Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon

Gabriel Winant, an associate professor of history and the president of UChicago’s AAUP chapter.

Editor’s note: Signatures are still being collected. An up-to-date list can be viewed here.

Dear President Alivisatos and Provost Baicker,

We write to you as concerned members of the scholarly community here at the University. The actions taken by the new Trump administration represent a clear political intrusion on the academic autonomy of our research and teaching activities. There is no ambiguity in the University’s policies about how it ought to relate to such intrusion. Per the Kalven Report,  “From time to time instances will arise in which the society, or segments of it, threaten the very mission of the university and its values of free inquiry. In such a crisis, it becomes the obligation of the university as an institution to oppose such measures and actively to defend its interests and its values.” We note the characterization here of the University’s role as an “obligation” and the characterization of executing this obligation as “active defense.” We believe it is clear what such an active defense entails in the present moment:

• The University has chosen to admit students and hire instructors and researchers on their academic merit whom the federal government may now seek to target for retribution, criminalization, or deportation based on ideological criteria of no appropriate concern to the University. Although we recognize that the University must comply with all court orders, the University has no obligation to provide information or other assistance to immigration authorities that is not mandated by subpoena or judicial order. We ask that the University publicly confirm that it will not cooperate with immigration authorities or with requests for information about students, faculty, and staff that are not strictly required by law.

• The University has chosen to establish programs of scientific research based on their scholarly promise and must continue to support such programs even if the federal government cuts their funding for politically motivated reasons. We ask that the University publicly commit to providing stopgap funding for federally funded grants that may be blocked, frozen, cut, or canceled by the Trump administration, especially in instances where faculty, staff, contractors, and/or students will not be paid.

• The University has chosen to commit itself strongly to protection of freedom of thought and expression and is justifiably proud of its ideologically diverse community. In line with these commitments, the University may not comply with federal pressure to designate certain political ideologies as inherently discriminatory. We ask the University to publicly commit to rejecting any efforts to equate political disagreement with religious, racial, or national discrimination and to also not sharing the names or contact information of students, staff, or faculty based on their perceived or actual political opinions or affiliations. Even in the event of a University disciplinary proceeding or an encounter with the University of Chicago Police, the University must not willingly volunteer members of its own community for additional ideological targeting and retaliation by higher political powers.

• The University has chosen to establish a range of centers and programs focused on areas of the world or historical, social, and individual experiences that have been made sites of political controversy (colonialism, race, gender, sexuality). These decisions have been based in all cases on scholarly discussion and scholarly consensus. The University’s free speech and academic freedom principles mean that support for these programs, or others which may be targeted in similar ways, cannot now be made dependent on shifting ideological preferences or on a desire to preserve federal funding. We ask that the University commit to refusing all pressure to disinvest from or otherwise disavow or stigmatize these units in any way.

All of the above particular obligations flow clearly from the singular obligation described in the Kalven Report. We recognize that to meet these obligations will not be easy, and we stand ready as a community to defend our institution when it defends us, by all the means it has at its disposal. 

Sincerely,

Gabriel Winant, associate professor, Department of History and the College, AAUP chapter president

Denis Hirschfeldt, professor, Department of Mathematics, past AAUP chapter president

Veronica Vegna, senior instructional professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, AAUP chapter executive committee member

William Sites, associate professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, AAUP chapter stewards’ council chair

Mehrnoush Soroush, assistant professor, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures and Department of Middle Eastern Studies, AAUP chapter executive committee member

Danielle Aubert, professor of practice in the arts, Department of English Language and Literature, AAUP chapter treasurer

Bożena Shallcross, professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Matthew Harris, assistant professor, Divinity School, AAUP chapter executive committee member

Whitney Cox, professor, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations

William Schweiker, Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of Theological Ethics, Divinity School and the College

Eugene Raikhel, associate professor, Department of Comparative Human Development

Philip Bohlman, Ludwig Rosenberger Distinguished Service Professor in Jewish History, Music and the Humanities; Department of Music and Department of Theater and Performance Studies

Jennifer Mosley, professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Richard Strier, Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of English

Matthew M. Briones, associate professor, Department of History

Christopher Kennedy, William H. Colvin Professor, Department of Linguistics

Shannon Lee Dawdy, professor, Department of Anthropology

Mario Santana, associate professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Agnes Malinowska, assistant instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities and Department of English Language and Literature

Bruce Lincoln, Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions, Divinity School

Michele Friedner, professor, Department of Comparative Human Development

Curtis J. Evans, associate professor of American religions and the history of Christianity, Divinity School

