“A big weapon they’re depending upon is shame. They want to make dissidents feel ashamed. At universities around the country, administrators want us to feel guilt for having a conscience when they have none.” – Steven Thrasher, a tenure-track professor at Northwestern University currently suspended from teaching for supporting the Gaza solidarity encampment on his campus (False Profits: Why I Am Not Teaching in the Classroom This Fall).
On Aug. 13, I was informed by our vice president of Human Resources via a Zoom call that due to a dip in enrollment, Emerson College was canceling the Bright Lights Cinema Series after over 12 successful years and terminating my position after over 17. I want to make something clear to those who don’t already know: I’ve anticipated this termination since I went ahead with the screening of “Israelism” last semester. I had been discouraged from hosting the film as part of my series last fall both when it was originally planned and again around the rescheduled screening in February. My union, SEIU Local 888, filed a grievance against the decision to terminate me. We believe the administration circumvented the process of progressive discipline and fired me without just cause.
I do not believe economics was the determining factor in canceling my program. For a school like Emerson, the Bright Lights Cinema Series is fairly low cost to run—around $20k—and I had a plan in place to make the series revenue-neutral within the next year. There had been indications from upper administration that screening “Israelism” was putting my job at risk. I also suspect that my support for the Emerson student encampment and open criticism of Emerson’s new president were factors. I have absolutely no regrets about joining my colleagues and our fiercely principled students in speaking about the genocide unfolding in occupied Palestine. It is the highest expression of my values as a Jew and as a human.
I also want to be clear that none of the policies being implemented at Emerson in collaboration with Zionist organizations like Hillel, the Anti-Defamation League, the Academic Engagement Network, and the American Jewish Committee are protecting Jews on our campus. I was fired along with another anti-Zionist Jewish colleague, and Jewish students, faculty, and staff are all experiencing unprecedented levels of harassment and repression. We complicate the narrative that to be Jewish is to unconditionally support the state of Israel both in the wider world and here on our campus.
Even before the events of the last academic year, many colleagues knew that to those running the institution, the commitment to equity and justice was convenient marketing. “Expression necessary to evolution” is a slogan that looks good on logos and on enrollment materials. Those of us who were drawn to Emerson as a place to work and study make good on that promise—from the cultural workers who grew in numbers during my time there and made Emerson a welcoming space for a more diverse student body, to the faculty and staff who have shared the tools to expand thought in ways that are now being diminished and the students who are showing us all the power of solidarity on our campus and beyond.
In the 60 days of “work” that my union contract afforded me after my termination, I heard time and again how heartbroken our community is over the loss of the Bright Lights series and my dismissal. And each time, I let students, faculty, staff, and alumni know that my call to democratize the campus is more imperative than ever. I know that many of the folks who have made Emerson a place that I had been proud to work for almost two decades are currently looking for an exit. I hope that we can stand up to the authoritarian takeover of our campus before the promise of the Emerson that drew us all here suffers the same fate as many small liberal arts colleges—forced to close or be swallowed by a larger institution.
Regardless of the outcome of the grievance filed on my behalf, I will always be an educator, community builder, and activist. I believe that the most revolutionary thing we can do is to share knowledge, speak truth to power, create spaces for dialogue, and build solidarity. I am not done fighting for the Emerson that I love. I hope some of you will join me, whether an Emersonian or not.
Join your peers and colleagues who are standing up for the expression at Emerson that the motto claims to champion. This is our school and we can—and should—fight for it. A core tenet of Judaism is the pursuit of justice, from Deuteronomy 16:20: “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” which translates in English to “justice, justice thou shalt pursue.” Or as the old labor saying goes, “When we fight, we win.”
