AAUP-Penn National Day of Action Events on 4/17: Know Your Rights Training and Film Screening
This Thursday, as part of a national day of action for higher education, join colleagues and students at two events sponsored by AAUP-Penn: a know-your-rights training and a screening of the documentary film The Encampments.
1. AAUP-Penn Know-Your-Rights Training: Thursday, April 17, at 4 p.m. in Fisher-Bennett Hall 135 and by Zoom. Organized by AAUP-Penn members, this training is open to all Penn faculty, staff, and students, whether you are concerned for your own status and safety, or whether you want to learn how to support and uphold the rights of international and noncitizen colleagues and students who may be targeted. An immigration attorney will be present to answer your questions.
Join Zoom Meeting: AAUP-Penn Know-Your-Rights Training
https://zoom.us/j/98777663714?pwd=dhZ4woOGZHwajoYL8T5qfcbzVBQBDa.1
Meeting ID: 987 7766 3714
Passcode: 138416
Dial by your location
• +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) For Deaf and Hard of Hearing participants who use ASL, please input this phone number (929 205 6099) through your VRS (Video Relay Service), then give the interpreter the Zoom ID number in order to access interpretation for the Zoom meeting. Contact aaup.penn@gmail.com if you have any questions or need further information about this. If you prefer to have in-person interpretation, we can make this available to you upon request made one week in advance.
2. Film Screening of The Encampments: Thursday, April 17, 6-8 p.m. in Annenberg 110. Click here to register.
AAUP-Penn is proud to co-sponsor this documentary film screening as an expression of our chapter’s commitment to academic freedom.
Academic freedom includes the right of faculty members to make programming decisions within their areas of expertise. The decisions of the Center for Experimental Ethnography (CEE), the Media, Inequality, and Change (MIC) Center, and the Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (GSWS) to cosponsor this film screening are straightforward exercises of academic freedom.
Academic freedom also includes the right of faculty members to freedom in extramural speech (speech made as a member of the public on topics of general concern) and freedom in intramural speech (speech about the university itself, including criticism of the university). The decision of Penn Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine (Penn FSJP) to cosponsor this film screening is a straightforward exercise of those freedoms.
Academic freedom further entails the freedom of students to learn—to encounter and critically examine multiple interpretations of the world, and to engage in political speech and association, which are essential aspects of education and learning. The decision of Penn Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) to cosponsor this film screening is a straightforward exercise of students’ right to freedom in learning.
Since the fall of 2023, the Penn administration has repeatedly violated its own policies on academic freedom and open expression by denying faculty and students the opportunity to hold film screenings and teach-ins exploring critical perspectives on Israeli government policies and the war in Gaza. In light of the Penn administration’s record of suppressing open discussion of the issues at the heart of this documentary film, we feel it is important and appropriate for all faculty who believe in academic freedom to say clearly that this film screening is a legitimate event that belongs on our campus. For a university to fulfill its mission, there must be institutional space for open discussion of difficult and controversial topics, and faculty and students must vigorously exercise the rights that are ours under the principles of academic freedom. We encourage faculty members to attend this screening of The Encampments to demonstrate their support for academic freedom and to engage in dialogue on issues important to the future of our university, higher education as a whole, our democracy, and our world.
—AAUP-Penn Executive Committee
