5. Why Palestine is a Union Issue
Mapping Anti-Palestinian Discrimination, Harassment, and Misinformation in U.S. Higher Education is a five-part series of events that brings together educators, activists, and organizations representing them to fight back against the bad-faith misuse of the “antisemitism” accusation to stifle speech on Palestine in America’s colleges and universities. The series is comprised of five webinars in October to December 2025 featuring experts in antisemitism, Zionism, Palestine, higher education, and domestic and international law. It seeks to critically dismantle the use of the “antisemitism” accusation for political purposes; to power-map the individuals and organizations responsible for its implementation in U.S. higher education; and to chart a path towards solidarity and resistance for responsible higher education workers, administrators, and organizations.
5. Why Palestine is a Union Issue
This panel explores the progress that has been made in representative professional organizations such as the AAUP, scholarly associations, and unions in supporting students and faculty under duress and in pushing back against Palestine-related attacks on academic freedom. It highlights the strategies of legal recourse, political education, and mass mobilization that have been pursued. It also foregrounds the work that still needs to be done. Bringing the series to its political and activist culmination, it stresses the boycott, divestment from, and sanction of Israel and complicit Israeli academic institutions by US higher education institutions and organizations as a moral and legal obligation in the face of genocide.
Featuring
Bill Mullen (Coalition for Action in Higher Education, AAUP-AFT United Academics Local 6741)
Michael Letwin (Labor 4 Palestine)
Sherena Razek (Coalition for Action in Higher Education, Labor 4 Palestine)
Jeff Schuhrke (UUP AFT Local 2190)
Olivia Katbi (Democratic Socialists of America, BDS Movement)
