(NEW YORK)—PEN America today criticized the leaders of Wake Forest University for canceling a lecture by Rabab Abdulhadi, a Palestinian-American activist and scholar, and called for the decision to be reversed. The talk was supposed to take place on Monday, the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
In canceling the lecture, University President Susan R. Wente and Provost Michele Gillespie wrote in an email to the campus community that they had made “the conscious decision not to host events on this day that are inherently contentious and stand to stoke division.” News of the cancellation came after an online petition was started by the executive boards of Jewish student organizations Hillel and Chabad calling for the event to be canceled.
In response, Kristen Shahverdian, Campus Free Speech program director at PEN America, said: “Stifling speech can never be the answer to painful or contentious issues. Universities have an obligation to promote civil discussion as part of their mission to educate. People may vehemently oppose or take offense at the title of Abdulhadi’s talk or her views; but that must not become grounds for the institution to override her invitation from their academic departments. It’s understandable that the university might want to take particular care around this solemn anniversary, but there are other ways to do so and offer support to impacted students, without resorting to canceling this event. We must reject the idea that a university allowing someone to speak is an endorsement of everything they say.”
“It is especially concerning that Wake Forest leaders have justified this cancellation by saying this lecture may be “inherently contentious” and “stoke division.” Shahverdian said. “That kind of rationale is ultimately arbitrary, and could be used to cancel all kinds of academic discussions. Wake Forest leaders should immediately rethink and reverse this decision.”
Abdulhadi is the founding director and senior scholar of Arab and Muslim ethnicities and diaspora studies at San Francisco State University, and her talk was co-sponsored by numerous campus departments and institutes. The lecture was titled “One Year Since al-Aqsa Flood: Reflections on a Year of Genocide and Resistance.”
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
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Contact: Suzanne Trimel, [email protected], (201) 247-5057