Anna-Latifa Mourad, assistant professor of Egyptian archaeology, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures and Department of Middle Eastern Studies 

Fred M. Donner, Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern History, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures and Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Salikoko S. Mufwene, Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Linguistics and Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

Adom Getachew, professor, Department of Political Science and Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity  

Kristen Schilt, associate professor, Department of Sociology

Clifton Ragsdale, professor of neurobiology, Division of the Biological Sciences

Larry Norman, Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures 

Ania Aizman, assistant professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Thomas C. Holt, professor emeritus, Department of History 

Dmitry Kondrashov, instructional professor, Biological Sciences Collegiate Division 

Sianne Ngai, George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor, Department of English Language and Literature 

Alison James, professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures 

Miguel Martínez, professor of Spanish literature, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Itamar Francez, associate professor, Department of Linguistics 

Julie Orlemanski, associate professor, Department of English Language and Literature

Matthew Kruer, assistant professor, Department of History and Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

Laura Colaneri, teaching fellow, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Anthony Nicholson, adjunct associate professor, Department of Computer Science

Darryl Li, associate professor, Department of Anthropology

Tristan J. Schweiger, assistant instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities and Department of English Language and Literature

Lisa Wedeen, Mary R. Morton Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Political Science 

Leland Jasperse, teaching fellow, Department of English Language and Literature

Kamala Russell, assistant professor, Department of Anthropology

John Proios, assistant professor, Department of Philosophy

Marissa Fenley, Harper-Schmidt Fellow and Collegiate assistant professor, Theater and Performance Studies

Brianna Party, production manager, Theater and Performance Studies

Tina Post, associate professor, Department of English Language and Literature and Theater and Performance Studies

Hilary Strang, associate senior instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities 

Danielle Roper, assistant professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Stephan Palmié, Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology

François Richard, associate professor, Department of Anthropology and Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

Michael Geyer, Samuel N. Harper Professor Emeritus of German and European History, Department of History

Alida Bouris, associate professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Linda M. G. Zerilli, Charles E. Merriam Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Political Science and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality

Susan Gal, Mae & Sidney Metzl Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Anthropology and Department of Linguistics

Chris Taylor, associate professor, Department of English Language and Literature

Daniel Morgan, professor, Department of Cinema and Media Studies

Cecilia Palombo, assistant professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Daragh Grant, senior lecturer, the College

John McCormick, professor, Department of Political Science

Alice Goff, assistant professor, Department of History

Anand Venkatkrishnan, assistant professor, Divinity School

Cathy J. Cohen, D. Gale Johnson Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

Sarah Pierce Taylor, assistant professor, Divinity School

Robert L. Kendrick, Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Music Department

Joseph Masco, Samuel N. Harper Professor, Department of Anthropology

Choudhri Naim, professor emeritus, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations

Joy Wang, Harper-Schmidt Fellow and Collegiate assistant professor, Department of Political Science

Benjamin Lahey, Irving B. Harris Professor Emeritus of Public Health Sciences, Department of Public Health Sciences

Rochona Majumdar, George V. Bobrinskoy Professor, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and Department of Cinema and Media Studies

Travis A. Jackson, associate professor, Department of Music

Jennifer Pitts, professor, Department of Political Science and the Committee on Social Thought

Karlyn Gorski, assistant instructional professor, Harris School of Public Policy

Alireza Doostdar, associate professor, Divinity School

Allyson Nadia Field, associate professor, Department of Cinema and Media Studies

William H. Sewell Jr., Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science and Department of History

Jade Pagkas-Bather, assistant professor of medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health

William Mazzarella, Neukom Family Professor, Department of Anthropology

Kyeong-Hee Choi, associate professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Elizabeth Helsinger, John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor Emerita, Department of English Language and Literature and Department of Art History

Laura Letinsky, professor, Department of Visual Arts

Christina von Nolcken, associate professor emerita, Department of English Language and Literature and the Program in Medieval Studies

Claudia Brittenham, professor, Department of Art History and Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

Christine Mehring, Mary L. Block Professor, Department of Art History

Julian Go, professor and interim chair, Department of Sociology

Carolina López-Ruiz, professor, Divinity School and Department of Classics

Jennifer Cole, professor, Department of Comparative Human Development

Leora Auslander, Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor, Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity and Department of History

Anna Di Rienzo, professor emerita, Department of Human Genetics

Callie Maidhof, associate director and assistant senior instructional professor, Global Studies

Gina Fedock, associate professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Martha Feldman, Ferdinand Schevill Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Music

