click to enlarge - Rachel Hellman
- Protesters on the UVM campus
On October 21, just two weeks after the attacks on Israel by Hamas, the University of Vermont canceled a long-scheduled lecture by a prominent Palestinian poet and journalist, citing vague concerns about safety.
Emails obtained by Seven Days through the open records law, as well as subsequent reporting, reveal there were no threats related to the event. They further show that the decision led professors to worry that UVM was stifling speech over contested issues.
UVM's Division of Safety and Compliance abruptly canceled the lecture on a Saturday, saying it could not provide adequate "safety and security." The records show that organizers asked what those safety issues were. They say their question went unanswered for weeks.
The university appears to be struggling to mitigate fears of antisemitism on campus while upholding free speech and academic freedom. UVM was one of the schools mentioned in a New York Times story on Sunday headlined "Campus Crackdowns Have Chilling Effect on Pro-Palestinian Speech."
"The cancellation sends a message to students that the university is not a safe place for open dialogue about controversial issues," Jennifer Strickler, chair of the Department of Sociology, one of the cosponsors of the lecture, told Seven Days.
The event had been organized more than a year ago by the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series, named for the late philosophy professor and activist. It brings speakers to UVM to provide "radical analyses of social, ecological and political concerns," according to willmiller.org. While the series is not directly affiliated with UVM, the lecture was cosponsored by the sociology and English departments.
The series had invited Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian poet and correspondent for the Nation, to speak on October 26 at UVM's Davis Center about "representation and misrepresentation of Palestinians in the U.S.," according to an event description.
Prior to the lecture, some students and alumni had reached out to event organizers with concerns that El-Kurd had used antisemitic language in the past. The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks antisemitism, describes El-Kurd on its website as displaying a "troubling pattern of rhetoric and slander that ranges far beyond reasoned criticism of Israel."
Attempts to contact El-Kurd were not successful.
"The sponsors took the charge very seriously," said Helen Scott, a professor of English and board member of the Will Miller Lecture Series. "We reviewed his poetry, his public speeches and anything else that had been used as evidence of his antisemitism, and we rejected those charges. All of the sponsors held firm to their sponsorship."
Strickler met in person with four Jewish students who had reached out about the event. As a result, the organizers asked a faculty member to moderate the lecture, and they sought guidance from Michael Schirling, chief safety and compliance officer for the university.
College of Arts and Sciences dean William Falls told organizers he was "getting a lot of feedback and concern from both sides" and noted in a separate message that he was fielding questions about the event from UVM's provost, Patricia Prelock. "I support your freedom to host Mohammad El-Kurd," Falls wrote to organizers, but he went on to express "deep concerns about our community, particularly the impact this will have on our students, Jewish, non-Jewish, pro-Israel, and pro-Palestine, and I question whether your academic goals can truly be achieved at this moment in time."
On October 20, less than a week before the scheduled lecture, Falls went so far as to assure event organizers that he had heard nothing from higher-ups about canceling it.
"At the time, we were seeing other campuses shutting down Palestinian related events," Scott said. "I thought, What a wonderful opportunity for the University of Vermont to set a different example and actually stand up for free speech."
But the next day, the university's Division of Safety and Compliance canceled the lecture via email, which organizers shared with Seven Days: "It is our judgment, based on global, national, and local events, that we cannot adequately provide safety and security for this event as it is currently planned. The university has attempted to work with you to reschedule the event for a later date but you were unable or unwilling to reschedule."
(The decision preceded the shooting of three Palestinian men near the UVM campus on November 25. Authorities say they are investigating whether the shooting, which the men survived, was a hate crime.)
In response to the cancellation notice, Strickler penned a letter to the Division of Safety and Compliance, copying UVM president Suresh Garimella, asking what safety concerns existed and arguing that "a college campus is EXACTLY where controversial speakers should be welcome, giving students experience and role modeling in rational, reasoned, respectful discussion." Strickler said she received no response.
"It sent a chilling message to students on campus that Palestinian people speaking for the rights of Palestinians are not welcome," Strickler said in an interview.
click to enlarge - Rachel Hellman
- Protesters in front of UVM president Suresh Garimella's house
Following the cancellation, students marched to the president's office and house chanting, "Let him speak!" The Champlain Valley Democratic Socialists of America collected more than 1,800 signatures supporting the lecture.
Event organizers moved El-Kurd's lecture online.
Seven Days filed a request for emails about the event on October 27. At 4:15 p.m. last Friday, which was also the last day of the exam period for students, the university turned over records, some of which were heavily redacted.
While we were waiting: On November 27, more than a month after the lecture, the vice president for legal affairs and general counsel for the university, Trenten Klingerman, spoke to the Faculty Senate for the first time regarding the cancellation, Strickler said. Strickler later emailed additional questions to Klingerman and shared his answers with Seven Days.
In response to her question about whose safety had been at issue, Klingerman replied: "the campus speaker," though he acknowledged UVM knew of no threats. Asked by Strickler about the effect of the cancellation on campus culture, Klingerman replied: "I don't want to foster a climate at UVM that is biased against particular viewpoints. I want to foster a climate that is open to all viewpoints."
Strickler believes that the university has violated its own policy about campus speakers, which states that "cancellation of an event should be an option of last resort, and the decision shall rest with the president or the president's designee."
Scott and Strickler said they are working with students and facilities to hold the university to account. But the episode has left them disturbed and worried about the future of free speech at UVM.
"I don't know what reason they had to believe that anybody would be in danger after the speech," Strickler said. "The cancellation has a silencing effect on the dialogue that our society so desperately needs right now."
Offered an opportunity to comment on Strickler's assessment on Tuesday, Adam White, executive director of university communications, did not respond.
Correction, December 21, 2023: An earlier version of this story misreported the date three men were shot in Burlington.