Please note that MESA's Campus Climate questionnaire can be found here.
Updated April 25, 2024
MESA Board of Directors Statements and Letters
- MESA Board Joint Statement with CAF concerning escalating repression of protest on campuses (April 24, 2024)
- MESA Board Joint Statement with CAF regarding the ongoing genocidal violence against the Palestinian people and their cultural heritage in Gaza (March 11, 2024)
- MESA Board and CAF Open Letter to US and Canadian College and University Presidents (December 18, 2023)
- MESA Board Letter to the Biden Administration on Ceasefire in Gaza (November 21, 2023)
- MESA Board Statement on Palestine and Israel (October 16, 2023)
MESA Committee on Academic Freedom Select Letters and Resources on campus climate related to advocacy on Palestine and Israel in North America and the MENA
- MESA CAF NA Resources on Canary Mission
- Letter to USC expressing outrage over its decision to cancel Asna Tabassum’s valedictory address at commencement (April 18, 2024)
- Letter addressing ongoing violations of academic freedom in occupied Palestinian Territories (March 20, 2024)
- Letter to Texas Tech University regarding the suspension of Profesor Jairo Fúnez-Flores (March 11, 2024)
- Letter condemning the devastating military campaign in Gaza (January 25, 2024)
- Letter to Indiana University regarding academic freedom violations against Professor Abdelkader Sinno and artist Samia Halaby (January 16, 2024)
- Letter to University of Arizona concerning the College of Education’s treatment of two faculty members (December 8, 2023)
- Letter of concern regarding House Resolution 894’s equation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism (December 7, 2023)
- Letter to the University of California, Irvine, protesting disciplinary proceedings against a graduate student (December 6, 2023)
- Letter to the University of Pennsylvania protesting its banning of the documentary Israelism (December 1, 2023)
- Letter regarding intensified targeting of Palestinian students in Israeli universities (November 28, 2023)
- Letter protesting intensification of arrests of students at Birzeit University (November 22, 2023)
- Letter demanding an end to Israel’s military assault on Gaza’s educational sector (November 21, 2023)
- Letter to protest termination of employment of Dr. Uri Horesh (November 20, 2023)
- Letter to Columbia University protesting the arbitrary suspension of its SJP and JVP chapters (November 15, 2023)
- Letter to Syracuse University leaders protesting their failure to defend faculty under attack (November 15, 2023)
- Letter protesting the banning of the Brandeis University SJP chapter (November 13, 2023)
- Letter to Hebrew University in defense of Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian (November 9, 2023)
- Letter calling on the University of Pennsylvania to Defend its Faculty (November 9, 2023)
- Letter to Columbia University in defense of Prof. Joseph Massad (October 19, 2023)
- Letter to NYU Law School Dean protesting threats to Ryna Workman’s academic freedom (October 17, 2023)
Resources for Palestinian scholars and students
- Compilation of initiatives to support Palestinian students, academics, and universities
- Gazan Student Support Network
Statements from university and college presidents
- President John D. DeGioia, Georgetown University, "Reflections During This Holy Season" (April 1, 2024)
- President Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan University, "Cease-Fire Now" (Inside Higher Ed, March 25, 2024)
- President John I. Jenkins, University of Notre Dame, "Statement on Israel-Hamas Conflict" (February 10, 2024)
Statements from other organizations
- AAUP-Columbia Resolution of Censure of President Shafik, her Administration, and the Co-chairs of the Board of Trustees (April 19, 2024)
- Knight First Amendment Institute Letter to Columbia (November 17, 2023)
- AAUP Statement (November 15, 2023)
- Academic Freedom Alliance Statement (November 14, 2023)
- ACLU Open Letter (November 1, 2023)
- Letter to the ABA President (November 1, 2023)
- AAUP-Penn Statement (October 28, 2023)
- Palestine Legal Statement (October 19, 2023)
- ABA President Statement (October 17, 2023)
- BRISMES Letter (October 14, 2023)
Know-your-rights resources:
- Palestine Legal: Know Your Rights (Student Handbook)
- AAUP: Faculty Rights in the Classroom (September/October 2017)
Resources related to definitions of antisemitism and their deployment to silence criticisms of Israel (including select MESA CAF Letters):
- The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism & Canadian Universities and Colleges: What You Need to Know
- Independent Jewish Voices [Canada] Working Definition of Antisemitism
- European Legal Support Center report on suppression of Palestinian rights advocacy through IHRA definition (June 2023)
- Palestine Legal and Center for Constitutional Rights Letter to the ABA Opposing Reference to IHRA in Proposed ABA Resolution (January 20, 2023)
- ACLU joint letter to the ABA from coalition of civil and human rights organizations on IHRA (January 19, 2023)
- MESA CAF Letter to Case Western Reserve President regarding anti-Semitism (November 15, 2022)
- 128 scholars warn: Don’t trap the United Nations in a vague and weaponized definition of antisemitism (November 3, 2022)
- United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance report calling on states to suspend the adoption and promotion of the IHRA definition (A/77/512 paras. 69-79, 94, October 7, 2022)
- MESA CAF Letter to the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights on the IHRA definition (June 27, 2022)
- AAUP on Legislative Threats to Academic Freedom: Redefinitions of Antisemitism and Racism (March 2022)
- Jewish faculty in Canada against the adoption of the IHRA definition (April 9, 2021)
- MESA CAF Letter on allegations of antisemitism at Pitzer and Pomona colleges (February 20, 2020)
- MESA CAF Letter on Department of Education investigation of UCLA for alleged discrimination against Jewish students (February 12, 2020)
- MESA CAF Letter on President Trump’s executive order on combating antisemitism (December 12, 2019)
- MESA CAF Letter on Canadian government’s definition of antisemitism (September 17, 2019)
Additional references and resources:
- Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism
- The Nexus Document: Understanding Antisemitism at Its Nexus with Israel and Zionism
- AAUP-NYU Statement (December 18, 2023)
- A Letter: The Atmosphere of Fear at Cornell University Must End (Aljazeera, November 21, 2023)
- Law and Political Economy Project on Palestinian Freedom, Antisemitism Accusations, and Civil Rights Law (November 20, 2023)
- The University Mission and the Freedom to Define and Decry Atrocity (Georgetown Voice, November 19, 2023)
- Northwestern University Faculty respond to President Schill: Protect academic freedom and the right to dissent (The Daily Northwestern, November 16, 2023)
- Without Apology — Academic Freedom and Campus Speech Rights (Academe Blog, November 10, 2023)
- An open letter from Jewish students (The Brown Daily Herald, November 7, 2023)
- A Dangerous Conflation: An open letter from Jewish writers (n+1,November 2, 2023)
- The Israel-Palestine War and Academic Freedom (Academe Blog, November 1, 2023)
- Human Rights Watch and other Civil Society Groups Urge United Nations to Respect Human Rights in the Fight Against Antisemitism (April 20, 2023)
- ABA Removes IHRA Definition of Antisemitism from its Resolution (March 6, 2023)
- Jewish Voice for Peace unequivocally opposes the IHRA working definition of antisemitism (February 8, 2021)
- J Street: Trump’s Executive Order Is a Cynical, Harmful Measure Designed to Suppress Free Speech on College Campuses, Not Fight Anti-Semitism (December 11, 2019)
- Kenneth Stern: Will Campus Criticism of Israel Violate Federal Law? (New York Times, December 12, 2016)