James Fernandez, professor emeritus, Department of Anthropology

David Lebow, program director and assistant senior instructional professor, Law, Letters, and Society

Jessica Darrow, associate instructional professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Kristen Schilt, associate professor, Department of Sociology

Andrew Brandel, associate instructional professor, Social Sciences Collegiate Division

Renslow Sherer, professor of medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health

Jason Grunebaum, instructional professor, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations

Faith Hillis, professor, Department of History

Elaine Hadley, professor, Department of English Language and Literature

Melvyn Shochet, Elaine M. and Samuel D. Kersten Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics

Bernard McGinn, Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus, Divinity School

Patrick Morrissey, assistant instructional professor, Humanities Collegiate Division

Michael J. O’Donnell, professor emeritus, Department of Computer Science

Lawrence Rothfield, associate professor emeritus, Department of English Language and Literature

Connor Strobel, Harper-Schmidt Fellow and Collegiate assistant professor, Social Sciences Collegiate Division

Kimberly Kay Hoang, professor, Department of Sociology

1. J. T. Mitchell, Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of English Language and Literature and Department of Art History

Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky, associate professor, Department of Cinema and Media Studies

Russell Hall, professor emeritus, Department of Medicine

Marshall Jean, assistant instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences

Philippe Desan, Howard L. Willett Professor Emeritus, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Amy Dru Stanley, associate professor, Department of History

Gerald Rosenberg, associate professor emeritus and lecturer in law, Department of Political Science and the Law School

Zach Loeffler, lecturer, the College

Paola Iovene, associate professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Aaron Turkewitz, professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology

Judith Zeitlin, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Theater and Performance Studies

Tara Zahra, Hanna Holborn Gray Professor, Department of History

Dipesh Chakrabarty, professor, Department of History and Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations

Michael Rossi, associate professor, Department of History

Sarah Newman, assistant professor, Department of Anthropology

Ben Laurence, instructional professor, Pozen Family Center for Human Rights

Catherine Kearns, assistant professor, Department of Classics

Benjamin Saltzman, associate professor, Department of English Language and Literature

Erica Warren, assistant instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities and Department of Art History

Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, professor emerita, Department of Anthropology

Armando Maggi, professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Carole Ober, professor, Department of Human Genetics

Kathryn Crim, Collegiate assistant professor, the College

Aidan Kaplan, assistant instructional professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Asim Farooq, associate professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science

Joshua Scodel, Helen A. Regeinstein Professor Emeritus, Department English Language and Literature and Department of Comparative Literature

Seth Brodsky, associate professor, Department of Music

Diana Schwartz Francisco, assistant instructional professor, Department of History

Sara Dallavalle, assistant instructional professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Rashauna Johnson, associate professor, Department of History

Andrés Rabinovich, assistant instructional professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Andrew Pitel, assistant instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities and Department of Philosophy

Eve L. Ewing, associate professor, Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

Darrel Chia, assistant instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities and Department of English Language and Literature

John Schneider, professor of medicine and epidemiology, Department of Medicine and Department of  Public Health Sciences

Leonardo Cabrini, assistant instructional professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Jacob Eyferth, associate professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Department of History

Clark Gilpin, Margaret E. Burton Professor Emeritus, Divinity School

Kenneth W. Warren, professor, Department of English Language and Literature

Na’ama Rokem, associate professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies and Department of Comparative Literature

Willemien Otten, Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor of Theology and the History of Christianity, Divinity School

Robin Bartram, assistant professor, Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Jan Goldstein, Norman and Edna Freehling Professor Emerita, Department of History

Emilio Kourí, professor, Department of History

1. J. Hickerson, assistant instructional professor, Department of History

Angelina Ilieva, instructional professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Elizabeth A. Grove, professor emerita, Department of Neurobiology

Uahikea Maile, assistant professor, Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

Barbara Kee, professor, Department of Pathology

Adam Green, associate professor, Department of Race, Diaspora and Indigeneity and Department of History

Victoria Prince, professor, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy

Ellie Heckscher, associate professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology

Dan Arnold, professor, Divinity School

Colleen M. Grogan, Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta University Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Alexandra Fraser, assistant instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities and Department of Art History

Adrienne Brown, associate professor, Department of English Language and Literature and Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity

Daniel Brudney, professor, Department of Philosophy

Isaac Hand, Harper-Schmidt Fellow and Collegiate assistant professor, Social Sciences Collegiate Division

Eman Abdelhadi, assistant professor, Department of Comparative Human Development

Sally Horne-Badovinac, professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology

