UA students, faculty stage sit-in to protest faculty suspension for Hamas statements

Students and faculty at the University of Arizona stretched to a second day sit-in to protest the suspension of two faculty for a series of lecture comments in which they allegedly denied Hamas is a terrorist organization and likened the group to an American resistance movement.

Students said they will remain until their demands to reinstate the two faculty members. Leila Hudson, the chair of the Faculty Senate said they remain hopeful they will hear from the dean by the end of the day.

The sit-in at the College of Education kicked off at roughly 9 a.m. on Monday with about 50 students and faculty sat on the ground floor of the college's building, while others made speeches about how the professors should not have been suspended and must be reinstated.

By Tuesday, the students said they still had not received an answer from the dean of the College of Education, but had spoken to Provost Ronald Marx, said the reinstatement was up to the dean's discretion.

Hudson told The Arizona Republic she supports the professors and their reinstatement, noting the situation puts academic freedom and freedom of expression at risk.

"What's at stake are some very core principles ... and the fundamental role of the university to talk about difficult issues and not to silence one another ... just because we might disagree about things," she said.

Roughly two dozen more joined over the 90-minute sit-in. It eventually drew the presence of Dean Robert Berry of the College of Education, who put the professors on leave. Berry told those assembled he would provide more clarity on potential reinstatement by the middle of the week.

"Sharing these and also having this forum is really important to understanding the feelings and the sentiments of students. It's not lost on me," he said.

The protest focused on the alleged actions of professors Rebecca Lopez and Rebecca Zapien, who were suspended through the end of the semester pending an investigation after audio from a class called "cultural pluralism for young children" went viral. The audio clips were shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, by the account @IsraelWarRoom, a pro-Israel platform with more than 260,000 followers.

Among the claims in the series of audio clips purportedly from Lopez and Zapien is one in which the speaker likened Hamas to a "resistance group," similar to the Black Panthers in the United States.

"It reminds me of, like, Black Panthers, for example, in that Black people in the U.S. are really freaking tired of the way they're getting treated, and so they have this group, like a resistance group. And so the way I would describe Hamas is like that: They are a resistance group, and yes they are choosing to resist through violence and they don't represent Palestinian people," the speaker said.

The U.S. and the European Union have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.

The clips released by @IsraelWarRoom also featured audio in which a speaker says an increase in antisemitic violence comes down to "people not understanding the difference between being Jewish and being Zionist." The FBI's annual statistics showed antisemitic hate crimes rose 25% from 2021 to 2022, and antisemitism accounted for over half of all reported religion-based hate crimes.

USA Today last month reported Palestinian Americans feel bigotry and hate crimes directed at them have ticked up since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.

Students at the protest who said they attended the class in question said the audio edited out other parts of the discussion. The professors were beloved, according to students present at the protest, who described them as dedicated and supportive faculty. Students also expressed concern about how the suspensions will impact their education.

Faculty who spoke at the sit-in said professors had asked the administration for support on how to speak about the conflict and were met with no response.

Hudson said Zapien had to move from her home to an alternate location in fear for her safety after the audio clips were published. Hudson said the clips that went viral were taken out of context, and that she thought that the professors dealt with the topic "sensitively and inclusively."

She said Berry had also received hate messages following the suspensions.

At the sit-in, Berry spoke with protesters about their concerns on the university's process and took questions on why the professors were suspended so quickly. Berry said the class during which the audio was taken occurred on Oct. 30. The professors were suspended on Nov. 13.

Protesters demanded a response about whether the professors would be reinstated. Berry said he would speak to Zapien and Lopez again, read the students' letters of support, and answer by Wednesday.

Berry also said the university is planning a series of workshops about academic freedom and free speech. While the suspended professors are prohibited from being on campus per the policy on administrative leave, he said he would let them participate in the workshops.

Hudson said the Faculty Senate is likely to address the suspensions in future meetings. The Faculty Senate represents the general faculty and participates in the governance of the university and the development of university policy.

Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. The Republic’s coverage of southern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: UA students, faculty lead sit-in to support professors' Hamas comments