FOSSIL FREE PENN
  • HOME
  • WHY DIVEST?
    • FAQs
  • SUPPORT FFP
    • STUDENT REFERENDUM
  • 2018 DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL
    • 2015 DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL
  • TIMELINE
  • NEWS
  • THE ENCAMPMENT
  • HOME
  • WHY DIVEST?
    • FAQs
  • SUPPORT FFP
    • STUDENT REFERENDUM
  • 2018 DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL
    • 2015 DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL
  • TIMELINE
  • NEWS
  • THE ENCAMPMENT
Search
Picture

sign the faculty open letter

An Open Letter From Penn Faculty in Support of Free Speech on Campus
November 7, 2022

    Penn Faculty Members: Add Your Name to the Open Letter

Submit
We faculty at the University of Pennsylvania write this letter to defend the students of Fossil Free Penn and the principle of free expression.  At Penn we have all seen their peaceful, 39-day encampment in front of College Hall.  Perhaps some of you saw their halftime protest at the Penn-Yale Homecoming football game.  They have engaged in these protests in response to the climate catastrophe facing us all.  They ask that the Board of Trustees divest from all fossil fuel related investments.  They have also argued, with many of us, that Penn should make payments in lieu of taxes to the city of Philadelphia: payments that would support education in this, one of the poorest of America’s large cities.  They, like many of us, are appalled by Penn’s role in the displacement of West Philadelphia’s Black and low-income communities. They make a compelling case for the interlinked issues of environmental, social, and racial justice.
The students’ demands are hardly radical.  Penn stands behind all but one of the Ivies (and other great universities) in divesting from fossil fuels.  Penn lags behind as well, in contributing payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs), and in our duty to our neighborhood in the city that shelters us.  Penn distinguishes itself only in its indifference to its expressed rules and principles, and in its willingness to use force against its students.  
 
    The Fossil Free Penn Students who camped on College Green made extraordinary efforts to abide by the provisions of the University of Pennsylvania’s Open Expression Guidelines.  They consulted the Guidelines before raising their tents.  They announced, on Instagram, and in a sign posted on the encampment, that they were willing to move to accommodate any student group that needed the space for an event.  They were never asked to do so, and indeed the student groups they consulted expressed their support for the encampment and in at least one case, offered to make a donation to support it. They consulted with the groundskeepers about the welfare of the grass, were assured that they were doing no harm, and moved their tents regularly to facilitate watering and care for the site.  They did no harm to anyone, but, concerned that University officials might (as they later did) accuse them of doing harm to themselves, they established protocols for students in the encampment who became ill.  

They went, in short, far beyond the ordinary practices of protestors in their willingness to abide by Penn’s regulations.  They consulted Open Expression guidelines and followed them scrupulously.  Nevertheless, they were continually harassed by Penn’s central administration, particularly the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life.  Their tents were opened.  They were awakened and harangued by University officials who shone lights into their tents. These officials threatened and sought to intimidate them. 

Instead, the Vice Provost for University Life reported the students–our students–to Penn’s office for Community Standards and Accountability which, despite its recently changed name, holds only [some?] students accountable, and operates not on behalf of the Community, but under the authority and direction of the Provost and the Office of the General Counsel. The investigation that followed has not been consistent with published guidelines, the CSA’s description of its procedures, or past practices. In each one of the “investigative” meetings with the CSA, the students have documented their adherence to the Guidelines on Open Expression.  

    Fossil Free Penn did not abandon their protests in the face of these intimidating “investigations.”  Approximately 75 students came onto the field at the University of Pennsylvania Homecoming football game.  Others unfurled banners in the stands.  The students also passed out flyers expanding that they did not intend to suspend the game, only a portion of the halftime. These peaceful protests were answered by the University with the forcible removal of 19 of the protestors and their detention by Penn’s private police (the largest in Pennsylvania).  The protestors were taken away in handcuffs by armed private police. [Watch for yourself. https://6abc.com/university-of-pennsylvania-upenn-protest-franklin-field-penn-homec
oming-game/12362705/ at .58.]   Does the removal of unresisting peaceful protestors require that they be put in handcuffs and taken away under armed guard? Is this how a university should protect open expression?  We think not.  

