& Against Antisemitism

Faculty for Academic Freedom and Against Antisemitism is a voluntary association of current and emeritus University of Illinois faculty from disciplines across our three campuses. Our mission is to:

(1) educate faculty, administration, students, and community members about the ways that academic freedom can be imperiled by campus anti-Zionist activism that seeks to marginalize, exclude, and boycott people and programs that believe that Jews have the right to self-government in Israel;

(2) advocate for campus and university policies that protect academic freedom for faculty whose teaching or research are threatened by groups hostile to their political views;

(3) recommend policies and practices that promote student wellbeing;

(4) analyze and critique public events that spread misinformation, endorse racist or antisemitic hate speech, or increase campus polarization;

(5) enhance the experience of community and solidarity among faculty committed to the principle that Israel has the right to exist as the homeland of the Jewish people, thereby combating the increasing sense of alienation and isolation that such faculty may experience at Illinois;

(6) support faculty teaching and research and projects that enrich the organization’s goals;

(7) support and defend faculty subjected to major false accusations or political or religious defamation, aggressions that can rise to the level of organized reputational assault.