9/7/24

To our university, local, national, and international communities,

We write to announce the formation of Ohio University Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (OU FSJP). We are an independent democratic collective of faculty and staff at Ohio University who have organized as part of a national network in support of the Palestinian people. 

We denounce the horrific and ongoing violence enacted by the state of Israel on the Palestinian people. The United Nations has recently reported that this violence constitutes war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including forced starvation, extermination, murder, inhumane treatment, and sexual and gender-based violence. These are acts that the International Court of Justice is currently considering may plausibly amount to a genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention. We also denounce the diplomatic, financial, and military backing of this violence by the United States. 

We stand in solidarity with Palestinians. We support the United Nations Security Council’s call for an immediate, full, and complete ceasefire in Gaza. We further call for this ceasefire to be permanent. We also call for the Palestinian people’s right to safety, self-determination, and full legal equality. We support United Nations Resolutions 194, 242, and 338, which include an end to the state of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and Palestinians’ “right of return” to their native lands. 

Our goal is to participate in educating our community about the historic and current reality of the Palestinian people. We see this undertaking as urgent given Israel’s systematic destruction of the educational system in Gaza. According to the United Nations, Israeli forces have damaged or destroyed 80% of Gaza’s schools, including every university, and they have murdered thousands of students, teachers, and professors. As educators, we affirm that education is a universal right that must be restored to the Palestinians.

We see these principles and our support for the Palestinian people as harmonious with the mission and vision of Ohio University. Our university has a proud history of educating students as global citizens and advocating for social and political justice, including student activism for Women’s Rights and Civil Rights and against the Vietnam and Iraq Wars. Historically, our university has also divested from apartheid South Africa. Over the last several years, students have rallied to support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Black Lives Matter, and, recently, Palestine liberation. 

Following in this tradition, we take up the recent call by President Lori Gonzalez in Ohio University’s new dynamic strategy to “address humanity’s most urgent challenges.” We see the State of Israel’s current violence on the people of Palestine as one of the most urgent humanitarian crises of our time. We seek to work alongside our students, colleagues, and fellow citizens to end this crisis and free the Palestinian people.

We are distinct from and do not represent the views of Ohio University. Persons interested in supporting or joining our collection can find more information about us at www.oufsjp.org.

On behalf of the collective of OU FSJP,

Dr. Eric LeMay

Associate Professor of English

Dr. Miriam Shadis

Associate Professor of History 

Dr. Julie Anne White

Professor of Political Science