazine’s publisher and affiliated Harvard Education Press.
After a year, after a year, the special problem was almost ready – all articles were arranged, the contracts with most authors were finalized and the problem was announced at academic conferences and on the back cover of the previous one. However, at the end of the process, the Harvard Education Publishing Group, a part of the Harvard Institute Education Institute, which published the magazine, asked all articles to be presented to a “risk assessment” examination, an unprecedented demand.
When the authors protested, the publisher suddenly canceled the problem and responded. In an E -Posta obtained by Guardian, Jessica Fiorillo, the general manager of the group, described it as an inadequate examination process and stated that “important copy regulation” needs as well as “lack of internal alignment” on the special issue. The decision said, ki It is not bound by the censorship of a particular perspective or not to academic freedom issues ”.
The authors and editors clearly rejected this characterization, and said that the cancellation of the Guardian was a dangerous precedent, and that many academics call academic freedom as the “Palestinian Exception”.
The last letter, using a term written by Palestinian scholars to describe the “delicious and systematic destruction of Israel’s education system,“ Hepg’s decision to abandon its own institutional missions-and the responsibilities requested by the world leader. ” He wrote.
“It is indisputable that Hepg has chosen to explain to the public as an academic quality while he can cancel the special issue while he is skipping the important facts reported to the public.”
Arathi Srakash, a professor of sociology and education at the University of Oxford and one of the signatures of the letter, said that the cancellation of the special issue for Guardian is fully mobilized because we realize the great consequences of such threats for academic freedom and academic integrity ”.
“The ongoing genocide in Gaza involved the physical destruction of the entire higher education system there, and now in many educational institutions in the world, there are active initiatives to silence learning about what is completely. As educators, we must remain determined in our commitment to the knowledge and learning process without knowledge and threat.”
‘Attack In academic freedom ‘
The ordeal around the Private Palestinian problem played against the pressure of the Trump administration on its own autonomy on the basis of the fight against anti -Semitism allegedly on campuses.
Harvard is the only university that sued the administration in response to the discontinuation of billions of dollars and other punishment measures on federal funds and universities. However, Harvard has brought most of the demands of the administration to the forefront, including the definition of a controversial anti -Semitism, which included Palestinian narratives, which includes Palestinian narratives and said it was antithetics to academic interrogation.
During the interviews with the Harvard Educational Review editors, the publisher of the magazine, an editor in the magazine admitted that his publications were looking for legal examination of articles from fears that his publications would lead to claims of anti -Semitism.
Harvard is reported to be close to concluding a settlement along the lines where the Trump administration and other senior universities reach.
Thea Abu al-Haj, a Palestinian-American educational anthropologist at Barnard College and contributed to the special problem that was canceled, criticized the university’s dealing with the issue as another sign of institutional delivery.
Guardian’a last month, “Universities – or in this case a university press – if he is not willing to stand up for the nucleus of his missions, I do not know what they do,” he said. “What’s the point?”
The spokesman of the Harvard Institute Faculty of Education did not respond immediately to the request for a comment on the last letter, but in an earlier statement to Guardian, the publisher was “deeply connected to our solid editorial process”.
Last month, Pen America condemned the cancellation of the special problem as an ısı an attack on academic freedom ”.
Kr Cristen Shahverdian, the Group’s Free Speech attempt program director, said, “It is extremely unusual, almost unheard to cancel such a close issue.” expression.
“Silence these scientific voices, academics, students and public opinion with the opportunity to interact with insights. At the same time, the Trump administration’s open pressure on the Harvard University and the efforts aimed at the scholarship on Palestine, including a creepy message in the context of supporting political intervention.”
Last week, North American Middle East Research Association (MESA) and Academic Freedom Committee written A public letter to Harvard’s President Garber condemns the cancellation of the problem as a betrayal of academic freedom principles and the devotion of Harvard University on scientific integrity and freedom of expression ”.