Stephen Haswell Todd, associate instructional professor, Humanities Collegiate Division

Esmael J. Haddadian, instructional professor, Biological Sciences Collegiate Division

Mary (Ella) Wilhoit, associate instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences

Robert Chaskin, McCormick Foundation Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Joseph Thornton, professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution and Department of Human Genetics

Sarah Nooter, Edward Olson Professor, Department of Classics

Leah Feldman, associate professor, Department of Comparative Literature

Mai Tuyet Pho, associate professor of medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health

William Schultz, assistant professor, Divinity School

Margaret Geoga, assistant professor, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures and Middle Eastern Studies

Gina Samuels, professor of social work and faculty director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture and Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Marianne Bertrand, Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business

En-Ling Wu, assistant professor, Department of Medicine

Laura Ring, Southern Asian Studies librarian, Regenstein Library

Rachel Girty, writing and research advisor, Department of Creative Writing

Tyler W. Williams, assistant professor, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations

Ghenwa Hayek, associate professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Aaron Jakes, assistant professor of Middle Eastern history, Department of History and Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization

Florian Klinger, associate professor, Department of Germanic Studies

Andrei Pop, Allan and Jean Frumkin Professor, Committee on Social Thought

Hoyt Long, professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Lindsay Alpert, associate professor, Department of Pathology

Chiara Galli, assistant professor, Department of Comparative Human Development

Marisa Casillas, assistant professor, Department of Comparative Human Development

Micere Keels, professor, Department of Comparative Human Development

Kimberly Kenny, senior instructional professor, Department of Germanic Studies

Edwin M. Munro, professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology

Leoandra Onnie Rogers, faculty, Department of Comparative Human Development

Kaneesha Parsard, assistant professor, Department of English Language and Literature

Jonathan Flatley, professor, Department of English Language and Literature

Heather Keenleyside, associate professor, Department of English Language and Literature

1. P. Murray, assistant professor, Department of Medicine

Anna Symmes, assistant professor, Section of Hospital Medicine

Khanh Nguyen,  assistant professor, Department of Medicine

Patrick Jagoda, professor, Department of Cinema and Media Studies and Department of English Language and Literature

Genevieve Lakier, professor, Law School

Gil J. Stein, Rowe Professor in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Amber Pincavage, professor, Department of Medicine

Hakan Karateke, professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Paul Copp, associate professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Gary Herrigel, Paul Klapper Professor in the College and Division of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science

Augusta McMahon, professor of Mesopotamian archaeology, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Sophie McMillan-Myers, writing specialist, Writing Program

Ada H. Shissler, associate professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

David Woken, Latin American and Caribbean Studies librarian, University of Chicago Library

Ariel Fox, associate professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Bel Olid, assistant instructional professor in Catalan and Spanish, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Theo van den Hout, professor emeritus Hittite and Anatolian languages, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

Ulrike Stark, professor, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations

Andreas Glaeser, professor, Department of Sociology

Hussein Ali Agrama, associate professor, Department of Anthropology

Josh Stadtner, Ph.D. candidate, Department of English Language and Literature

Erica Warren, assistant instructional professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities and Department of Art History

Andrew M Davis, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Biological Sciences Division and Department of Medicine

Noel Blanco Mourelle, assistant professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Julie Y. Chu, associate professor, Department of Anthropology

Michael Cohen, senior research analyst, Department of Psychology

Neil Brenner, Lucy Flower Professor of Urban Sociology, Department of Sociology

Kay Heikkinen, Ibn Rushd Lecturer Emerita in Arabic, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Noémie Ndiaye, associate professor, Department of English Language and Literature and Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Carolyn Barnes, associate professor, Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Brian Nord, CASE associate and visiting research assistant professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Andrea Justine Landi, assistant professor, Department of Medicine

Emily Simon, graduate student, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics

Sam McDermott, research professional, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Sarah McDaniel, teaching fellow in the humanities, Department of English Language and Literature and Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality

Alice Yao, associate professor, Department of Anthropology

Karlyn Gorski, assistant instructional professor, Harris School of Public Policy

Scott Jung, writing specialist, Writing Program

Sarah Osment, writing specialist, Writing Program

Larisa Reznik, assistant instructional professor, Social Sciences Collegiate Division    

Nell Pach, writing and research advisor, Department of English Language and Literature

Tracey Rosen, instructional professor, Social Sciences Collegiate Division

Elaine Waxman, lecturer, Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Rachel Mehendale, assistant professor, Department of Neurology