Cornell is about to deport a student over Palestine activism
The student encampment movement last school year turned institutions of higher education into flashpoints of struggle over Israel\u2019s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, US support for it, and the right to speak out against it. This year, college and university campuses have become laboratories of repression where different administrative efforts to silence Palestine solidarity and antiwar demonstrators are being deployed. And that is playing out right now at Cornell University.
As Aaron Fernando writes at The Nation, \u201cCornell University, in Ithaca, New York, has taken disciplinary action against an international student that will likely force him to leave the country, and could have a chilling effect on other international students participating in political protests.
Momodou Taal is a PhD candidate in Africana studies and a graduate student worker, attending Cornell under the F-1 visa program. In the last academic year, Taal joined student-led actions demanding that Cornell divest from industries complicit in Israel\u2019s attacks on civilians in Gaza.\u201d
The Cornell grad worker union, Cornell Graduate Students United-UE, released a statement condemning the university\u2019s disciplinary actions against Taal, and is demanding the administration bargain with the union \u201cover the effects of the discipline administered to Taal.\u201d \u201cCGSU-UE condemns Taal\u2019s suspension, which represents a disturbing pattern of discriminatory discipline against marginalized graduate workers. The union is still fighting for just cause protections in discipline and discharge, due process for academic evaluations, strong academic freedom, and nondiscrimination protections inclusive of political affiliation and action, religious practice, and caste.\u201d In this urgent episode, Max speaks about Cornell\u2019s actions against Taal with two members of the CGSU-UE bargaining committee: Jenna Marvin, a third-year PhD student in the History of Art & Visual Studies at Cornell; and Jawuanna McAllister, a sixth-year PhD candidate in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell.
Additional links/info below:
- Cornell Graduate Students United-UE website and Instagram
- Petition: \u201cUE Local 300 Member Facing Firing and Deportation for Exercising Free Speech\u201d
- Call for other grad unions to sign \u201cSolidarity Statement of Support for Momodou Taal\u201d
- Aaron Fernando, The Nation, \u201cA Cornell graduate student faces deportation after a pro-Palestine action\u201d
- Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, \u201cCornell grad student who attended pro-Palestine protest could be forced to leave U.S.\u201d
- Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
- Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
- In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
- The Real News Network website, YouTubechannel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Jules Taylor, \u201cWorking People\u201d Theme Song
Studio Production: Max Alvarez
Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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