Welcome to Office Hours, a podcast about campus politics in the end times. We’re back after a brief hiatus for winter break!

Today’s episode is a Faculty Lounge episode, where we are checking in on some current news in higher ed. We’ll be discussing the brand new faculty strike in the Cal State system and pro-Palestine faculty and staff organizing.

Links relevant to the discussion:

‘They can afford fair compensation’: faculty at largest US public college system strike for equitable salaries | California | The Guardian

Cal State faculty just got a 5% raise. Here's why they're upset

Cal State tuition to increase 34% over next five years - CalMatters

Strike - California Faculty Association.

Howard Bunsis Fall 2023 Assembly Presentation on CSU Budget

Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine | Announcement statement of Palestinian solidarity chapter formation | The Daily Pennsylvanian

Palestinian Artist Samia Halaby Slams Indiana University for Canceling Exhibit over Her Support for Gaza | Democracy Now!

For today’s podcast we’re sharing interviews with two student activists involved in Palestine solidarity organizing on their campuses. Instead of our usual format where we bring all of our guests together for a discussion, today we’re bringing you two interviews back to back. Our guests focus on the ongoing repression that activists are facing at their universities. As our listeners may know, anti-Palestinian repression on campuses is intensifying. At the time of this recording Rutgers has just suspended its SJP chapter and the DOE is launching an investigation into organizing on multiple campuses.

Guests:

Our first guest is Jannine Masoud, a law student at Rutgers University, member of the National Lawyers Guild, and Palestine solidarity activist for over a decade.

Our second guest is going by “X”, and is a law student and student organizer at UCLA School of Law.

Also, a note on our interview with X: due to the intense climate of harassment and doxxing of pro-Palestine organizers, X has asked that their voice be distorted in order to protect their identity. So if you’re wondering why the audio sounds a little strange - that’s why.

Faculty, staff, and student listeners: support your campus SJP or Palestine solidarity group! Pressure your union to sign on to labor calls for a ceasefire now. Demand that administrators protect students from harassment. Demand that your union protect academic workers from retaliation.

If you are a faculty member (which they define to include any campus worker who supports student learning), consider joining the newly formed Faculty for Justice in Palestine.

Relevant links:

Palestinian Freedom, Antisemitism Accusations, and Civil Rights Law - LPE Project

Rutgers-New Brunswick suspends pro-Palestine student group – NBC10 Philadelphia

Penn president resigns after antisemitism criticism | AP News

SJP Statement 12_13_23.pdf

Rutgers Faculty For Justice in Palestine Releases Statement

In this episode, David and Laura recap the unprecedented wave of pro-Palestine organizing happening on U.S. college campuses over the past few weeks. We also discuss the repression these movements are facing from campus administrators and pro-Israel organizations (who have a long history of targeting campus anti-Zionist organizing). We talk about the role of universities in social movements, where this movement might be headed, and what we'd like to see happen in the coming weeks. We also reflect on the tendency of the pundit class to dismiss youth organizing and infantilize young people who are leading the way in the fight for Palestinian liberation.

Some articles mentioned in our discussion:

Appalling: Columbia University suspends JVP and SJP student chapters

The Shift: Brandeis becomes first school to ban Students for Justice in Palestine on campus – Mondoweiss

20 arrested during protest at Brown University | WPRI.com

CUNY stands with Palestine liberation, despite what the chancellor says – Mondoweiss

CUNY faculty and staff: We reject the Palestine Exception to free speech at CUNY – Mondoweiss

Student Protests for Gaza Targeted by Pro-Israel Groups for Alleged Civil Rights Violations

Israel’s War on American Student Activists | The Nation

Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida v. Raymond Rodrigues | American Civil Liberties Union

Columbia University Apartheid Divest: Who we are

Cops, Colleges, and Counterinsurgency: An Interview with Dylan Rodriguez