Brooklyn Draisey is a Report for America corps member covering higher education for Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this article first appeared.
A group of Jewish faculty, staff, students, and alumni from colleges and universities across Iowa have penned a letter condemning actions taken against public higher education in the name of fighting antisemitism and protecting the Jewish community.
University of Iowa professor Lisa Heineman said her institution has not faced direct attacks on academic freedom due to accusations of antisemitism, for which she is happy, but hits to other universities are felt on the UI campus.
Heineman said she drafted the letter because of drastic funding cuts to universities and revocation of international student visas—all under the guise of protecting Jews on college campuses.
“Even threats to other universities are threats to us, right, because, if members of a campus community, including students, get the message that they might get into trouble with political speech, that’s effectively clamping down on speech,” Heineman said. “Even if there hasn’t been specific action on our campuses, the overall environment of ‘you might be penalized for political speech’ has a huge impact on our campuses.”
More than 90 people have signed the statement, including some associated with the UI, Iowa State University, University of Northern Iowa, Drake University, Coe College, Grinnell College, and Cornell College. Heineman said it has spread mainly through word of mouth in the week since its release.
According to the statement, those who signed it did so to “dispel misconceptions that are being wielded by people with little knowledge of academia to weaken university life and harm our students.” While they acknowledged that antisemitism, like many biases, is present in universities, the letter stated “we can report that broad-stroke portrayals of universities as hotbeds of antisemitism do not reflect our lived experience.”
Limiting free and academic speech, including that relating to Israel and Palestine, as well as revoking international students’ visas and threatening universities with funding cuts in the name of Jewish students is “dangerous and wrong,” the letter stated.
International students across Iowa have seen their Student and Exchange Visitor Program status and visa status change multiple times over past weeks, as confirmed by state universities, community colleges and private institutions.
“It’s really clear that it’s kind of hitting a nerve with people in a lot of different spaces, and they range from retired professors down to undergraduates,” Heineman said. “So the reception has been very, very good.”
Those who signed onto the statement hold views across the political spectrum, it stated, and have varied perspectives as Jewish people or those with Jewish ancestry, but they are joined under the belief that “a distorted view of antisemitism must not be used as a cudgel to silence the vigorous exchange of ideas that lies at the heart of university life.”
Heineman said there were two main goals behind releasing the statement and urging others to sign on: to show Iowans that these problems aren’t just doing damage at large, elite universities, and tell Iowa lawmakers serving at the federal level the same thing.
It can be easy for Iowans to believe that actions taking place at the national level won’t trickle down to the state and its residents, Heineman said, but the threats to constitutional liberties she’s seeing aren’t skipping the Midwest.
For members of Congress representing Iowa on the national stage, Heineman said she wants to see them take this information and be more proactive about protecting the state and the rights of those in it.
“I want to motivate Iowans to defend the work of their amazing universities and colleges, even if that work is sometimes controversial,” Heineman said.
Editor’s note from Laura Belin: Here is the full text of the statement, along with a list of those who have signed, as of May 7. Many Jews in Iowa (including myself) share these sentiments but have not signed, because we did not attend or work at any Iowa college or university.
As Jewish faculty, staff, students, and alumni of diverse Iowa universities and colleges, we are committed to the values of academic freedom, pluralism, and independence that animate higher education. These values undergird our commitment to teaching, research, serving the public, and practicing our professions to the highest possible standard.
We write to dispel misconceptions that are being wielded by people with little knowledge of academia to weaken university life and harm our students. Financial threats to universities and stripping First Amendment rights from students, faculty, and researchers in the name of the Jewish community is deeply offensive to us. It must stop.
As people who are deeply familiar with campus life – many of us walk our campuses every day – we can report that broad-stroke portrayals of universities as hotbeds of antisemitism do not reflect our lived experience. We recognize that antisemitism, like other forms of bias, is present on college campuses, and that the current environment is especially heated. Some of us have witnessed antisemitic or racist incidents. Political speech and assembly, however, must not be conflated with hate speech. Speech regarding Israel and Palestine is no exception to this rule.
Higher education offers unique opportunities for exploration, respectful debate, and learning about our complex society. Far from a threat to a more just world, these opportunities are among the best antidotes to ignorance and hate. Diminishing higher education threatens our shared future.
We come from different points on the political compass. We experience our identities as Jews or people of Jewish ancestry in myriad ways. But we are united by the conviction that a distorted view of antisemitism must not be used as a cudgel to silence the vigorous exchange of ideas that lies at the heart of university life. To punish universities financially, to limit academic freedom, or to revoke student visas in the name of protecting Jewish students is both wrong and dangerous. It is an injustice to those very students and an injury to American society at large.
In affirming this conviction, we join not only Jewish academics nationwide but also prominent Jewish institutions such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Union for Reform Judaism, and the National Council of Jewish Women. In signing this statement, we speak only for ourselves. Institutions are included strictly for purposes of identification.
