Washington University in St. Louis Faculty Placed on Leave After Allegedly Assisting Anti-Israel Encampment

Washington University in St. Louis Faculty Placed on Leave After Allegedly Assisting Anti-Israel Encampment

This is how consequences work. We would be better off as a country if more people were held accountable for their actions.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports:

‘These Terms Are Just Absurd’: How One University Disciplined Professors Accused of Assisting an Encampment

Six faculty members at Washington University in St. Louis have been placed on leave pending an investigation over their presence at a pro-Palestinian encampment on Saturday.

Two of those disciplined, Angela Miller, a professor of art history and archaeology, and Megan Green, an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work, spoke to The Chronicle on the record and shared their notification letters. A lecturer spoke on background and shared his letter, but he declined to have his name published out of concern that his contract would not be renewed.

The letters offer a glimpse at the stakes of faculty participation in pro-Palestinian encampments, which have swept the nation over the last two weeks. Professors have been arrested or disciplined at a handful of other colleges, including Emory, New York, and Indiana Universities, with varying levels of engagement in the protests themselves. But the number of professors involved and the severity of the punishment at Washington University stands out.

The three faculty members who spoke with The Chronicle face the same restrictions under their paid administrative leave while the university’s investigations proceed. Unless their deans allow exceptions, the professors are not permitted to work, represent the university, or contact students or colleagues. They also may not enter campus or meet with students off site, and they have lost access to “university systems.”

Green said she has been allowed to finish teaching her spring-semester courses via Zoom. Her dean declined a request for comment from The Chronicle.

Police officers also arrested a professor from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville who visited the Washington University encampment. A video posted on social media by his wife shows the professor, Steve Tamari, struggling with police officers as they bring him to the ground.
A spokeswoman for Washington University did not answer questions about the veracity of the disciplinary letters or the circumstances of the alleged misconduct. She referred The Chronicle to statements the university had made about the encampment, which activists put up to demand that Washington University cut ties with Boeing over its provision of weapons to Israel.

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