IU Faculty Letter in Support of Professor Abdulkader Sinno
Comments
#10
Sinno deserves justice!Cynthia Wu (Bloomington, IN, 2024-01-08)
#27
The Vice Provost has not only violated university policy but acted in a way that undermines the very purpose of university education.James Naremore (Bloomington, 2024-01-08)
#38
I deplore any effort on the part of the university administration to silence and punish members of the university community who advance positions that may be politically unpopular. I am also strongly opposed to administrative actions that contravene established policy concerning the rights of faculty members to due process.Richard Bauman (Bloomington, 2024-01-08)
#44
Academic freedom is in dangerRichard Wilk (Bloomington , 2024-01-08)
#50
Universities are a rare and important site where open discussions of differing views must be allowed and protected.David Haberman (Bloomington , 2024-01-08)
#51
The IU suspension of Professor Sinno violates IU policies that determine how any such considerations are to be addressed. Moreover, this suspension is a clear political move to suppress free speech and academic freedom on campus. Indiana University has made a dreadful mistake. It should immediately withdraw this ruling if it expects to retain a reputation that it supports academic freedom, serious research, and a scholarly environment that benefits teaching and learning on this campus as well as other IU campuses.Beverly Stoeltje (Bloomington, 2024-01-08)
#55
We, as faculty members, do not seek permission from adminstration to invite speakers. To impose such a rule on Sinno is a total irregularity, and a terrible precedent that undermines academic freedom.Marianne Kamp (Bloomington, 2024-01-08)
#65
The suspension of tenured Associate Professor A. Sinno without offering due process review through traditional institutional channels is a dangerous and cowardly precedent. it represents Indiana University's willingness to cater to outside political interference in academic freedom and institutional autonomy without which universities are stripped of their ability to contribute to public enlightenment and more democratic societies.Robert Arnove (Bloomington, 2024-01-08)
#75
I'm signing because this is one of many intimidating changes occurring at IU, changes that diminish perspectives, experiences, and concerns expressed by faculty and students in what is supposedly a system of shared governance.Keitlyn Alcantara (Bloomington, 2024-01-08)
#82
I am very concerned at the stifling of free speech.Margaret Steiner (Bloomington, 2024-01-08)
#89
There's great irony in Vice Provost Docherty's complaint that Professor Sinno is guilty of "inattention to university compliance requirements". Her suspension of him would itself seem to violate such requirements.Dennis Senchuk (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2024-01-08)
#94
This is just another step in the University losing its academic and intellectual grounding. Serious conversation is to be encouraged .- not suppressed. It should be the foundation of academic life.Thomas Duffy (Bloomgington , 2024-01-08)
#122
Professor Sinno is a scholar, teacher, and a principled person. He deserves admiration for promoting and engaging in robust public discourse, particularly when it involves unpopular or contentious views.Gardner Bovingdon (Bloomington, 2024-01-08)
#126
Abdulkader is an excellent teacher who pushes students to consider the strength and coherence of arguments and evidence about some of the most difficult problems in Middle Eastern politics. I do not reach the same conclusions he does, but I have tremendous respect for how he approaches his work. IU needs him in the classroom. Suspending him for at most a minor, unrelated matter is akin to cutting off our nose to spite our face. Abdulkader deserves better, and so do our students—as well as the wider IU community.Judy Failer (Indianapolis, 2024-01-08)
#133
I am signing because the attempted cancelation of the event, not to mention the suspension of Professor Sinno, cannot be justified in a university setting, or indeed in any setting. Student club events at IU do not require "authorization" except under unusual circumstances, this was a peaceful and uncontroversial event (except insofar as certain segments of American politics wish to silence discussion of Palestine and Israel), and nothing unusual occurred. Furthermore, a sanction that removes a faculty member from teaching and mentoring is an extreme one that has heretofore only been used when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the faculty member may present a danger to students (e.g., sexual harassment or sexual violence accusations). This I say from the perspective of one who is himself a university administrator and who served on and then chaired the IUB Faculty Board of Review which has a role in adjudicating such matters. The action that Vice Provost Docherty has taken, and the approval for that action which Provost Shrivastav must have given, are inexcusable. Those actions erode the trust of the campus in our leadership and they demean the reputation of Indiana University. The suspension should be reversed immediately, and a public apology issued.P. David Polly (Bloomington, 2024-01-09)
#137
This is another attempt to silence independent voices across the country and interfere in people's sacred right of freedom of expression as well as their duty to educate people and present the other side of the story. The upper administration is trying to keep only one narrative which is dictated by wealthy donors. We need to stop the control of money and its shaping of our educational institution, including what information or views can or cannot be disseminated.Hazim El-Mounayri (Indianapolis, 2024-01-09)
#141
Academic freedom is supposed to mean something.Arjun Sinha (Indianapolis, 2024-01-09)
#171
If an IU administrator suspends a faculty member without having followed IU policies, that suspension should be reversed and the administrator should be called to account. This is a principle that applies in all such cases. I hope this petition facilitates investigation of whether IU policies were followed, whether the suspension was appropriate, and corrective measures if the situation is as bad as it looks.Frederick Schmitt (Bloomington, 2024-01-09)