Here is the full list of signatures as of May 7. The list is regularly updated. To see the current list of signatures or add your name, please click here: https://forms.gle/9rmLQhXu5eMm6hv66
1. Lisa Heineman, Professor, University of Iowa
2. Maurine Neiman, Professor, University of Iowa
3. Tanya Keith, Past President, Iowa State University Hillel, Iowa State University
4. Barcey T. Levy, Professor, University of Iowa
5. Sally Frank, Professor of Law, Drake University
6. Jonathan Wendel, Distinguished Professor, Iowa State University
7. Delaney Hoffmann, student, University of Iowa
8. Rebecca Entel, Professor, Cornell College
9. Bram Elias, Clinical Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law
10. Max F. Rothschild, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Iowa State University
11. Linda K. Kerber, May Brodbeck Professor Emerita in the Liberal Arts, University of Iowa
12. Douglas W. Jones, Emeritus Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Iowa
13. Miriam Gilbert, Professor Emerita, Department of English, The University of Iowa
14. Alliyah Kazan, student, University of Iowa
15. Bethany Berger, Professor, University of Iowa College of Law
16. Mark Graber, Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
17. Peter Rubenstein, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Iowa
18. Aron Aji, Director of Translation Programs, University of Iowa
19. Rachel Sandler Silva, alum, Grinnell College & University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
20. Claudia Corwin, Associate Professor, University of Iowa
21. Alan R. Kay, Professor, University of Iowa
22. Ezra Hendelkin, alum, Coe College; staff, University of Iowa
23. Naomi Greyser, Associate Professor of American Studies & English, University of Iowa
24. Lisa Schlesinger, Professor, University of Iowa
25. Mark Blumberg, University of Iowa Distinguished Chair, University of Iowa
26. Dr. Alex Davenport, Academic Advisor, Iowa State University
27. Loren Glass, M.F. Carpenter Professor, University of Iowa
28. Amy Rutenberg, Associate Professor, Iowa State University
29. Kimberly Zarecor, Professor, Iowa State University
30. Alan Goldman, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Iowa State University
31. Frederick Smith, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa
32. Barbara Schwartz, Clinical Professor Emerita, College of Law, University of Iowa
33. Eric Gidal, Professor, University of Iowa
34. Ellen Lewin, Professor Emerita, University of Iowa
35. Amanda Weinstein, Associate Professor, Iowa State University
36. Albert Erives, Associate Professor of Biology, University of Iowa
37. Len Sandler, Clinical Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law
38. Stanley Perlman, Professor, University of Iowa
39. Amy L. Margolis, Program Director, University of Iowa
40. Alex Price, Staff, University of Iowa
41. Kal Klass DDS, alum, University of Iowa College of Dentistry
42. John Fingert, Professor, University of Iowa
43. Michael Flaum, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
44. Tom Baer, Senior Engineering Associate (retired), University of Iowa
45. Elana Buch, Associate Professor, University of Iowa
46. David Gooblar, Assistant Professor, University of Iowa
47. Misha Misyuk, student, University of Iowa
48. Sara Mozena, alum, University of Iowa
49. Frederic Gerr, Professor Emeritus of Public Health, University of Iowa
50. Robin Hemley, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa
51. Jared Harvey, alum, University of Iowa
52. Nora Claire Miller, alum, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, University of Iowa
53. Adam Daigle, alum, University of Iowa
54. Audrey Messinger, student, University of Iowa
55. Karen Bender, alum, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, University of Iowa
56. Leah Dillon, student, Drake University
57. Bernard Sherman, Performing Arts Programming Specialist (retired), University of Iowa
58. Alisa Weinstein, staff, University of Iowa
59. Ann Laquer Estin, Aliber Family Chair Emerita, University of Iowa College of Law
60. Judith Finkel Harrington, Professor Emerita, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Northern Iowa
61. Sarah Farbman, alum, Grinnell College
62. Ashley Sowerby, alum, University of Iowa
63. Rachel Hecker, student, University of Iowa
64. Tamar Fox, alum, University of Iowa
65. Meredith Alexander, Emeritus Faculty, Theatre Arts, University of Iowa
66. Andrea Frazier, alum, University of Iowa
67. Laurel Snyder, alum, University of Iowa
68. Molly Kraus-Steinmetz, alum, Grinnell College
69. Jacqueline Hwa Wallner, alum, University of Iowa
70. Ian Gold, alum, Grinnell College
71. Douglas Nathanson, MD, Visiting Instructor, Department of Neurology, University of Iowa
72. Lucy Morris, alum, University of Iowa
73. Nicholas Harshman, student, University of Iowa
74. David Cunning, Professor, University of Iowa
75. Meredith Jacobson, alum, University of Iowa
76. Jay Brown, MD, alum, University of Iowa (BS, MD)
77. Michelle J. Edwards, alum, University of Iowa
78. Jacob Schneyer, alum, Grinnell College
79. Flory Gessner, Alum, University of Iowa
80. William Carson, Professor of Music, Coe College
81. Allison Amend, alum, University of Iowa
82. Allison D. Simon, alum, University of Iowa
83. Gretchen Larson, student, University of Iowa
84. Ruth Glick, Drake University
85. Paul Sacks, Professor Emeritus, Iowa State University
86. Jay A. Ansher, alum, University of Iowa
87. Dan Sarasin, DDS, alum & former faculty, University of Iowa College of Dentistry
88. Dennis Cohen, alum, University of Iowa
89. Ella Stern, student, University of Iowa
90. Emily Brunner, Academic Advisor, University of Iowa
91. James Estin, staff (retired), University of Iowa
92. Naomi Hertsberg Rogers, Assistant Professor, University of Iowa
93. John Finamore, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa
94. Steven Kawaler, Distinguished Professor, Iowa State University