The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments of the United States Constitution, is the law of the land. The First Amendment guarantees all people the right to freedom of speech and their right to peaceably assemble to petition their government for redress of grievances; the Fourth Amendment guarantees that the people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses and papers against unreasonable searches and seizures, and that no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation; the Fifth Smendment affirms that “no person”. . . shall be deprived of life liberty or property without due process of law…”, while the Sixth Amendment guarantees “. . . the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury in the state and district wherein the crime has been committed. . . “and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation: to be confronted with the witnesses against him. . .” and to have a “compulsory process” for obtaining witnesses, and the right to counsel.
However, despite these constitutional guarantees of human rights under U.S. and international law, students who have spoken and protested against the denial of these and the most fundamental of human rights: to life and liberty and equal justice for Palestinians, have been disciplined, expelled, or arrested and sent to a distant out-of-state prison.
As have Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student and green-card holder accused of undermining U.S. efforts to combat antisemitism by engaging in protests for Palestinian liberation, and Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University student accused, with no evidence offered, of supporting Hamas for writing an editorial criticizing her university for its response to protests against the war in Gaza: arrested and imprisoned with no charges filed in violation of the fundamental rights afforded them by the first, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments of our Constitution. They are among the several hundred students threatened with revocation of visas and deportation.
Moreover, the federal government, reasserting its broad claims of power, has demanded that universities must expunge words and shut down programs that in any way support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and that they shall only teach a “patriotic” version of history that portrays our nation in a most positive light; and further that they must adhere to government directives to limit protests, discipline students who do, provide hiring and admission records, not admit foreign students “hostile to American values”, submit to outside audit “those programs and departments that most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture”, or have millions or billions of dollars in federal funding for research contracts withheld or revoked.
We declare that these demands violate academic freedoms that enable universities to promote free and open inquiry and dialogue, create programs and curricula, and teach to advance the pursuit of knowledge.
In light of the government’s above clear violations of constitutional rights to free speech, assembly, due process, fair trial and equal protection under the laws, as well as violations of academic freedoms, we pledge:
- To speak out and march in protest against any and all federal administration executive orders, demands, and threats that seek to limit and/or ban constitutionally protected speech and the rights of universities and faculties to control and govern their institutions.
- To support the suit filed by the American Association of University Professors against the Trump Administration, as well as the Mutual Academic Defense Compact initiated by Rutgers and joined by 18 universities, to establish a fund to support their academic integrity and protect against political attacks.
- To stand with those who are threatened or imprisoned for the content of their speech or protests.
- To call upon our elected local, state, and federal officials to do everything in their legal power to enforce current relevant law, such as 20 U.S. Code Paragraph 1232 a, which prohibits federal control of education, and ask them to use all their powers to rescind and render harmless such unconstitutional and immoral edicts and actions.
As Frederick Douglas remarked in 1860,
“No right was deemed by the fathers of the Government more sacred than the right of speech. . . . Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power.”