…after her unlawful suspension for her lawful but "incorrect' extamural speech.   Professor Jodi Dean issued the following statement (which shows how Title VI can be weaponized by the right-wing against universities):

I want to thank everyone who signed, shared, and contributed to crafting the petition supporting academic freedom and calling for my reinstatement. The support of thinkers and scholars across a range of views helped demonstrate the egregious wrong of suspending a faculty member for speaking out in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Many who signed took real professional risk as the crackdown against the movement to end occupation and genocide intensifies such that having your name on a list can subject you to investigation and cancellation.

One of the means of oppression of faculty in the United States is Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The Department of Education has issued several "Dear Colleague" letters instructing university administrators to be vigilant in ensuring that campuses are free from discrimination and harassment. My institution interpreted this to require removing me from the classroom in case there might have been students who felt threatened by an essay published on the Verso blog. The institution then hired an outside investigator who repeatedly solicited complaints about me from HWS students. Over 100 members of the community were contacted and asked if they had information relevant to an investigation as to whether I had violated HWS policies or standards prohibiting harassment and discrimination. The investigator called this “targeted outreach.”  My lawyer complained about this repeated solicitation but it went on and on. These efforts failed to turn up a single complaint of any illegal conduct on my part (although it did turn up reports of feeling hurt, threatened, and frightened). The investigator concluded that I did not harass or discriminate against anyone and I have been exonerated of these charges. 

Because the misuse is Title VI is widespread and likely to increase, everyone should know that federal law holds that subjective feelings that remarks are offensive do not meet the standards for determining that conduct has been harassing or discriminatory. For that, conduct has to involve adverse action and be severe and pervasive. The same criteria of severity and pervasiveness hold for the creation of a hostile environment. We can expect that faculty across the country will need to educate themselves, each other, and their administrations about these criteria in order to fight back against the gross and political misuse of Title VI to violate basic rights of free speech and academic freedom.

Finally, we are all hearing about professors coming under investigation and being punished for their Palestinian solidarity work. Contingent and untenured faculty are especially vulnerable. Their contracts are non-renewed and they are left stranded. At some universities, faculty fear and alienation is increasing as people keep their heads down. At a time when solidarity goes a long way in protecting tenured and untenured alike, people look the other way. At this point, it does not seem as if anyone is keeping data on the numbers of faculty who have been investigated, suspended, and disciplined and the types of punishment being used. If you have information on such cases, please reach out (jodi7768@proton.me).

Again, thank you for signing the petition for my reinstatement. It made a difference.