The central administration has chosen to pursue disciplinary charges against a subset of these students.  This process has been conducted in a manner that is not consistent with the University’s Guidelines on Open Expression. More importantly, it is not consistent with the character of any university that ascribes to First Amendment rights to free speech.  Administrators who place the uninterrupted running of a football halftime above a demonstration that draws attention to the University’s neglect of public duty–to our neighbors, to the children of our city, to our common planet–place entertainment above education.  They have lost their way.  

We believe that the faculty of this University and all universities should retain their commitment to free expression, ethics, and education. The Penn student protesters acted peacefully.  None of their actions have posed a threat.  All of their actions have been thoughtful and deliberate, consistent with recognized tenets of nonviolent protest.  Their actions work to make Penn a more thoughtful, more committed, more ethical, place.  The administration has responded with armed force. 

We ask you to join us in supporting the right of these students to express their views openly, to educate the community, and to call for action.  We hope that you will join with them in pressing for immediate divestment from investments in fossil fuels, for payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs), for the support of the residents of the University City Townhomes, and for more ethical conduct towards a community that has long been under siege.  

​


Sincerely,

  1. Anne Norton, Stacey and Henry Jackson President’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science
  2. Simon Richter, Class of 1942 Endowed Term Professor, Department of Francophone, Italian and Germanic Studies.
  3. Gerald Campano, Professor, Graduate School of Education 
  4. Ania Loomba, Catherine Bryson Professor of English 
  5. Bethany Wiggin, Professor, Faculty Director, Penn Program in Environmental Humanities
  6. Robert Vitalis, Professor, Department of Political Science
  7. Suvir Kaul, A M Rosenthal Professor of English
  8. Akira Drake Rodriguez, Assistant Professor, Department of City & Regional Planning at the Weitzman School of Design 
  9. Chi-ming Yang, Professor, Department of English
  10. Karen Redrobe, Department of History of Art
  11. Jessa Lingel, Associate Professor, Annenberg School for Communication and GSWS
  12. Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Political Science
  13. Caroline Batten, Assistant Professor, Department of English
  14. Danaë Metaxa, Raj and Neera Singh Term Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science (primary), and Annenberg School for Communication (secondary)
  15. Ezekiel Dixon-Román, Associate Professor, School of Social Policy & Practice (primary), GSE (secondary), Africana Studies (secondary), & Annenberg (secondary)
  16. Maria Murphy, Associate Director, Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies
  17. Dustyn Roberts, Practice Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics
  18. Susan L. Lytle, Professor Emerita, Graduate School of Education
  19. James H. Lytle, Retired Professor of Educational Leadership, Graduate School of Education
  20. Marcia Ferguson, Theatre Arts Program
  21. Jennifer Ponce de León, Associate Professor of English
  22. Herman Beavers, Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt President’s Distinguished Professor of English and Africana Studies
  23. Andrew Lamas, faculty, Urban Studies (SAS) / NPL Program (SP2)
  24. Max Cavitch, Associate Professor, Department of English; Co-director, Psychoanalytic Studies Minor
  25. James English, John Welsh Centennial Professor of English; Faculty Director, Price Lab
  26. Franca Trubiano, Associate Professor, Weitzman School of Design 
  27. Nancy J. Hirschmann, Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought, Prof. of Political Science and GSWS
  28. Amy C. Offner, Associate Professor of History, SAS
  29. Luis Moreno-Caballud, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese Department
  30. Nikhil Anand, Associate Professor of Anthropology, SAS
  31. Heather Love, Professor, Department of English, SAS
  32. Michael G. Hanchard, Professor, Africana Studies
  33. Michael Nairn, Faculty, Urban Studies Program (SAS)
  34. Yue Hou, The Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences, Department of Political Science
  35. Warren Breckman, Sheldon and Lucy Hackney Professor, Department of History
  36. Teemu Ruskola,  Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations & Professor of Law
  37. Beans Velocci, Assistant Professor, History and Sociology of Science & GSWS
  38. Marie Gottschalk, Edmund J. Kahn Distinguished Professor of Political Science
  39. Julia Lynch, Professor of Political Science
  40. Jorge Téllez, Associate Professor, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese
  41. Sarah J. Jackson, Presidential Associate Professor, Annenberg School for Communication
  42. Julia Alekseyeva, Assistant Professor of English, SAS
  43. Betsy Rymes, Professor, GSE
  44. Anne Berg, Assistant Professor of History, SAS
  45. Dagmawi Woubshet, Ahuja Family Presidential Associate Professor of English, SAS
  46. Valerie Ross, Marks Family Senior Director, Center for Excellence in Writing
  47. Al Filreis, Professor, Department of English, SAS
  48. Eva Del Soldato, Associate Professor, FIGS, SAS
  49. Amy Stornaiuolo, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education
  50. Amy Hillier, Associate Professor, School of Social Policy & Practice
  51. Emily Steinlight, Associate Professor of English, SAS
  52. Rupa Pillai, Senior Lecturer, Asian American Studies, SAS
  53. Samuel Martin, Lecturer, FIGS, SAS
  54. Ian Fleishman, Associate Professor of Cinema & Media Studies and FIGS, SAS
  55. Elizabeth Collins, Lecturer, FIGS, SAS
  56. Rand Quinn, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education
  57. Mark Liberman, Professor, Department of Lingusitics, SAS
  58. David Kazanjian, Professor of English, SAS
  59. Sebastián Gil-Riaño, Assistant Professor, History and Sociology of Science
  60. Robert P. Fairbanks II, Lecturer and Fellow, Urban Studies 
  61. Stacy Kastner, Director of the Marks Family Writing Center, Center for Excellence in Writing, SAS
  62. Zachary Lesser, Edward W. Kane Professor of English
  63. Rahul Mukherjee, Associate Professor, English and CIMS, SAS
  64. Melissa Jensen, Lecturer, English/GSWS, SAS
  65. Charles Bernstein, Donald T. Regan Pressor, Emeritus, English and Comparative Literature
  66. Jean-Christophe Cloutier, English and Comparative Literature
  67. Jamal J Elias, Walter H Annenberg Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies
  68. Susanna B. Berkouwer, Assistant Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Wharton
  69. Teresa Giménez, Lecturer, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, College of Arts and Sciences
  70. Michelle Taransky, Lecturer, Critical Writing and Creative Writing, SAS
  71. Jean-Michel Rabaté, Professor of English 
  72. David L. Eng, Richard L. Fisher Professor of English, SAS
  73. Sharon Hayes, Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Weitzman School of Design
  74. Joseph E. Lowry, Associate Professor, NELC
  75. Barbie Zelizer, Raymond Williams Professor of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication
  76. Huda Fakhreddine, Associate Professor, NELC, SAS
  77. Lidia León-Blázquez, Lecturer, Department of Spanish & Portuguese (Arts & Sciences)
  78. Andi Johnson, Senior Lecturer, History & Sociology of Science Department, SAS
  79. Fariha Khan, Co-Director of ASAM, SAS
  80. Siarhei Biareishyk, Lecturer, FIGS/REES/Comparative Literature, SAS
  81. Mónica Velasco-González, Lecturer, Department of Spanish & Portuguese (Arts & Sciences)
  82. Josephine Park, Professor of English and Asian American Studies, SAS
  83. Rob Buscher, Lecturer, Asian American Studies Program, SAS
  84. Eva Recio-González, Lecturer, The Lauder Institute.
  85. Ashley Brock, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, SAS
  86. Deborah A. Thomas, R. Jean Brownlee Professor of Anthropology
  87. Nancy Bentley, Donald T. Regan Professor of English
  88. Adriana Petryna, Professor of Anthropology, SAS
  89. Moira Alvarez, Lecturer, The Lauder Institute
  90. Nick Joseph, Lecturer, Critical Writing, SAS
  91. Victor Pickard, C. Edwin Baker Professor, Annenberg School for Communication
  92. Janine Remillard, Professor, Graduate School of Education
  93. Marcy Norton, Associate Professor of History, SAS
  94. Ramah McKay, Associate Professor, History and Sociology of Science
  95. Ann Kuttner, Assoc. Prof., History of Art
  96. Rafael Khachaturian, Lecturer, Critical Writing, SAS
  97. Paul K. Saint-Amour, Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Humanities, SAS​


Fossil Free Penn seeks to include all members of the Penn community in this campaign.
If you are faculty or (non-faculty) staff and would like to be involved, please email fossilfreepenn@gmail.com
.
​
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • HOME
  • WHY DIVEST?
    • FAQs
  • SUPPORT FFP
    • STUDENT REFERENDUM
  • 2018 DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL
    • 2015 DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL
  • TIMELINE
  • NEWS
  • THE ENCAMPMENT